Kelsey Mann and Mark Nielsen also teased that music is “definitely a part of” Riley’s story.
The Big Picture
-
Inside Out 2
includes Easter Eggs from previous Pixar films like
Turning Red
. - New emotions like Anxiety, Ennui, Envy, and Embarrassment join the existing crew, throwing a wrench in Joy’s plans.
- In the sequel, Riley navigates high school and her love for the new band, Get Up and Glow, reflects her musical tastes and puberty struggles.
Pixar films are notoriously packed with Easter Eggs for keen-eyed viewers and Inside Out 2 will be no exception. Releasing in theaters in June, the long-awaited sequel will have 27 previous films under the Disney subsidiary’s banner to pull from, along with whatever the creators feel like giving a nod to throughout Riley’s journey into puberty. During a press conference at Pixar Animation Studios with Collider in attendance, the film’s director Kelsey Mann and producer Mark Nielsen were able to tease a few of the little visual references to watch out for when going to see it on the big screen.
Inside Out 2 will pick up with Riley (Kensington Tallman), who’s now grown into her teenage years and experiences all the difficulties that come with that. For Joy (Amy Poehler), Anger (Louis Black), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Disgust (Liza Lapira), and Fear (Tony Hale), who’ve been running a tight ship to this point, they’re left unsure how to feel with the arrival of Anxiety (Maya Hawke) and a few other new, complicated emotions in Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser). Although it will once again take place in San Francisco, where Riley and her family moved to in the first film, the city won’t play too heavily into the visuals, according to Mann and Nielsen.
“I don’t know of any San Francisco ones as much, specifically,” Mann said about a question about geographical Easter Eggs. “It takes place mostly at the campus.” Nielsen added, “Yeah. We kinda took her north to, like, a college campus.” Riley will be adjusting to another new environment in the sequel — high school — and with it comes plenty of new challenges and a different visual style, as she crosses the Golden Gate to a campus surrounded by redwoods. While that means few visual references to San Francisco, Mann said the team, himself especially, had fun sprinkling in their own little touches in addition to the traditional Pixar-related Easter Eggs. He also cited the return of The Muppets franchise veterans Frank Oz and Dave Goelz as the subconscious guards Dave and Frank respectively, as part of the reason why he was so excited to be able to play around in the world of Inside Out:
“Less, like, there, in San Francisco. But, you know, I love Easter eggs. You know, it’s fun. It’s so fun to be in this position, where I go, ‘Let’s put that in.’ You know? It was only the classic Pixar ones, but then I also go, ‘I wanna put my own ones in there.’ You know, like, this film, I mean, a big reason why I also wanted to do it is I get to work with Frank Oz and with Dave Goelz, who were on the original film. And I’m like, ‘Uh, they’re coming back.’ ‘Cause I grew up on the Muppets.”
‘Inside Out 2’ Has Nods to Big Bird Actor Caroll Spinney and Pixar In-Universe Bands
A personal addition for Mann as well as a reference to the late great Caroll Spinney. The award-winning actor was best known for providing the voice of both Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street since the show’s inception in 1969. Mann, who grew up loving the classic children’s show, recounted a heartwarming chance encounter he had with Spinney years ago and noted that he would’ve loved to find a way to work him into Inside Out 2 were he still alive:
“And so, I loved working with them, and I was a huge fan of
Sesame Street
growing up. I watched it way beyond the age I should watch it, ‘cause there’s a bit where the [indiscernible] joke kinda comes from, and all the secrets. But I met Caroll Spinney, who plays Big Bird and Oscar. You got kind of an Oscar color going on there, too. He was such a lovely man. I feel so grateful I had a chance to actually meet him. I actually recognized him in a mall. I was like, ‘That’s Caroll Spinney.’ I was with a buddy of mine. He was like, ‘Are you sure?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah. I’m pretty sure.’ He’s like, ‘Dude, you’re the only one who knows that.’And I went up, and I’m like, ‘Are you Caroll Spinney?’ And he was like, ‘Yes, I am.’ And I felt like I had won the lottery. He was such a kind, gentle-hearted person. Yeah. You have your heroes, and you wish that they could live up to your expectations, and he did that times a thousand. Anyway, he’s passed away. But I would’ve put him in the movie as a voice. But there’s a little Easter egg nod to Caroll Spinney in this movie. So, I get to do stuff like that, which is pretty cool.”
Inside Out 2 will also share a little in common with its predecessor, Turning Red, in how it also makes music a part of Riley’s personality. Though not as intensely tied to the film as 4*TOWN was to Meilin’s story, the new band, Get Up and Glow, is both a love and a point of embarrassment for Riley in front of the older teenagers, according to Mann. It wasn’t easy nailing down the name for legal reasons, but he pointed out that a lot of thought went into creating something that fits naturally into a story all about growing up and trying to fit in:
“’There’s a band called that out there.’ That was a lot of rounds on that as we needed it to sound– We’re like, ‘It needs to sound young, you know, like junior high.’ That’s where we lean on our team here and like, give us names on what it could be because Riley has to be a little embarrassed about it when the older teenagers say, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re still into them?’ You know, that kind of feel. But yeah, it took lots of different rounds to just get that name.”
Nielsen concurred and highlighted how Riley’s musical tastes emphasize the divide between her and the older high schoolers she meets. “…music’s definitely a part of it. And Riley being kind of in a younger middle school-ish group and into different types of bands and the contrast with the high schoolers and what they’re listening to definitely plays a role in this movie in the second act.” Thinking on that wavelength also opened the door to other Pixar musical Easter Eggs in Inside Out, namely to the boy band that Meilin and her friends loved so much. “There’s a 4*TOWN Easter Egg,” Mann said. “Have you guys found it?”
Inside Out 2 hits theaters on June 14. Check out our full guide here for everything to know before the heartstring-tugging sequel arrives. See the official trailer below.
Inside Out 2
Follow Riley, in her teenage years, encountering new emotions.
- Release Date
- June 14, 2024
- Director
- Kelsey Mann
- Cast
- Amy Poehler , Maya Hawke , Phyllis Smith , Lewis Black , Tony Hale , Liza Lapira
- Main Genre
- Animation
This article was originally published on collider.com