Mann auditioned Hawke for her role in the much-anticipated sequel film while on vacation at EPCOT.
The Big Picture
-
Inside Out 2
explores teenage Riley’s mind, introducing Anxiety as a new emotion played by Maya Hawke. - Director Kelsey Mann and producer Mark Nielsen reveal casting process insights for the
Inside Out
emotions, focusing on finding actors who embody the characters. - Maya Hawke’s audition for Anxiety happened while Mann was at Disney World, and she clicked so immediately Mann was moved to tears.
Theaters everywhere are about to welcome some big new emotions this summer with the arrival of Inside Out 2. The hotly-anticipated sequel returns to the mind of Riley (Kensington Tallman) as she enters her teenage years and experiences puberty, high school, and new relationships. As she reaches a new milestone in life, things also get more complicated for Joy (Amy Poehler) and her fellow emotions, as far more complex feelings try to take control. The biggest newcomer at the center of all the marketing is Anxiety, played by Maya Hawke, whom the film’s creators saw as an obvious pick for the role.
At a press conference at Pixar Animation Studios where Collider’s Meredith Loftus was in attendance, director Kelsey Mann and producer Mark Nielsen delved into their casting process for emotions stemming back to the first film in 2015. Though Mann is taking the reins from Pete Docter for the sequel, he and the rest of the team took to heart what worked so well with finding the first five stars. Nielsen said that they went one emotion at a time, nailing down what defines that emotion, whether it be red-hot rage or ceaseless happiness and optimism, and then determining whose performances in other works best convey those feelings.
“The process, we kinda take it emotion by emotion and what we’re looking for is for actors out there that purely embody the character that we are building,” Nielsen said. “So, you know, going back to the first film, Lewis Black, when you think about Anger, and if you’ve seen any of his comedy, there was no question that there wasn’t anybody else that could play that character.” Black’s stand-up routines are defined by disgruntled rants, making him perfect to play the explosive red emotion in Riley’s head. However, Mann also recalled an important pointer from Pete Docter about paying attention to who the actors are when they aren’t acting. “Pete gave me advice. With Lewis, he’s like you wanna cast people that are— they kinda embody that in the characters that they play, but they also are like that off microphone. And Lewis is totally like that when he’s even off microphones. So, he’s like you want somebody who’s like that, who just is that way just as the way they are in life.”
Kelsey Mann Auditioned Maya Hawke for Anxiety From EPCOT
Another element of the casting process that Nielsen highlighted was everyone working behind the scenes to scout out prospective actors for them to listen to in blind auditions. “Yeah, so we really did take them one at a time,” he added. “We’ve got an incredible casting team here at Pixar that puts a list in front of us, and we often do the casting blind where they will bring to us voices, ‘cause that’s what we’re casting for.” Digging deeper into what it’s like combing through actors, Mann described what happens in a session and what his thought process is when he listens to voice clips and tries to pair them up with the character in question:
“I have a list in front of me that just says ‘Actor One,’ ‘Actor Two,’ ‘Actor Three,’ and then they go ‘Okay. Actor One,’ and then they just play a bunch of clips. And I go, ‘Oh, that’s interesting.’ Sometimes I’m like, ‘Mmm, I know who that is.’ But sometimes I don’t. And sometimes they say like ‘Oh, do you, that’s so and so.’ I’m like ‘Oh my God, oh, it is.’ I totally didn’t get that, but all I do is I look at the picture, like Anxiety, I’ll look at our artwork that we have of her, and then they’ll just play. And I go, ‘Does that fit? You know, does that feel right?'”
With Hawke, however, the process was a complete outlier for several reasons. It mostly stood out in Mann’s mind because her audition took place in the happiest place on Earth. “Here’s a really cool thing about Maya, [she] was awesome, you know,” he told the press. “It’s a really fun story. I auditioned Maya from Disney World, believe it or not.” As Nielsen pointed out, Mann’s conversation with the Stranger Things and Do Revenge star took place in a back room at EPCOT during a family vacation with his kids.
“At EPCOT, yeah,” Mann continued. “So, we went out to like to do an audition with Maya, and Mark was like, ‘Good news is she said, ‘Yes.’ She would love to audition and meet with you. Bad news is it’s during your vacation.’ So, me and my kids, we were all at Disney World. I’m like ‘Ah, man, I’m at Disney World.’ He’s like ‘Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out.’ And so, I went to Disney World, I was at EPCOT, and they took me which way?” Nielsen reminded him about being led through the Mexico Pavillion and out the back gate for his mid-vacation Zoom call with Hawke, and he recalled being blown away to the point of tears by her anxious performance:
“They did. It was awesome. I was with my family, I go, ‘Alright, I’ll be right back,’ and then they took me backstage, and I went back to some random office where they had a computer with Zoom on it. I auditioned Maya from Zoom, and she absolutely crushed it. And my favorite part was, you know, at the end of it, I talked about what I wanted the movie to be about, and she just immediately connected with it. I think I even cried as she was talking. And I walked away and, you know, called you [Mark], and we’re like, ‘Oh my God, she’s perfect.’ And then I went back into the EPCOT and continued my vacation. It was hilarious.”
Inside Out 2 will also welcome Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), and Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos) to the fold when it comes out on June 14. Poehler, Black, and Phyllis Smith all return, while Liza Lapira and Tony Hale take over as Disgust and Fear. Check out our full guide on the film here for everything you need to know before its release.
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