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FunTranscript
00:00This is all about a robot, RASM7134, that wakes up on the shore of an uninhabited island.
00:18She is lost but does not yet know it.
00:21So she simply moves inland and does what she was designed to do, which is find whoever
00:26it is that bought her and find tasks and complete them.
00:30And that journey is going to change everything about her and the island that she's on.
00:35All the themes and the emotional depth that Peter built into the book is what made me
00:41want to do it.
00:44Everything about it was a space that I felt I could operate in.
00:47It was the kind of thing that I feel comfortable with.
00:50And as I read the book, all the stuff I saw made me kind of, frankly, desperate to do
00:57it.
00:58Well, it was definitely a workshop with Chris talking through where RAS starts off and where
01:09she ends up.
01:10In the beginning, she has the naivety almost like of a child, you know.
01:15She's kind of like a blank slate in terms of, yes, she's a very sophisticated robot,
01:19but she doesn't have any unique or identifying features from all the other robots that exist.
01:29But then by the end, she has adapted and evolved so much that she has something akin to empathy
01:37and compassion, right?
01:39And so Chris mentioned that one of the reasons why he thought of me as a good fit for RAS
01:46is that he liked the warmth of my voice.
01:48That was in the beginning.
01:49So we knew that we would end up closer to what I sound like.
01:54But finding that initial, where we start RAS was quite the workshop.
01:59It took a few tries.
02:00I definitely tried very extreme things, but in the end, we ended up with something that
02:08is like I call programmed optimism that you hear in like Alexa and Siri and them.
02:15And then as she colors in, she develops more, I guess, dimension and texture in her voice.
02:24Yeah.
02:25I mean, a lot of that too was found with Chris.
02:27We wanted to create a villain that's not just like, oh, I'm big and scary.
02:32But, you know, a robot that is so chipper is like Siri.
02:38Like who really is Siri?
02:39Do you know what I mean?
02:40And like, what does Siri want?
02:44Yeah.
02:45Yeah.
02:46She's listening to all of us.
02:50And so if I disappear, you know who took me?
02:52It's Siri.
02:53But yeah.
02:54So creating a villain that is so chipper that it's disarming and uncomfortable.
03:01And that was really fun to find with Chris.
03:03Yeah.
03:04Had a lot of fun doing that.
03:05You know what Siri means?
03:06It's Swahili for secret.
03:08Is that right?
03:11I don't know whether they named her that because of that, but yeah.
03:16That's Jordan Peele's next film.
03:18Wow.
03:19That's good.
03:20Yeah.
03:21Wow.
03:22That's...
03:23I'm more scared than I was.
03:24Well, you know, there are times when I'm in my kitchen and suddenly my little Alexa thing
03:28says, would you like pumpkin carving ideas?
03:30I'm like, how did you know I was thinking about pumpkins?
03:33It's so chilling.
03:34Right?
03:35I'm like, well, I didn't say that.
03:39I'd like to think I could be funny sometimes.
03:41And I tried to give as much humor as I could to what was already there on paper.
03:46But in every, I swear, every line of dialogue, Chris just would just, you know, or you could
03:52try...
03:53No, you never did that.
03:54Do it like this.
03:55That's what you said, I think.
03:58No, just always like the best inspiring notes and bringing every possible bit of humor out
04:07of every line that I had, just out of the character.
04:11And I also, you know, channeled my mom.
04:13My mom had seven, no six, no seven kids, actually seven, in our family and my mom just had her
04:20great days and her not so great days, you know, but really took the job on of raising
04:26all of us.
04:27I only have two and it's a killer.
04:29But I love the speech that Arroz gives and then your warranty.
04:33What's that amazing speech about?
04:36Exactly what motherhood does to you, or parenthood.
04:39That's such a great speech.
04:40You damaged me.
04:41Yeah.
04:42Oh, so good.
04:43There's a lot of truth in your character and the assessment of motherhood without romanticism.
04:54And that's what makes it so funny, because it's so true.
04:57Like saying all the things that mothers don't dare to say out loud.
05:01Exactly.
05:02And allowing us to all laugh about it.
05:05Yeah.
05:06But not.
05:07But yeah.
05:08Yeah.
05:09The visual style, I felt, was really, really critical.
05:13Everything we've been talking about, I don't think would have worked as well if it had
05:16been in like a traditional, I think, CG style.
05:20And the more illustrated style that we were able to achieve, I think, elevates it to,
05:24I think, a level of sophistication that this particular story really and truly needed.
05:30Because it's not a simple story.
05:32It's simple in its construction, but its great depth and complexity of characters and
05:37messages is, I think, worthy of a style that, I think, reflects that.
05:43So I thought it was very, very critical that it have that sophistication and softness and
05:48beauty.
05:49And I think it helps, like, it pulls you in, in a very different way.
05:53And you were saying, too, that everything was hand-painted, right?
05:55Yeah.
05:56It is.
05:57Yeah.
05:58We were able to, every single surface has a human touch, quite literally.
06:02The feathers on the birds.
06:03And Roz is the only character that is traditional CG, but only when she first arrives.
06:09And because we wanted her to not fit in.
06:11And she has a CG surface.
06:13It's perfect.
06:14And very quickly, she begins to weather.
06:15And we have about maybe 15 to 20 different, like, levels of transformation.
06:21So that mid-film, she absolutely is 100% hand-painted and belongs there now, visually.
06:27So she's settled in.
06:29Which is the fun thing about when Vontra arrives, and she's shiny and new, and she has that
06:32more sort of plastic surface again.
06:35And I think at that point, hopefully, people will detect the difference.
06:38Like when Roz steps into the light, and Stephanie's character sees her, it's a bit of a shock.
06:45Because she actually has, she has things growing on her, and she's weathered, and she's got
06:49kind of a Chia Pet sort of thing going on.
06:53But she's beautiful.
06:54She's beautiful.
06:55The more she's weathered, I think the more beautiful she really becomes.
06:59That's honestly one of my favorite parts of the film.
07:02Because when I imagine, I feel like the movie is also so much about imagination, and storytelling,
07:08and what that brings to a community.
07:12And when I imagine all the little ones, little creatures in my life getting to see this film,
07:18and that feeling of the texture of, I can, like, pick up a marker and draw that.
07:23I think that is, like, something that is so lost now.
07:26And this movie really is such a nod to what we all grew up with in the world of animation.
07:33It's so awesome, and alive, and human.
07:36It was such a beautiful, open audience.
07:40There was not a self-conscious crowd that you can get at a festival, I think.
07:45It was just so open.
07:49And the movie started out right away so beautiful.
07:52I just instantly thought, oh my god, I didn't know this.
07:55Did I read this part?
07:56Did I know this?
07:57It was just, I just want to see it again right away.
08:02But also, the picture, and the sound, and that crowd, just, I don't know, you explain
08:08what I'm trying to say.
08:09Well, we were both crying.
08:10Yeah.
08:11Well, I'm trying to save makeup.
08:14But also, it was so funny.
08:16The first, like, I was talking to Jeff, our producer, the first 20 minutes, I was like,
08:21that was like slapstick.
08:23That was like Lucille Ball in the woods.
08:25And he was saying that there was a lot of research with, like, Buster Keaton.
08:29And that was, like, amazing physical comedy that I was not expecting.
08:33So fun to laugh with everybody.
08:35And also how, I guess I didn't know, because I guess when I worked with you, it was mainly
08:39about what I was doing, my role.
08:44But the wilderness, and how it's such a, it's so violent, and it's all about survival.
08:52It was just raw, and had nothing to do with compassion, or, you know, what all these animals
08:58learn throughout the movie.
09:00But not in a H.A.L. over the head way at all.
09:02It's so subtle, and beautiful, and natural.
09:05But just, yeah, it made me realize what a rough world that is, the wilderness.
09:10I'm sorry.
09:11You say.
09:12No, no, that was perfect.
09:13Exactly.
09:14That was the thing that was just so exciting.
09:15The idea that, like, this is an unforgiving place, and that Roz sees it as their programming,
09:19and that's how.
09:20And I think that that's how Roz, like, she's putting it in terms that she understands.
09:26So she says, you're programming, and it's a beautiful moment, and it is.
09:30They're programmed to survive, and that's, it's incredibly selfish.
09:34If they are not absolutely selfish, they won't see another day.
09:38They don't see any other way to get through their lives.