Atlantic City this June has been lit with luck at the lauded Ocean Casino Resort.
Back in March, we were invited to Pixar Animation Studios, where the team was hard at work on the final touches of Inside Out 2. Visiting the studio on my very first press trip, I was assigned to the “Anxiety” group (how fitting!), joining other journalists for an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the making of the highly anticipated sequel.
© 2024 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
If Inside Out sent you on an emotional rollercoaster, then the sequel is guaranteed to throw you for a loop.
Leading up to the film’s summer release, we visited Pixar Animation Studios to discuss Inside Out 2 with director Kelsey Mann and producer Mark Nielsen, who also worked on Inside Out.
The day before, we were treated to an early sneak peek of the first thirty minutes of the sequel. As a longtime Pixar enthusiast, I was thrilled—though perhaps not as excited as Mann was to push the big red button.
Kelsey Mann, who saw Inside Out as an audience member in 2015 while working on Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur, described his reaction to the first film’s ending as he pointed to Mark Nielsen. “You guys set up [the puberty button] on the console and I’m like, ‘I want that thing to go off. If you don’t set off, I’m gonna be upset!”
He finally gets the chance to do just that as the director of Inside Out 2. He went on to explain that he also set out to cause more chaos than just a blaring puberty alarm.
“[The first movie] ends in a great way where she’s like, ‘we’ve got new friends, a great new house, after all, she’s 12, what could happen?’” he says, “She has such confidence in herself and I wanted to crush that.”
Mann also detailed how they explored challenging Joy’s traditional ideas of who Riley is in this new phase of her life. “That’s where the new emotions come in,” he said, “because they’re like, ‘we understand this teenage world and we know how to play this game better than you do. So you know what? We need you to step aside because we need to take over.”
Once again, filmgoers will see some push and pull at the controls in this new story—just in a different way. “Joy, in the beginning of [Inside Out] learned that lesson that all emotions are valuable, she learned to let Sadness go to the console.” Mark Nielsen says, “And now in this film, she’s like, ‘maybe not ALL of them.’”
© 2024 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
The new movie features new additions to the cast, including Maya Hawke (Anxiety), Ayo Edebiri (Envy), Paul Walter Hauser (Embarrassment), and Adèle Exarchopoulos (Ennui). During a press conference session earlier that day, Mark Nielsen had nothing but praise for what they brought to the film. “They’re all very funny,” he said, “Some of them are actual straight-up comedians.”
“[Envy] wasn’t as developed as some of the other emotions,” Mann jumped in to say, “Ayo really helped flesh out who that character was in a positive way.”
Nielsen was also wowed by Maya Hawke’s performance as Anxiety, describing her as the “fastest talker I’ve ever met.”
“She brought an element of humanity to the character,” Mann added.
During those first thirty minutes of the film, we didn’t get the chance to become well-acquainted with Embarrassment, but Mark Nielsen gave us an idea of what to expect from the character.
“Paul Walter Hauser as Embarrassment was amazing—what a gem of a human being,” he said, “We met with him beforehand to talk about the role. On the script, it doesn’t look like much because he’s too scared to talk and barely has any lines, but he’s a really important character in the film. It’s actually a really big role, which is a beautiful relationship he ends up having with Sadness.”
You can check out our interview with Kelsey Mann and Mark Nielsen at Pixar Animation Studios in the video below. “Inside Out 2” will be hitting theaters on June 14th, 2024!
“Julia Mazza?”
I was eating lunch in a room off of the main atrium when I heard my name called by a member of Disney’s publicity team.
Ketel One Vodka certainly stirred up the fun and elevated the Tribeca Film Festival to the next level this week.
Starring Natasha Lyonne, Russian Doll is a complicated, twisty, and humorous show that exceeds expectations
Natasha Lyonne and other members of the cast of “RUSSIAN DOLL” discuss Netflix’s twisty new show at the show’s in New York
The first two episodes of NBC’s new show “I Feel Bad” premiered on Sept. 19. The next episode will air on Thursday, Oct. 4 at 9:30/8:30c.
With the warm weather issuing in summer binge watching and season reruns, the NBCUniversal Upfront red carpet showed us what we have to expect for the fall. With appearances from Jennifer Lopez and Ne-Yo for World of Dance to Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman for The Handmade Project, NBC made sure everyone knew of its new and continuing projects for next season.
We had the chance to speak with several showrunners on their shows and what viewers can expect to see. We spoke with Glenn Howerton and Patton Oswalt for their new, Seth Meyers/Mike O’Brien written show, A.P. Bio, a show that follows Howerton as a former college philosophy professor teaching A.P. Biology to high school students. Check out the informative banter the two offered us.
What can viewers expect for the new show?
GH: Two comedy legends going head to head on NBC.
PO: There could only be one. Wait a minute, that sounds weird.
GH: Highlander.
PO: Yea, only one of us is going to survive the pilot.
GH: It’s like Highlander, only it’s funnier than Highlander, I hope.
PO: We kill each other with jokes. Then we cut the other’s head off and we absorb his comedy skills.
GH: That’s right.
PO: The quickening happens. And then the Queen song plays.
GH: And that’s basically what the show’s about.
PO: You can expect a lot of very funny awkwardness on this guy’s part. Yes, but this is on a different level then It’s Always Sunny, you’ll see.
Kristen Bell stopped for us as well on the carpet, telling us there’s plenty on Ted Danson’s side of their show, The Good Place, that we can expect for season two. She said the show will have, “More weird stuff. Season two takes on an entirely different meaning because of the reveal at the end of season one, and it’s a lot more from Ted Danson’s character’s perspective this season, so it’s a little bit nastier. And it’s a lot of fun.”
Among The Handmade Project, A.P. Bio, and World of Dance, other new shows coming to NBC next season include Tina Fey’s highly talked about project, Good News, as well as The Brave, and a revival of Will & Grace.
On Monday night, The Knockturnal attended the red carpet screening for “PAINT IT BLACK” at MoMA. We got to talk with Amber Tamblyn, the director and co-writer of the film. We also spoke with the film’s stars, Alia Shawkat (Josie) and Janet McTeer (Meredith).
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