Last week I attended the press conference for Disney’s brand-spanking new film, The Incredibles 2, and I have plenty of great things to say about it in the review that will be going up soon this week. The cast of The Incredibles 2 had a lot of great things to say about the film as well. Overall I think we got some great answers about the film, from the talent, so without further ado, allow me to share them with you.
When asked why the Incredibles haven’t aged during the 14-year span between the two films, director Brad Bird elaborated by saying:
“I just thought it was kind of bold and weird. Because I think people take the time that passes very literally. And they think that linearly, the characters should have aged. But if they age, their superpowers don’t reflect the part of life that they’re in and their role in the family. So I worked on the first eight seasons of the Simpsons. And the Simpsons haven’t aged a day, and they’re still on the air. So it worked for them. And why not us?”
Further, into the conference, Brad Bird was asked to share the inspiration for Incredibles 2’s unique color palette and his work with Ralph Eggleston. Brad shared:
“Ralph loves movies like most people at Pixar. He really loves films. And he’s always reading a new book. And he has a thing to show you. And he’s kind of always, I’m kind of disgorging art and books and things that he found and sketches he’s made. And he’s just kind of spewing them out in every direction all the time. And the film really benefited from this fuel.
But he thinks about color psychologically. He thinks about it in terms of what is going to surprise people. And he’s not afraid to make bold choices. The house that they wound up in, we were kind of working on it. And suddenly he came in one day and we had already put a lot of effort in another house. And we were under a lot of pressure because they took a year off of our schedule. And he said okay. So I have this idea for the house. And it’s really going to screw things up for everyone including me. But I just have to say it. And here is the idea. The house should not work for them. It should be initially impressive. But then you get in there and everything is wrong for a family. There’s no real place for the baby’s room. And there’s a fireplace in the baby’s room for no reason. And everything he’s saying, I’m going, oh, that’s going to ruin this. And that’s going to ruin that. But he’s totally right. And damn, why is he right?
So I agreed to it. And it totally screwed up everything that I had in the script in terms of we need to see this in the foreground, so we can see that in the background. Suddenly everything was a giant problem. And yet, it was right because the house needed to be impressive, but wrong for the family. Because they’re not in a comfortable place yet. They have to find their way there. And that was a way of making the surroundings storytelling. Which is really what good production design is.”
When asked about how Brad’s ideas for Incredibles 2 have changed over the years, Brad stated:
” It’s been half this, two thirds this. The idea of the role switch, that the assignment would go to Helen rather than Bob I had when we were promoting the first film. And I also knew that I had the unexploded bomb of Jack-Jack’s powers, that the audience knew that he had them, but the Parrs did not. And I had other notions that I just wanted to see an Incredibles movie and some things like the raccoon fight that were originally done for the first movie, and there was no place for it, and I loved the idea. But the superhero part, the villain part, it always seemed to change.”
As the conference progressed, Brad also allocated:
“Kids are strangely treated like beards. For animated films. I’m a single guy. But I want to see this. ‘I found a kid. Can I come in now? Here is this kid. He was roaming the streets. I told him I would pay for his ticket. Will you let me in?’ And it’s like no man. It’s an art form. It’s for anyone that likes movies. And you don’t need to have a kid. People are constantly coming up to me. ‘My kid really enjoyed it.’ I go, did you like it? They go ‘oh yeah, sure. But Billy really liked it.’ And I’m like, I made it for you. And Billy can come. But I’m not a kid. And I made it something that I would want to see. And we’re not kids. And we worked on this.”
Well, that just about wraps it up, guys! If you enjoyed this post, you’ll definitely enjoy Incredibles 2 on a much larger scale when it arrives in theaters June 15th. I have a lot of great things to say about the film, so don’t miss our review of Incredibles 2 this week!
Until Next Time
JJ King
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