Inside Out was beloved in Cannes. Like unanimously praised. Pixar has made a movie about what it’s like to be inside a young girl’s head. Pixar has made a movie about mental health. Pixar has made a movie that encourages young people to talk about their feelings. Pixar has a made a movie that stars two women, Amy Poehler and Mindy Kaling. Pixar has made a movie that stars a woman over 40 and a woman of South Asian descent. So it’s not surprising that Amy and Mindy have so much love for Pixar, as expressed in their recent interview with Vulture just ahead of the movie’s premiere a couple of days ago. It’s worth your time. There’s a lot worth sharing here.
First, I love what Mindy said about opportunity. She’s talked previously about having to create her own opportunities because Hollywood just wasn’t thinking of her, the way they, say, think of someone like Jennifer Lawrence, for roles. But this time, with Pixar, they came to her. And while she’s demonstrated that she does NEED people to come to her and offer her the parts, it’s nice to be wanted.
Vulture: You said at Cannes that it was amazing to be offered something like Inside Out because you're not often asked to do other people's projects, and you'd resigned yourself to generating your own material.
Kaling: When I said that, I later said, "But you can also offer me great parts!" [Laughs.] I meant to say, "Don't let that scare you off … Joel and Ethan Coen." But yeah, that has often been my experience, so when this came about, I felt really treated. To think that many actors' careers are based on really talented people putting them in roles like this? Amy, you probably have more of that sort of experience.
Poehler: But I feel the same way, which is that it was like getting a golden ticket. "Would you like to come to the factory? We're gathering all these people!" It's like you get to go see Willy Wonka, and at the end, Willy Wonka is not mean. It felt very special, like you were chosen, and the coolest thing is that none of us took it for granted. No one was like, "Oh, another voice-over gig." We were getting to do something super special, and we know how lucky we were.
According to Amy, one of the other bonuses to working on Inside Out with Pixar is that the actors were acknowledged for their ad lib contributions. The way she describes it though is applicable to all industries, not just filmmaking, not just entertainment. Basically, if you’re talented, you will share:
Vulture: One of the things I found most unique about this movie — and it's already pretty unique in most ways — is that in the end credits, there's actually an "additional jokes by" credit that's given to many of the actors. You don't often see something so generous in Hollywood.
Poehler: It's yet another example of why Pixar succeeds: They're generous in how they collaborate, and they're not stingy. It's a very democratic group-mind over there, and it's just a confirmation of my theory that talented people are usually good collaborators because they're not coming from a fear-based place of only having one good idea.
I love this quote. I’m totally ripping it off. Because this idea isn’t just about collaboration, it’s also about imagination. It’s a reassurance – there will be more than one good idea, don’t worry. Isn’t that so refreshingly NOT insecure?
Click here to read the full piece.
