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00:00Filmmaker Chris Sanders and producer Jeff Herman tell The Hollywood Reporter about
00:06a potential sequel and their hopes for the future of animation, the human element in
00:11this film is what made the difference.
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00:22A lot of elements had to align to make The Wild Robot a success, not the least of which
00:27involves maneuvering voice star Pedro Pascal's packed schedule.
00:31Director Chris Sanders' feature for DreamWorks Animation topped the box office in its opening
00:35weekend and held well for a second-place finish this weekend.
00:39Based on the book by Peter Brown, the animated film centers on Roz, Lupita Nyong'o, a robot
00:45that gets delivered to an uninhabited island and must find ways to interact with the animals
00:50who don't want her there.
00:51Its voice cast also includes Kit Conner, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill and Catherine
00:57O'Hara.
00:58During a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter that was conducted at the Annecy Animation
01:03Festival shortly after the film's presentation there, Sanders and producer Jeff Herman discuss
01:08assembling the top-notch stars, possibilities for a sequel and tackling themes involving
01:14encroaching technology amid an animation landscape dealing with AI.
01:18Plus, Sanders teases his return as the voice of Alien Stitch for Disney's forthcoming Lilo
01:23and Stitch live-action movie.
01:25I'm impressed that you nabbed Pedro Pascal for The Wild Robot, given that he might be
01:30the busiest person in Hollywood.
01:32Chris Sanders he absolutely is.
01:35We have to give full credit to our casting director, Christy Sopper, who suggested Pedro
01:40and many of these actors.
01:42We just feel so fortunate that he signed on to do this, and oh, my gosh, he is amazing.
01:48He was so inventive and funny and has a very playful nature.
01:52As we developed his character, that really was the way that we went.
01:56In one of the last recording sessions, he said that this character is more him than
02:00many that he plays, and he really enjoyed it.
02:03Jeff Herman coming into it, he thought that we were looking for more of what he was doing
02:07on screen already, with Mandalorian, The Last of Us, Game of Thrones, and we kept pushing
02:13him back to his own persona.
02:15Once he realized that, he got so excited and embraced it.
02:19We got him just before everything exploded with The Last of Us, and from that point forward,
02:24his schedule became very busy.
02:26We're so lucky to have gotten Lupita, Pedro and Kit, who are strong actors with very distinctive
02:31voices.
02:33They've all done voiceover work in their careers, but not to the extent of what we're asking
02:37them to do now.