Last week I had the amazing opportunity to attend the laugh-out-loud press conference for Disney Pixar’s newest animated adventure Inside Out. The Inside Out press conference was held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on a sunny Sunday morning, all opinions are my own. There was a definite excited buzz in the air as press waited for the filmmakers and cast to join the conference, Inside Out is sure to be a record-breaking smash film and we all knew we were on the brink of press conference greatness. Pete Docter (Director) and Jonas Rivera (Producer) along with stars Amy Poehler (voice of “Joy”), Bill Hader (voice of “Fear”), Mindy Kaling (voice of “Disgust”), Phyllis Smith (voice of “Sadness”) and Lewis Black (voice of “Anger”) were in attendance to entertain and delight a room full of press and media.
The dynamic duo whom created beloved Disney Pixar classic animated films such as Toy Story and UP have teamed up once again to create a film about human emotions. Set in the mind of an 11 year old girl named Riley, Inside Out is an emotionally hilarious film about change, growing up and learning how to adapt in the face of adversity. What is most definitely a difficult topic to cover, Inside Out is a emotionally charged film that is completely relatable to children and adults alike. Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera are masters of creating multi-dimensional content that is understandable and relatable and Inside Out may just be their most prized film yet. Inside Out isn’t just worth seeing, it’s worth seeing over and over and over and over again.
“Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera are masters of creating multi-dimensional content that is understandable and relatable to children and adults alike” – The Funny Mom Blog
I had the incredibly amazing pleasure of seeing first concepts of Inside out and having the insane pleasure of meeting Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera one year ago at the Directors Guild of America theater. The super exclusive event held a small cocktail reception after screening the LAVA short and watching early concepts of Inside Out. During the reception sipped on Hawaiian flavored cocktails and I had the opportunity (with Tee Burgess of That’s It Mommy) to ask Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera a few questions. My main concern – without having seen the film of course – was it’s mature concept for a young audience. Jonas Rivera assured me that not only was the material relatable to children, that in fact many children were soaking up the concepts like sponges and applying them to everyday life.
Signed Inside Out Concept Art
After having seen Inside Out, not only can I vouch for the child relatablity of it’s difficult cognitive concepts I can attest to the films ability to give children the ability to use emotions as a vehicle of understanding (in short-kids get it!).
Bill Hader (“fear”)
Being in front of the colorful cast of voice characters of Inside Out during the Inside Out press conference was a bit like watching an SNL skit during the press conference in Beverly Hills just a few weeks ago. I may laugh at every press conference I am fortunate to be able to attend, however this one was quite at the top of laughability.
Phyllis Smith (“sadness”)
Inside Out Emotion Character Development
During development of the Inside Out characters, Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera shared with us during the Inside Out press conference about their original quick visual concepts for each of the emotion characters used for story board development:
Sadness – was the shape of a teardrop. Blue and quite indicative of her personality.
Fear – was the shape of a nerve, a jagged, straight line. Fear was chosen to be the color purple because that was what was left over. They joked that purple would be associated with the emotion of fear thanks to this film “I’m so afraid I’m purple!”
Joy – was the shape of a star. A happy, bright, yellow shining star.
Anger – was the shape of a brick. A hard, immovable solid mass of red.
Disgust – was the shape of broccoli! Which is just so fitting.
Lewis Black (“anger”)
The casting of the Inside Out emotion characters deemed as important as the original story line of the film. Each actor plays their part perfectly with a depth that lacks in most children’s films. You can say that the emotional character dimensionality of Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera films are what makes them so special.
Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera expressed their desire to create another film about the coming together of people and about how the most important thing in life is relationships. If you take a moment and look back on Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera’s film portfolio, their films are successful and dynamic for their amazing truthfulness, their human relatablity and above all – their theme of relationships. Whereas Pete and Jonas created UP as a love letter to their grandparents, Inside Out is a love letter to their children. Pete Docter was inspired to create this film after watching his own daughter change and become withdrawn and he wondered what was happening inside her head.
Whereas Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera created Disney Pixar “UP” as a love letter to their grandparents, “Inside Out” is a love letter to their children”
The Inside Out press conference was a wonderful opportunity to connect with the thoughtful story and the thoughtful story behind the story (see what I did there?). I cannot wait for you all to see it.
Inside Out premieres in theaters nationwide on June 19th 2015!
p.s. I want to give a special shout out to Courtney of FaveMom for allowing me to take the pictures you see here in this post with her amazing camera! You’re the best wifey!
Anytime wifey, cause you’re a MUCH better photographer 🙂 <3 <3 <3