Walt Disney Animation's BIG HERO 6 is essentially a riff on Martha Coolidge's REAL GENIUS in which the brilliant undergrads seek to stop the nefarious exploitation of their work not by destroying their professor's home with popcorn, but by becoming superheroes. It's a film that celebrates knowledge as a superpower to be wielded against evil and corruption - i.e. the more you know, the harder you work to improve your mind and the lives of others, the better off the world will be. And this is a wonderfully inspiring message to send to kids in an age when science and technology aren't tethered to something as cool as, say, going to the moon.
Even cooler is BIG HERO 6's sensitive treatment of death and depression, both of which knock Hiro, the film's protagonist, sideways when his older brother Tadashi is killed in a suspicious fire. He receives an unexpected lifeline from his departed sibling in the form of Baymax, a soft, inflatable, insanely adorable robot whose sole purpose is to examine an individual and fix whatever ails them. This was the project Tadashi was working on before his death, and, in Hiro's hands, it has the potential for both good and evil; it just depends on whether the puberty-stricken Hiro can reconcile his desire for justice with his thirst for revenge. Fortunately, Hiro has a motley collection of good-hearted geniuses from the local university helping to keep him on a righteous path; together, they must save the fictional San Fransokyo from the disastrous misapplication of Hiro's nanobots by a profit-driven corporate villain (and another mysterious figure).
Based on an obscure Marvel comic book, BIG HERO 6 is an ecstatically entertaining concoction brewed up by the Disney "Story Trust". The directors in charge of this latest triumph (coming on the heels of FROZEN and TANGLED) are Don Hall (2011's WINNIE THE POOH) and Chris Williams (BOLT), but they are quick to share credit with their colleagues - which, in this case, included Marvel Studios' Joe Quesada and Jeph Loeb. It's the first cross-company collaboration between these two creative teams, and I'm quite certain it won't be the last; the mixture of heart and comic book action is spot-on to an exhilarating extent that I've not seen since THE INCREDIBLES.
When I sat down to chat with Hall and Williams, I couldn't help but notice the various Marvel Comics covers adorning their walls. I felt a little distracted at first, so I was relieved when Williams wound up getting thrown off by the t-shirt I'd randomly selected for the day. It was a fun discussion. I especially enjoyed their explanation of Baymax's waddling gait.
Jeremy: My initial reaction to the film was that it felt like a riff on REAL GENIUS.
Don Hall: (Laughs) I love that movie.
Chris Williams: It was referenced.
Hall: Yeah, I don't think he ever saw it, but we did talk about that movie quite a bit in the story room before Chris came on. It is one of my favorites. It's one of my favorite Val Kilmer performances. It was definitely in the pot of inspiration.
Williams: We were constantly talking about our own life experiences, but also referencing other stories and movies as well.
Hall: That's the craziest thing about this movie: our filmic inspirations were from ORDINARY PEOPLE to REAL GENIUS to AKIRA. That's the gamut.
Williams: And all the Miyazaki films. MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO.
Jeremy: I can definitely see that, but ORDINARY PEOPLE? Was there a version where the mother was, like, Mary Tyler Moore mean?
Hall: (Laughs) Yes. Super mean!
Jeremy: But the heroes being these brilliant nerds is so cool. They're eager to learn. It's a film that champions knowledge and science. Was that something you always wanted to bring to it?
Hall: Yeah. I'm sure you know how our story process works. We're constantly writing, storyboarding, screening and constantly tearing it down and building it up; that probably happens over the course of a movie's life seven or eight times. But science and technology were always going to be a huge component of the film. In the comic book, it was really undefined where everybody's power came from. Some of it was technology, but with Fred, in the comic, it felt like a kind of mutant power. I felt pretty strongly that we needed to ground the movie in a reality, because we're in a fanciful place with San Fransokyo, so we made a decision that nobody is going to be superpowered; it's going to be super-tech. We're dealing with a protagonist who's a genius, and the brother who's going to be a genius, and it just felt right that science and technology would be the superpower of the film. It goes back to Marvel, too; they utilize science in a lot of the early works by Stan Lee. What it did was limit us in a good way. Baymax… there are no other characters who fly. Baymax is the only character who flies, so Hiro can experience that kind of wish fulfillment that every kid who ever dreamed of having a robot would want to fly with a robot. It walked it back to that early thing where we put a stake in the ground and said "Nobody's superpowered. It's all super-technology."
Williams: I like the idea that once we establish San Fransokyo that people know we're not on our Earth as we know it, and we're not on Marvel's version of the Earth as we know it. We're somewhere else. This world doesn't have superheroes. These are the first. I like what that does. It feels like these guys are embarking on a journey that is unique.
Jeremy: No one's bitten by a radioactive spider.
Hall: If someone's bitten by a spider, they'll probably have an allergic reaction. They'll say "Ow", and that'll be it.
Williams: But I like what it says to kids. It says that you have a lot of potential, and you should go out there and do what you can to realize that potential and do good things with it - be curious and learn about different technologies. If it fosters that, if it celebrates the idea of being smart and getting into science, that's great.
Hall: It may sound counterintuitive with animation, like "Why ground it? It's animation. You can do whatever you want!" But what it did was lead to more creative choices. I believe that limitations often lead to more creative choices.
Jeremy: For me, at least, the stakes were raised. There's real peril.
Williams: One of the things I find that works about the film is the scope. It goes from a very small movie to this epic thing with a portal over the campus and the whole world is coming apart. I think you feel that scope because we indulge in these tinier moments at the beginning of the film.
Jeremy: You're also showing the futility of revenge without it feeling like a lesson. How do you strike that balance of imparting a positive message without feeling like you're wagging your finger at the audience.
Williams: I'm sorry, I missed your entire question. Is that t-shirt from THE PARALLAX VIEW?
Jeremy: Yes, it is.
Williams: Greatest movie ever, man. I love that movie. I'm always bringing it up, and no one knows what I'm talking about.
Hall: If only there was a reference to that in the film!
Williams: Sorry. You can answer that question. I'm just enamored.
Hall: Now I want to watch THE PARALLAX VIEW. I've never seen it! But did we ever feel like we were beating people over the head with certain thematic notions? I'm sure we did. I don't have a specific example, but our process allows us to do that and then dial it back. We screen these movies, like, seven times over the course of three years. We go up in a room right after the screening - and it's not just the directors that see these movies, it's the entire studio. I always tell them the price of admission is to give us notes. So they're off, they go back to their desk and start writing up notes while we're up in a room with the other directors. We call it the "Story Trust": it's some of the writers, John Lasseter and, on this film, Joe Quesada and Jeph Loeb from Marvel. They became part of our Story Trust. So our process would allow for everybody to tell us "Yeah, I think you're beating it pretty hard here." You can see it up on the screen. They're storyboard drawings, but once you become accustomed to watching a movie like that, these big story ideas become very apparent, as do story holes and problems like that.
Williams: Sometimes we put a stake in the ground early on and say "This is what the movie's about." Then the people who are helping us to make the movie understand where we're going. So you'll have lines where someone says, "I sure hope this technology doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Can you imagine if it fell into the wrong hands?" We'll have awful lines like that, but at least they'll know what we're talking about.
Hall: You don't have time to finesse it. Just be clear, say it and finesse it later - or, in that case, get rid of it. (Laughs)
Williams: The nice thing is, the way we work is that we make iteration after iteration; we know when we first put together a screening that we're not making the movie yet. We're making a tool, a platform from which to see what the movie is ultimately going to be. You're allowed to get things wrong, get things right and learn things. "Maybe the story doesn't want to be about this. Maybe it's about this. Maybe we need to lose this character, or add this character. Maybe the entire structure needs to be rejiggered." You get many screenings where you're not making the movie; you're trying to learn about the movie. It's not until much later in the process that you actually start putting things into production and start creating scenes - and even then it's a very fluid environment. You're constantly changing and challenging your assumptions; you're asking people to disagree with you. "This is what I think about the movie. What do you think? Do you disagree with me?" And that's okay. Only through that do you arrive at the great movie. You're never going to have the great movie right out of the gate. You have to be able to challenge yourself and challenge each other, and make the movie better.
Jeremy: What did Joe and Jeph bring to the process? Did their involvement change the dynamic?
Hall: They were there for the first pitch. The first meeting with the Marvels, there were a few other people there, too; it was probably six or seven people the first time. Then it got winnowed down to Joe and Jeph, and we really became friends with them. That first meeting, all of my anxiety was put to rest because they talk story the way we talk story; that's all they care about is story and character. Once I knew we all spoke that same language, I knew it would be a pretty smooth integration. I knew once they met all of the other directors in the Story Trust and John that they'd realize we're all the same. They really gave us creative freedom early on. They said, "Don't worry about setting BIG HERO 6 in the Marvel universe." That's what led to San Fransokyo, this alternate universe, mash-up idea. It almost became a character in the movie. It's like the seventh character in the movie. It spoke to our strength, which is creating worlds. It's the most important thing to John [Lasseter] early on. It gave us this great playground in which to set the story. It's grounded in reality, but it's also whimsical and caricatured and slightly futuristic, but not cold.
Williams: I really felt a kinship. You felt like you spoke the same language and shorthand. I also felt a real cultural similarity between our studio and Marvel Studios. They seem to really be passionate about their characters. They love their characters and are really invested in their characters, and then the success follows. They're not trying to second guess the market, they're just trying to tell great stories with characters they love. We're the same way. Working for John Lasseter, it's always character and story first; get that right, and then good things will happen.
Hall: They're their own champions. They kind of formed their own Story Trust, but I don't think they call themselves anything.
Jeremy: They do actually. It's the "Creative Committee".
Hall: Oh, that's so formal! I call them the Marvels. But if it works for them, okay. (Laughs) But again they have a similar background in that they're fans of Marvel and want to maintain a creative consistency over it. And the movies where they're not as involved in their properties, are, for me, not as successful at capturing what makes Marvel Marvel.
Jeremy: I love everything about Baymax, but especially his gait. How did you get that right? How many permutations were there of his walk?
Hall: Baymax, I've gotta tell you… once we cracked it and found that idea of soft robotics at Carnegie Melon. We went on a research trip early on looking for a huggable robot, and not knowing what form it was going to take - other than it had to be something we'd never seen before. The practical app for soft robotics - which is basically vinyl that is inflatable - is going to be in the health care industry. It fundamentally defined who Baymax was going to be personality-wise and in character design. Out of the gate, we had a design we all loved, and a character who had all the potential in the world. Then the animators started playing around with him… it was Patrick Osborne and our head of animation Zach Parrish, they wanted him to be fun and appealing, so they based his walk on toddlers. They did three versions: there was a wobbly toddler, another toddler and a toddler with a full diaper. We all gravitated toward the toddler with the full diaper. He had the cutest walk. And once we had that walk down, we knew he was going to be very deliberate with his movements. He wasn't going to be very fast. (Laughs) A lot of our running time is Baymax, because, as you've seen, he is very slow. That juxtaposed with a very fast, manic hero makes things kind of interesting. Then later in the process, it started to gel when Baymax became more proactive. For a while, he's more reactionary and Hiro was driving everything. It wasn't until we had Baymax take on the task of "I'm going to heal him". First he thinks he has puberty, but then he sees he's dealing with the loss of his brother. "I'm going to learn all I can about loss, and I'm going to try to heal him in whatever way I can. If that means we're going to go on a daredevil ride through San Fransokyo, that's what we're going to do." That's when the two stories of dealing with loss and a superhero origin started to meld.
Williams: I do love how methodical and deliberate Baymax is; he's a robot who solves one problem at a time. But no character is interesting in a vacuum, and so I love the dynamic between him and Hiro. Hiro thinks fast, he's very manic and young and energetic, so him paired with Baymax is gold.
Jeremy: Do you get the sense that you've put pressure on health care professionals to create a robot as lovable as Baymax?
Hall: It's interesting. Interviewing these guys, they're always a little frustrated with Hollywood. They'd always bring up their parents. They'd say, "Oh, my son's a roboticist!" Then they'd come to see the robot, and they'd be like, "That's it? It takes twenty minutes to fold a towel?" But they understand where robotics is and where it could go. It's in its infancy now, and they're a little frustrated of the ideas Hollywood puts out in the ether of how advanced robotics is. They're not quite there yet.
Perhaps BIG HERO 6 will inspire a new generation of roboticists to take it there.
BIG HERO 6 hits theaters November 7, 2014.
Faithfully submitted,
Jeremy Smith
