ComicBook talked to Tony Hale and Liza Lapira about Pixar’s newest sequel.
Inside Out 2 hit theaters this weekend, and not only is the film getting rave reviews, but it’s also having a fantastic opening at the box office. The Pixar sequel made an impressive $295 million this weekend, and it’s currently up on Rotten Tomatoes with a 92% critics score and a 96% audience score. ComicBook’s Charlie Ridgley gave the new film a 4.5 out of 5, and called it a “brilliant” sequel that’s “overflowing with both heart and humor.” The movie sees the return of some fan-favorite characters, including Amy Poehler as Joy, but some of the returning emotions are voiced by new actors. In the first film, Fear was voiced by Bill Hader, but Tony Hale has taken over the role. Mindy Kaling was the original voice of Disgust, but now the emotion is being played by Liza Lapira. ComicBook recently had the chance to chat with Hale and Lapira who revealed they didn’t get the full script for Inside Out 2.Â
“For me, it was seeing it, because we really didn’t see a script initially,” Hale revealed when asked when the classic Pixar gun-punches hit him in the feels. “You’re working with pieces, so like I didn’t see any of her scenes actually until the movie and then that gut punch moment, I didn’t see it until the movie. So I had the same reaction you did.”
“I had a couple gut punches,” Lapira added. “There’s that moment where they all embraced and then there was also the manifestation of the anxiety attack, seeing poor little baby Anxiety go in a whirling dervish and be frozen. That brought me to tears because that is what it’s like, and that emotion is just trying to help.”
Who Stars in Inside Out 2?
Inside Out 2Â is bringing back the five core emotions from the first movie: Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale), and Disgust (Liza Lapira). The sequel will mark the debut of new emotions like Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Ennui (Adele Exarchopoulos), and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser).
“[Inside Out] was everything I love about movies, especially here at Pixar,” Inside Out 2 director Kelsey Mann told ComicBook and other outlets during a sneak peek at the film. “It was fun, it was imaginative and it made a meaningful impact on the world. But ever since I walked out of that theater back in 2015, I kept thinking about Joy’s last line at the end of the film: ‘After all, Riley’s 12, now. What could happen?’ Well, that’s the question we want to answer in this movie.”
Inside Out 2Â is now playing exclusively in theaters.