Written and directed by Brad Bird, the animated action adventure film Incredibles 2 sees Helen (voiced by Holly Hunter) called upon to help bring Supers back while Bob (voiced by Craig T. Nelson) is left to navigate the day-to-day family life at home. When a high-tech super-villain known as Screenslaver hatches a brilliant but scary plot that the Incredibles can only overcome if they work together, Violet (voiced by Sarah Vowell), Dash (voiced by Huck Milner) and baby Jack-Jack jump in to lend a hand and their powers to help their parents save the world.
During a conference at the film’s Los Angeles press day, co-stars Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter and Samuel L. Jackson, along with filmmaker Brad Bird, talked about the decision to pick up right where the last film left off, the role reversal with Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl, how the sequel ideas have evolved, over the years, making a movie that all ages can enjoy, how The Incredibles may have influenced the Marvel Cinematic Universe, how the fight with Jack-Jack came about, and why there’s a shout out to Jonny Quest.
Question: Brad, why did you decide to pick things up right away with the sequel, instead of having an older Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack?
BRAD BIRD: I just thought it was bold and weird because people take the time that passes very literally and they think that the characters should have aged, but if they age, their superpowers don’t reflect the part of life that they’re in and their role in the family. I worked on the first eight seasons of The Simpsons, and they haven’t aged a day and they’re still on the air. It’s worked for them, so why not us?
This film has a role reversal between Elastigirl and Mr. Incredible. Holly, what did you think about that role reversal, when you read the script?
HOLLY HUNTER: Well, I didn’t read a screenplay because there wasn’t really one.
SAMUEL L. JACKSON: You didn’t see the whole script?
HUNTER: [Brad is] the screenplay. He was my walking encyclopedia.
BIRD: You had pages.
HUNTER: He was my instruction manual. It was awhile before I truly realized what I was really going to get to do in the movie, and I was really thrilled, but it was a retroactive thrill, over a period of months, before I started gleefully singing during our recording sessions about how great my part was. To me, it was just really fun. I don’t think that this is a message movie, in any way. I think it’s purely luck of the draw that this happens to be dovetailing with #MeToo and Time’s Up, but obviously, time is up. I feel that way, personally, and it just happens to be serendipitously reflected, in this particular movie. At the same time, it’s character revelation. Everybody is having revelations, including Jack-Jack. All of the characters are revelations to the audience and to themselves, and I’m no exception, as Elastigirl.
CRAIG T. NELSON: I was resentful when I was told where Mr. Incredible was going to be in this film. He’s not saving lives or exhibiting any kind of strength, at all. We argued about it, and then I found out that I was going to be helping save the family, and that Bob was going to learn how to be a dad and learn about these kids. The recording process was just so much fun. The stuff I did with Violet, and Jack-Jack and that whole discovery, and then Dash, and having to deal with Elastigirl out there doing what I want to do and being able to give her the encouragement and let her know that everything is okay. It was just a lot of fun. I’m so honored to be a part of it and to be doing this.
Brad, since the first film, you’ve said that you had an idea for Incredibles 2. Has this always been your idea for the sequel, or has it evolved, over the years?
BIRD: The idea of the role switch, and that the assignment would go to Helen rather than Bob, I had when we were promoting the first film. I also knew that I had the unexploded bomb of Jack-Jack’s powers. The audience knew that he had them, but the Parrs did not. But, the villain part always seemed to change. When I went to Pixar and said, “I think I have the other part of the story figured out,” we got greenlit, we got a crew, we started spending money, and we got a release date. And then, the release date got moved up a year, and suddenly the pressure was huge. The plot didn’t work and I was screwed because I had a release date and we were working on Incredibles 2. They’d be like, “You know what you’re doing, right?” And I’d be like, “Yeah, I know what I’m doing. We’ve got two years left.” And then, it was a year and a half left, and they were like, “Do you feel comfortable? Everybody has high expectations, okay?” The villain plot kept changing because it just didn’t serve the story. Everyone had to adjust it constantly, which only made more anxiety, but I think that we wound up with the right version of this movie. That was also true of the first movie. The Incredibles was the only project that came from outside of Pixar and was pitched to Pixar. I had drawings, I had designs, I had an outline of the whole thing, and I had all kinds of artwork that I paid for myself. And if they didn’t want to make it, I was going to take it somewhere else. But I came with a villain that was a different villain than we wound up with, and in exploring an alternate opening when I came to Pixar, I introduced a villain that we killed off in the opening sequence, and that was a better villain than the one that we had. So, I don’t know why, but for some reason, the villain comes last.
This is not only a movie that kids will enjoy, but it’s definitely also a fun movie for adults. Was that intentional?
BIRD: Yeah. Kids are strangely treated like beards, for animated films. “I’m a single guy, but I wanna see this. I found a kid. He was roaming the streets. I told him I would pay for his ticket. Will you let me in? Can I come in now?” It’s an art form for anyone that likes movies. You don’t need to have a kid. People are constantly coming up to me and saying, “My kid really enjoyed it.” I say, “Did you like it?,” and they go, “Oh, yeah, sure, but Billy really liked it.” I’m like, “I made it for you, but Billy can go, too.” I’m not a kid, and I made it something that I would want to see.
HUNTER: I think that we probably all felt that way about the first one, as well. It was a movie that stood on its own. It’s not a kid's movie. In a way, this one is more not a kids movie, although kids totally dig it. Small kids love Jack-Jack and Dash, but the movie has a complexity that is really astonishing, in that it’s got like five different movies in it and they all work in concert with each other. It’s an incredible fabric that’s been woven together. It’s very sophisticated.
There’s a timeless quality to both of the Incredibles movies, but superheroes were not the dominant force, when the first film came out, 14 years ago, that they are now. How much, if at all, did that affect or the process of developing this movie?
BIRD: Oh, yeah, I immediately banned three point landings. No. There was a dark moment when all of the machinery was kicked into gear, where we got the release date, and two years from that moment, the film was going to come out. I was like, “There’s too many superhero movies now. Are people going to be sick of this, in two years? Is anybody ready for some fresh superheroes?” Then, I realized that what excited me about the idea, in the first place, was not the superheroes. It was that it was about the family dynamic, and people’s roles in different parts of their lives, and how the superhero genre is like a twisted lemon that you squeeze on top of this. To me, families are a continent of fresh opportunities because it’s so universal. And so, I got excited again when I thought about it that way. That was really what excited me about the first movie.
Sam, can you see the influence of The Incredibles on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and vice versa?
JACKSON: As I remember, that family fell out in Infinity War, didn’t they? And nobody called me to make them be good. I did bring all these people into S.H.I.E.L.D. and, all of a sudden, I’m not there! So, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I can’t relate! The genre has grown, and it has grown inside this one place. Sure, there’s that other company that makes movies that are like this, and some of them are good. A couple of them are good. There’s a real interesting playbook that I look at, when I watch all of the movies, and they have this secret sauce. Sometimes I wonder ‘cause I’m there and I’m looking at the directors going, “These guys did a TV show. Why are they doing this? If this person does these serious dramas, why is he doing this?” There’s something that they know or find that makes it work. The relationships among the people, on the inside of those films, always become intimate and intricate. Sometimes the people who are really related, like Loki and Thor, don’t like each other or there’s family discord. And the people that don’t know each other, that are looking for that connection, become tied together in a very interesting way. You’ve got your bratty brother in Iron Man. You’ve got your special needs kid in Hulk. You’ve got your sister who turns out to be Black Widow, who’s a real killer. All these things come together and these people find a common goal, or they’re all working toward the common good, which brings them together in a very unique and interesting way. So, I really don’t know what’s going on, but I can pretend that I do. I make things happen.
Brad, how did you come up with the fight between Jack-Jack and the raccoon?
BIRD: That was one of our key artists on the first film, who helped design the characters. He came up with a lot of great ideas. His name is Teddy Newton, and he had the idea, back on the original film. He had a gang of raccoons that Jack-Jack confronted. The raccoons came up and shoved Jack-Jack, and it went a lot darker, believe it or not, but they fought and went to the bottom of the pool. The idea always just killed me because raccoons look vaguely like robbers. Teddy did a drawing where Jack-Jack was watching an old movie, and he saw a classic robber with a mask. And then, he looked out in the yard and saw something stealing from him. It didn’t matter that it was garbage. Jack-Jack doesn’t know that. A robber was stealing something from his family, and he just knew that he was being robbed and that he must do something about it. I loved that! It was so visual and clear, and it was such an off-the-wall idea that it was one of the things that I couldn’t wait to do, if we got another Incredibles going.
When Jack-Jack is watching the TV, it’s clearly a cartoon that you guys created, but later in the film, you used footage from The Outer Limits and Jonny Quest. What was the thought behind that?
BIRD: One of my personal rules in an animated film is that, if they’re watching something on TV, it should be animated. The soundtrack of the old movie is an actual soundtrack from an old movie that we found, and we animated to it. Jonny Quest is an animated show, so it fit into the universe. It’s that action-adventure style, from the early ‘60s, so it fits with our film. We only used the beginning The Outer Limits it because it’s still abstract. It’s lines and things, not visual photographs, and that fit really well with the Screenslaver thing because they’re talking about taking control of your TV. When I was a kid, I just remember that scared the crap out of me. I would hide from the TV because it was being taken over, so I had to put it in there. And I just love Jonny Quest. A lot of people don’t remember that it wasn’t made for Saturday morning. It was made for primetime. It came on at night, and adults watched it. People died in it. It mummies, and it had pterodactyls and guns. There was kid from another country who could levitate things, and a bodyguard who had a fling with a girl that might be dangerous. There were lasers, hydrofoils, jet packs, reptiles, and robot spies, and I just about exploded when I saw the opening titles to it. So, we just had to give Jonny Quest a shout out.
Craig and Sam, do you guys ever have kids come up to you, recognize your voice, and associate you with this movie?
JACKSON: Kids don’t do that! Their parents do, and they try to make the kid know who you are. “That’s Frozone, honey!” And the kid is looking at you like, “You don’t have a blue suit on! You’re not making ice stuff!” And then, you have to give the kid a catch phrase. But, they don’t know who we are from Adam. We don’t get a new audience because we did a movie that kids really like. They have no idea who we are, in our real selves.
NELSON: It’s embarrassing, really. The moms and dads are saying “Look, Bill! That’s Mr. Incredible!” And the kid’s just staring at you. “Well, say something like Mr. Incredible!” It’s been 14 years, I don’t remember what I said in the first one. “How about this? It’s showtime!” It’s just embarrassing.
Incredibles 2 opens in theaters on June 15th.
