Cast & Creators for 'Hoppers' | Conversations at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation

So, I'm going to start with the obvious one, which is, how did this come about? Where did the story come from? What was the inspiration here? Yeah, I mean, I had worked at Pixar as a story artist, and then I left to make a TV show. It's called We Bare Bears. And then I came back after I finished that show, because I had a relationship with Pete Docter, we still talked, and he said, why don't you come back and develop a movie? So, when you go to Pixar to develop a movie, they kind of make you come up with three ideas. And so, I kind of had two ideas that I was really hoping that he would pick, and then I had a third idea called Penguin Avatar, that I was like, there's no way they're going to pick this. It was just a joke, almost, just to put it in. And then, sure enough, six years later, that's the movie we made. A lot of it was based on actual real documentaries, where they actually put robot animals into nature, and they have cameras in their eyes, and it's to spy on animals, and to have an inside kind of look at them without humans there. So, we kind of just imagined that, but the technology was so good, animals couldn't tell a difference. This, into this. This, into this. Like, it just stays with you, doesn't it? But, I mean, look, you have been with Pixar since before it was even Pixar. Long time you've been with Pixar. Yeah. So, but- Almost. So, six years from the ingestion of the idea to what we saw on the screen, what were those first conversations like, and how did it evolve from what was at first, to what it became? How did you all sort of enter the think tank, and really piece it all together? Yeah, well, after the penguins were rejected, Daniel needed to find another animal, and in doing a lot of research, you know, he can tell this story better than I, but he came across beavers. You know, there was a story about Yellowstone, how they reintroduced wolves, and how that changed the balance there, and beavers were really a big part of that story. And then, I think when you started looking at beavers, they're so dang cute. If you guys have looked at any of the movies on Instagram, I highly recommend it. It became clear these were the characters for an animated movie, and you had always wanted to tell something that was environmental. Mabel came to you, we'll talk a lot more about Mabel, but the community that she was going into, that she would learn from, would be a beaver community. And it took a long time to get to that place of figuring out, like, I mean, we knew how she would get in there, but how were we going to fall in love with Mabel? How were we going to get to a place where there was a kind of conclusion to this arc of learning from the beavers, and I think saving, really, herself and the world. All right, so Piper, this is your first animated feature film. How did this come about for you? And more importantly, what was your first take on the script, and your first take on Mabel? Oh my gosh, wow. Well, that's a bit of a story, I suppose, because it came about because Daniel saw me on TikTok, which is crazy. And TikTok was not a thing I was doing to get jobs. I was bored, and there was a pandemic and a strike, and it was sort of like, what else can you do? And Daniel is very, very good at what he does, and was able to see the Mabel that lived inside of me, just in my own videos. And so when I got this audition, it was very, very under wraps. I didn't really have an idea of what it was until we sort of started the audition process. And then by the time we really got into it, I was like, oh, I love this, and I would very much like to be a part of it. And this character kind of looks like me, so I'm like, I feel like this is mine to lose. And it was a bit of a process, to make a long story short. Sorry, Piper. There was a point at which I was told I did not get the role. But it was never because either of them did not want that. I mean, I think they were definitely my champions throughout the entire process, and saw so much more of Mabel in me than I did at first. And then, you know, along the way, I was like, oh, we're the same person. So yeah, it was definitely a wild process, but very, very in line with the rest of sort of the way that my career has gone, which is where you just cannot expect anything. You can't, you know, bank on anything, but you also can't, like, you have to be surprised and like be okay with the surprises, because sometimes they're really great. And yeah, no, just a very, very crazy process. But now, yeah, Mabel lives in me and I in her, which is just a wild thing to say. I've known you for five minutes, I'm like, you're her, you're Mabel. And that's the biggest compliment. But, you know, after working as a producer on Incredibles 2, what were the unique producing challenges for Hoppers? Like, I mean, and how did, like Pete Docter, maybe some of the other producers, some of the other directors working on the other films sort of chime in with the development process, especially when it came to Mabel? Well, it was an original film with a new director to Pixar. I mean, Daniel had been at Pixar as a story artist, but this was the first time he was directing there. And so for me, it was a different kind of dynamic than it had been in the past, where I was the one who knew more about how to do this than Daniel. But I also knew it was this huge challenge. He came up with an idea that if he knew more about the process, he would have known was too big. But we were able to, and I'm glad you didn't know, actually, because we ended up with this great film. But it was really a challenge to embrace that, get the studio on board. Pete was always a big supporter of us and a big supporter of Daniel's. He loved the premise. I mean, he embraced it completely. And there were some rough times along the way. Mabel was a character who alienated some in some of our first story reels. They felt like she was just too strident and loud and shrill and angry, a young woman doing that. Some people didn't respond well to that. And so we took a long time with the story, trying to find ways to introduce the character, make her more compelling, more sympathetic. And the whole opening part with the grandmother was the thing that really changed things for us and for her character, and really won over the audience. Daniel, I've got to say, for your first animated feature, I mean, you knocked it out of the park. I mean, I really, truly, just absolutely, this movie's incredible. I've seen it three times, and just watching it for the third time, I'm like, wow, this is, it's sophisticated. So parents are going to take their kids, are going to be like, wow, this movie's really good. And the kids are going to love it because the kids are going to love it. So there is a sweet spot that you have to get to that point where it does appeal to grownups and kids equally. So Daniel, how did you really get there? How did you work with Nicole and the rest of the team at Pixar to get to that point where you just nailed it? Yeah, I mean, well, the movie took six years to make. So we definitely, we had a bit of time. And I would just say that Pixar has a system now, but they made, at this point, 31 films. Ours was the 30th. And so they've, you know, what that comes with is a culture of people who just have done it before, and they aren't phased by issues that a movie has. And they kind of also know how to help guide you and troubleshoot things really well. And I think for our movie, it was no different. I do think, though, that we did present a sense, a certain tone that the studio had not dealt with before. And a lot of it was just because it was so crazy and outlandish. And Pixar, because it's such a controlled studio and they give notes on everything, they tend to be very logic-based in terms of the kinds of movies they make and the rules of each movie. And we are kind of famously not a logic-based movie. Our movie is pure chaos. I mean, animals are wearing crowns, sharks getting lifted out of the water, animals are in robot human bodies. It's just like we really pushed that logic as far as we could, and I think that was the thing that really challenged Pixar as a studio, was like, can we, can this be a Pixar movie if it's this crazy? And I think they really, I think Pete Docter, what I feel really lucky about is Pete Docter, as he took over the studio, has a taste that's a little crazy. I mean, you guys think Up or Monsters, Inc., a lot of his movies, they're kind of crazy inside out. They're very outlandish ideas. And I do think that because he was open to that kind of thing, he wanted to work with us to make it work. And so I think a lot of that hack was to really make kind of what Nicole said, make Mabel likable, make her sympathetic, and really get us behind her and ground. All that stuff you saw in the beginning of the movie was work that we had to put in to make sure that everyone believed her, that that was a real character, and we cared deeply about her. And obviously, Piper was a huge part of that, because once her voice came in, you're like, that's a real person, and I care about her. Once you do that, you can start to play around. Let's talk about your approach to Mabel. What informed your approach, other than obviously working with your producer and director? But ultimately, what were your points of connection to her, even though now we know that you are really her? But it's your first animated feature, so that's got to bring a whole lot of new challenges as an actor. Oh my gosh, yeah. The amount of imposter syndrome I had was crazy. I think it took at least three sessions for me to be like, am I going to get fired because I can't do this? Not because of how they were, but just my own insecurities. I think so much of what helped me and helped make Mabel and Hoppers what it was, was just the fact that Daniel did know and see that that character was me or lived inside of me, and so I didn't have to do a lot of crazy work to get there. Some of the really emotional point of the movie, where she's breaking down and King George is comforting her, those are words I've said in my real life. Why does nobody else care? Why do I feel so alone? I'm in the booth actually weeping because I'm feeling all of it. I just feel like I was very, very lucky in being given a character and a script that I could immediately connect with. Because oftentimes, as an actor, you're playing characters that are not you, or are very different from you, or are doing things or saying things that you would never do or say, and that's part of being an actor. But it is really so special when you get to step into a character that you're like, oh, I don't have to do anything. This is me and I am them. I think I owe a lot of that to Daniel, and just seeing that that's who I am and what Mabel needed. And yeah, I was really lucky in how easy it was to get there. Yeah. So Daniel, when Piper was recording her voiceover, were other actors present so she could work off of them? Because otherwise, that's got to be pretty difficult. Yeah, unfortunately, that is just the way we work. It's very much in isolation, and it's just hard to get schedules lined up, and a lot of scenes are just Piper on her own. But I'm there kind of to read opposite you as much as- Oh, I was going to say, Daniel's energy is definitely what kept me alive in that booth. Because it's only four hours of work, which does not sound like that much. But when you're exerting all your energy and you're yelling and you're making these noises, at a certain point, it's like, okay, what next? And Daniel truly was the source of energy in that room, keeping me going, and his way of working is definitely what helps. All our actors, though, definitely needed a lot of patience because we do a lot of takes, and especially because it's comedy. It's like comedy can kind of slice in so many different ways, and sometimes it's just a little beat that could make the difference. What was that line you had to do? Oh, the Avatar line. The Avatar line. Guys, this is like Avatar. What's that? We did that 83 times, that one line. Look out, David Fincher. Yeah. And sometimes it's not because Piper wasn't pulling it off. I mean, Piper's hilarious. And it's not because Daniel's insane. You know? Totally. No. Maybe. But it is. There's just a thousand different ways that line could be read, and then based on the other characters in the scene, how they're reading their lines, like this could play differently if they read it this way, but this one could play differently if they read it this way. You know? And it's just like a million different factors going into one line. And I also wanted to mention that we're shooting, or we're recording completely out of order. You know? It's like all over the place. You didn't even know what the whole story was because we were just having you record random sequences. We put these sequences into production based on their readiness, and it's a nonlinear process. So, you know, you're recording something in the middle of the film, and then you're recording something in the beginning, and then you do the end, and then back to the first act, and it's all over the place. The last things got made were the beginning of the movie. That's right. So, you know, I know you had Daniel with you, but did you like maybe put up pictures of Mabel around the V.O. boots so you can kind of like look at the pictures or the drawings? We didn't have pictures, but before we did every scene, they would show it to me in whatever stage it was at. So a lot of times it was just storyboarded, and sometimes it was like very far along the animation process. So it was like almost done. So they would show me the general idea of what it would look like, and that could always change. So I had a sort of a good vision of like, okay, this is generally how it's going to play out and how like Mabel will be a part of this, which was really fun for me because I got to kind of like be a part of the process and see it, get it made, and we had to go back a few times and rerecord different scenes of the, I want to say the door-to-door scene was the one we went back and did the most, where she's going door-to-door and trying to get the signatures and all of that stuff. Like we did that one a few times, but yeah. So it was very helpful to have those sort of like roadmaps a little bit right before we would do the scenes, and then I got to kind of like watch the movie as it's getting made. I watched the scene in the car with Jerry for the first time, and that was the first time I like laughed out loud at one of the scenes that they showed me, and it was just a very strange when you've really only done live action acting, because that is not how it works in that world. But to kind of be a part of the process of it genuinely getting made was really cool. And there's always a camera on Piper when she's recording, and so whenever the animators then get the footage of the line, they are always looking at Piper's performance and trying to include that in the performance. And I think that is one of the reasons why sometimes the characters kind of feel like they look like the actor, is because they're mimicking their expressions, their mannerisms, their subtleties. Yeah, I've had friends of mine being like, you make that face in real life. You did. Because there are so many characters in the film, and specifically the look of Mabel, I would love to hear about your head of character development, and how specifically, because Piper's here, how Mabel came to look like Mabel. Well, you know, it's interesting. We did a lot of that design work before we cast the actors, actually. We spend several years while we're writing, we're designing, we're designing characters. We got those first character designs, wow, maybe the first or so year, and then we developed them. So I don't think any of the design work was done after we had the character. No, I had to sign a whole thing that was like, this character's look was not based on me. I can't. There's that part too. So it was just very uncanny, almost, that that is how it sort of worked out. Had to be. Totally had to be. I mean, one of the most obvious ones, or not obvious, but the one character that reflects the actor a lot is the shark, Diane. But again, that shark was not designed after Vanessa. But they looked very closely at her acting, and the way she smiles, and the way she talks, and they got that in there. And when you look at that shark, it feels like Vanessa. So again, that's a tribute to the animation team, and the kind of subtleties they were able to put in. It's the same with Jon Hamm and Mayor Jerry. There's a lot of Mayor Jerry, you think you're seeing Jon Hamm, but it's his performance. Wow. I feel like you could even say the same about Bobby and King George. It's true. He'll say that his bald spot is the same. You know? He loves that. But the casting process in general, I mean, like you mentioned Jon Hamm, and we're here in the Meryl Streep Theater, and she's the insect queen until you squished her. Can you talk about how the casting process came about for the ensemble? Yeah, I love talking about this, because you make this movie over the course of six years, and all these things happen over the course of it. And then it's not until the end where you go, wow, all these things happened on the same movie. Meryl's in it? SZA did a song? Wait, what? So anyways, Meryl is one of the things that just happened on this movie. And so we kind of approached her to play this character, and she wanted to do a Zoom call. And so we're like, okay, so let's pitch her the movie. So we got on Zoom with Meryl, and we pitched her the movie, and she was just laughing through the whole pitch. And she connected with a lot of it. She loves beavers. She loves beavers. She has a house near a beaver pond, is obsessed with them, so she gets it. She understands how important beavers are. And then I think both of us felt during the pitch like, this is happening. This is going to happen. But then I realized, oh, I have to tell her that she's not going to live past her first scene. Is this going to be a deal breaker? And so Meryl was like, oh, this is great. She really laughed a lot. And I was like, Meryl, I have to tell you, you're going to get squished in the first scene that you're in. And she just laughed, and she thought it was hilarious. So we were like, oh, thank God. So yeah, and Meryl, when she came in to record, she was just very easygoing, very disarming. And she came in with that crazy voice. So when she went in, she kind of thought about it, had taken in this character, and she started off with this really wild voice. And we were a little nervous, because I don't know what that's going to sound like. But of course, all right, Meryl, let's just go for it. We're doing it. And she recorded the whole thing in this really big swing voice. And when we cut it in, it was like, oh my God, she got it. I didn't even know it was her until the second time I saw it. It's true. It's true. All right. So I want to ask. I want to go door-to-door, how you keep coming back to that. So I remember when I was doing interviews for Toy Story 3 back in 2010, and Tom Hanks and Tim Allen were like, yeah, we will record. And then after months, they'd say, come back, because we're redoing the scene. I would love to hear from you, because of all the films that you worked on as a producer, associate producer, whatever. Like that process. How do you know when something is not working, and it's worth rewriting it, and sort of reshooting it, and revoicing it? Take us through that process. Well, I think it's what makes Pixar Pixar. We have the great luxury of being able to iterate all the way to the end. A lot of people can't do that. You write the script, and then it gets made. And that's it. You live with that. And what we do is we build sets of reels right from the beginning. We have, over the course of production, eight internal screenings. Initially, it's storyboards, and temp voices, temp music. And gradually, as we're animating and adding things, we're putting them in, and we show these screenings, and we get notes. And if something isn't working, someone saying, I don't like Mabel in this scene, then we take a look at it. And if we need to make changes, we need to record new lines. So that's what we do. And we're very lucky that we can do that, because I think that's what elevates the film. Absolutely. So for you, I'm curious, when you recorded your first round of voiceovers, how long did it take for you to get called back, and how do you get back into a character after you've let it go? I mean, I want to say we had, at most, a couple months between sessions. So nothing too crazy long. But again, I have to harken back to the luxury of the character just being me. And so I don't really have to tap back into Mabel, I'm like, all right, we're just going in again, and we're doing me. We were showing you those scenes, though. Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You could kind of... To tweak it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They would let me know. If we were going back to a scene we had already recorded, they'd be like, okay, we're doing this differently, or this didn't play exactly the way we wanted, so we're going to change this about it. So I had some kind of guide for which way we were going with different things. Another scene that we did a lot was the scene where she sees Lo for the first time, and is trying to get him to help her come back, or build the glade, or whatever. And there was a version of that where she made up this whole story, where she's like, oh yeah, if you come here, this is what's happening, and there's a great place for you to do this. And then I think we ended up changing it because it was just sort of like, I mean, no. It was one of the first sequences we did, and she changed. The whole movie changed during the time we were making the movie. So we came back to this first scene we'd done, and we were like, this doesn't belong in this movie anymore. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why is Mabel beating around the bush? She's very direct. Yeah. She could just say, come with me, you're building the glade. So it was a discovery that we just figured out after having actually animated the whole sequence. Most producers would have said, no, we can't redo it, but I'm a Pixar, so Pixar was like, it needs to be great. So we were able to change it. I got to say, Dave Franco, all right, okay, see where I'm going already. I haven't even asked a question yet, but here's the thing, Dave Franco is this incredible voiceover actor. I mean, he's also in Forgotten Island, but he did this voiceover introducing the last episode of season one of the studio, which I'm like, the greatest thing I've ever heard. It really is. But can you talk about working with Dave, because I just think he's awesome. Yeah. He's sorry he couldn't make it tonight. He was planning on coming, but he had some family thing. But he is such a trooper, because that is a big role to hit in terms of volume. He's at a 10 the whole time. Actually 11. I literally said he walked in the door at 11. First time he stepped up to the mic, I was like, where's this coming from? He instinctually knew that we needed him to go big. And so there's an effort bar that they built, I think it was for Adam Driver on Star Wars, but they ended up keeping it there. And he had to grab onto this effort bar while he was doing the voice, because it was such an intense record and he was sweating. Nicole brought him towels. I got paper towels the first time and we knew to have cloth in the future, because immediately he was shedding. It was crazy. I will not stop singing the praises of Dave, though, because he was such a trooper. He never complained. He always asked. He always checked in with me, too. Like, is this too much? Are you sure? OK, let's keep going. And then he and I would just tell him, keep going. This is great. This is what we want. This is who this character is. I know it. Because Dave's so funny when he yells. And I think he just was such a trooper and really delivered us a really crazy, unhinged performance. He's a super nice guy. Super nice guy. Oh, my gosh. He's so cool. You wouldn't guess he has the career he has based on how chill and awesome he is. So who were some of the other actors that when they were cast, OK, you know the actor. Maybe the audition. Maybe they don't. You know their work. They step into the booth and they just blow you away at the way that Dave Franco and the way that Piper did. Gosh, I mean, I mean, I have so many. Well, I mean, I thought Eduardo Franco was pretty awesome as Loaf. He's so good. He's so funny. And so so Loaf, really, he was good. Kathy Najimy was great. We cast her. It was during the pandemic and our first session was on Zoom and we never. Not a good way. Not a good way. And so, you know, we weren't sure about it. I think she wasn't sure about us. And then we finally were able to fly out to New York and record her. And wow. Dr. Sam. She's Dr. Sam. And she did a terrific job for us. For me, Bobby was, you know, it's like being home because I worked with him on my TV show and, you know, coming into a process that was brand new, having to be able to work with somebody that I had familiarity with. We didn't have to get to know each other. We just kind of picked up where we left off. That was like one of the biggest blessings of this movie was having some familiarity with that. I'll tell the story because Bobby's not here. One of his favorite stories to tell was when they wrapped We Bare Bears. You know, he loved working with Daniel and was just like anything else that you do, like I would love to be a part of it. And Daniel was like, oh, yeah, well, I'm probably going back to my old job pretty soon. And so like maybe we'll, you know, we'll have something for you there. Neglected to tell him that his old job was Pixar. And then, you know, a couple of years later, he's like, hey, I'm working on this thing. You want to come through? And he was like, yes, absolutely. And then like later found out that it was just kind of a giant deal. But yeah, no, Bobby and Bobby and Daniel are a dream team for sure. All right. So I got a couple of questions here from SAG-AFTRA Foundation members here in the audience today. So Shane has a question for you, Piper. What is your favorite part about voice acting this character? Oh, wow. Oh, my gosh. I think that my favorite thing about it was that I had just never done anything like it. And I've been, you know, professionally acting for like over 20 years now. And when you do something for that long, it's very rare that you have a brand new experience. And this was a completely singular experience for me. And it was challenging in a lot of ways, you know, like feeling like I didn't know what I was doing or like I was doing it wrong. But that's how you learn. And that's how you gain these like new experiences and emotions and everything. And so I think just like the coolest and my favorite part about it was just that I had never done anything like it before. And I'd venture to say I won't do anything like it again. You know, like that particular experience is very specific to Pixar and to Daniel and to Nicole. And so, yeah, I think it was just completely, completely singular. And that is a really special thing to be able to say about, you know, this industry for sure. What is the biggest takeaway for you as an actor? Like you said, you've been active for 20 years. You know, you did a Disney TV show, you know, biggest takeaway for you as an actor after working on Hoppers. Oh, my gosh. I guess it's sort of like you can always be new at something. That's not the way I want to say it. But it's like you always have something to learn, basically. You know, you never know everything. You've never experienced everything. There will always be something new to either learn or experience or try. And that doesn't mean it's always going to go well or be great. But that's kind of the cool thing about what we do is just that, you know, there's always going to be something around the corner that you either don't expect or don't see. If you can appreciate those things, it's a really cool and fun job to do. It brought all that energy to Mabel, like all of that learning and expanding and growing. And you can definitely feel it in the character. So one of the reasons I've seen the movie three times is because it's right up my alley. Environment, you know, it's about the environment. It's animal rights. I'm like sold. I mean, really, I mean, it's just got such great messages. And then you got the whole relationship between Mabel and Grandma. I mean, it's got a big, big heart. It's funny, all that stuff. But how do you hope because of these messages with the environment and animal rights, how do you hope this movie inspires people? I mean, I think a lot about the younger generation that will grow up with this movie. And it's very top of mind because, you know, I made a TV show like four or five years ago, and I'm now seeing all of those kids who watched it are in college now and telling me like what an influence it had on them. And I guess I hope the same for hoppers, but maybe in a way that will hopefully inspire a sense of connection with the world around them. I mean, one of the things that we really cared about with this movie was that it kind of reminded people that they're animals, too, and that because of that, you know, we have this kind of responsibility and a connection with the world around us. And maybe we'll care a little bit more about everything around us. So I don't know. I think about the younger generation and hope that they carry that with them growing up. How about for you, Nicole? One of the things we always wanted to bring to the ending was a sense of hope and making it hopeful. And I really feel like right now in particular is a time that we need to feel that way. But you know, there's always going to be a need for that. And yes, being a part of nature, but also being connected to one another as human beings. And it seems to run counter to a lot of the energy that's out there in the world right now. And I think this is something that will also be lasting, that we'll always look back at a story like this and say, yes, we need to remember, we need to be open hearted. We need to believe that if we work together, we can accomplish great things and we can repair things that are broken. All right, Piper, take us out. How do you hope Mabel inspires the Mabels out there? Oh, my gosh. I think if she can encourage young people to just be who they are. Because weirdly enough, I just feel like when I was growing up there, there was there was just the content or the characters that I was watching were very curated, you know, or they were princesses or they just like they had their they knew what they were doing with their lives or whatever it might be. And Mabel is so flawed. And I love that about her. Because even though she's flawed, she's also awesome and strong and independent and determined and cool. And that's a real life thing, you know, like nobody is perfect and has it all figured out and knows exactly what they're doing. And if that if Mabel can encourage young people to just go out there and be themselves no matter what, no matter what they're chasing or no matter, you know, the people around them telling them that they can or can't do it. I think that will be something so huge and really impactful and important. And if there's a bunch of Mabels running around in 10 or 20 years, I think we'll have done something really cool. Well, like I said, the so the film is streaming right now on Disney Plus. And even though you've already seen it, trust me, see it again. You're going to get a whole lot more out of it. Big thanks to Pixar, Disney and to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation for making tonight's conversation possible. Thank you to our panel. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everybody.