As part of the fun of the Big Hero 6 Event, last week, I had the chance to sit down with Don Hall and Chris Williams, both of whom this movie would not be the same without. Because they are the directors of Big Hero 6. As a blogger, who loves to share information, it’s always one of my favorite parts getting to sit down with the people behind the movie to hear what they have to say. Even better is, when it’s right in the room they essentially created, hashed out, and finalized the movie in!
SPOILER ALERT!!! Before you keep reading please note there will be spoilers!!! I’ll even put up a photo of some of the awesome artwork so you don’t see it in glancing!
On what attracted them to the story of Big Hero 6, being that it’s sort of a small-publishing in the comic book world:
DON: What originally attracted me to Big Hero 6 was just the title, it just sounded interesting. Then I researched it a little bit more and I saw the Japanese superhero theme, and thought that was super cool. Then I read the books and I was really struck by the characters. They were fun and appealing characters. They had goofy names, like Honey Lemon and you could tell that the creators loved Japanese pop culture, and that’s why they did the book. They wanted to take their love of anime and all things Japanese, and infuse that with a Marvel superhero story.
Most of all, we could see amidst all of that, that there was en emotional story about a 14-year old super genius who loses his big brother. Then his robot that becomes a surrogate big brother and heals him.
CHRIS: Yeah. I remember pretty vividly, about three, three and a half years ago. Don and I did a pitch in this room, on that wall, of Big Hero 6, and it was real skeletal, like a broad-strokes summary of what it could be. At that stage, you’re not looking at every character, every scene. You have to show the potential for a fun story. Everyone was really taken with the idea of a kid who was going to lose his brother and who would be left with his brother’s robot, a surrogate big brother, to help him move on. That just struck a chord with everybody.
I was really glad when John Lassiter green-lit it, and in a way, the fact that it was an obscure property really helps us, because the way we make movies here is, we’ll sit at this table and talk about it for years. It evolves quite a bit, and we have screening after screening, and the story changes a lot. So, we know that whatever we start out with, it’s going to end up being something different. The fact that it wasn’t a well-known property where people were going to have their own idea of what it should, be really helped us.
On the biggest change from the initial script to the final cut of the movie:
DON: One thing that just comes to mind is that Baymax became more central to the story. He really started driving the plot. He became a real interesting character in uniting the sort of “boy and his robot” story and the superhero origin story.
CHRIS: I don’t know if it’s the biggest, but I think it’s the most significant. Hiro was really driving it to start with, which makes sense. You’d want the protagonist driving the story, but the story wasn’t coming together, and it didn’t come together, until we put Baymax front and center. We took that idea that he wants to heal him and put it in the forefront and make it really proactive, as opposed to being reactive. Before, he was really reactive to Hiro and he just followed Hiro around. He was always a great character, but when you put him front and center and make him proactive, he’s the one engaging a lot. He’s the one that’s really kinda pushing the story forward, the one that brings the friends in, the one that furthers the flight because it’s making Hiro feel good. You know, helping him forget about the loss of his brother for a little bit. Once we did that, that’s when the story really kinda started.
On their favorite character in the movie (besides Baymax):
DON: I identify a lot with Fred. He’s really a dork and a geek, into monster movies and sci-fi. I can identify with Fred. There are moments, for Fred, during the superhero shenanigans part of it, that make me remember the feeling that I had when I was a kid and we played superhero, and I had the trash can lid for a Captain America shield. that’s how I feel like Fred approaches this whole thing. Like, the direness and the stakes of it don’t really kind of sink in. For him, it’s just, “I get to play superhero as an adult.”
CHRIS: You’re in a building full of Freds here. I definitely sort of connect with Fred. I guess I would aspire to be as cool and capable as Go Go, and I like the way that she carries the team for a good stretch. She is really the only one who seems to be qualified, initially. I think that maybe some of the silliness or goofiness of Honey Lemon is something that I connect with as well. So, really any of those characters.
When we asked them if there were any upgrade they would give Baymax, they were pretty happy with how he is now (I agree). Though us bloggers thought maybe they could add some singing to Baymax…how cute would that be to be sung a lullaby by a Baymax at night!
It was so much fun getting to chat with the directors, but that isn’t all we got to do while we were there. We had a chance to try our hand at drawing Baymax with Jin Kim, Character Design Supervisor at Walt Disney Animation Studios! I am always so amazed when I get to sit in a drawing. The ones who draw are so talented at it and in just a few minutes can draw out a whole character!
You might be able to see my drawing in the photo above, I am definitely not gifted with drawing, but I have fun trying. A few things to note about Baymax according to Jin are:
* He has 3 fingers and a thumb
* His body is pear shape (but somehow it looks good on him, would not be the same for me)
* All the lines are curved EXCEPT for the line between his eyes and on his heart
Want to try your hand at drawing Baymax, check out this tutorial by Jin Kim:
Big Hero 6 is in theaters now!
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Toni Patton
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