Did you hear that Big Hero 6 has just surpassed Beauty and the Beast to become Disney's third most successful animated film of all time? What an achievement! The film has grossed over $520M worldwide and it's sure to pull in even more since it comes out on Blu-ray and DVD today, February 24th. On my recent Disney and ABC press trip to Los Angeles, I got to sit down with the film's stars and directors (be sure to check out my interview of the film's directors Don Hall and Chris Williams for some fun facts about San Fransokyo and Stan Lee!) to get their reactions to the movie's success and find out more about what it was like making Big Hero 6. Seeing the faces behind animated films is always fascinating to me, and I was thrilled with the opportunity to meet actors Daniel Henney and Ryan Potter - the voices behind Tadashi and Hiro Hamada, the characters that we know so well.
In case you aren't already familiar with this smash hit, let me tell you a little about it. Big Hero 6 is based on the Marvel comic of the same name, and the movie was developed by the team behind “Frozen” and “Wreck-It Ralph.” It's an action-packed comedy-adventure about the special bond that develops between Baymax (voice of Scott Adsit), a plus-sized inflatable robot, and prodigy Hiro Hamada (voice of Ryan Potter). When a devastating event befalls the city of San Fransokyo and catapults Hiro into the midst of danger, he turns to Baymax and his close friends adrenaline junkie GoGo Tomago (voice of Jamie Chung), neatnik Wasabi (voice of Damon Wayans Jr.), chemistry whiz Honey Lemon (voice of Genesis Rodriguez) and fanboy Fred (voice of T.J. Miller). Determined to uncover the mystery, Hiro transforms his friends into a band of high-tech heroes called “Big Hero 6.” The film hit theaters on November 7th, 2014 (with the short film "Feast" showing before it and as part of the Blu-ray/DVD bonus content - if you haven't already, check out my interview session with Feast creator and director Patrick Osborne!).
The first question of our session went to Ryan Potter, the 19 year old actor who voices 14 year old science prodigy Hiro Hamada in Big Hero 6. We asked him, "Ryan, how excited were you to work on this film and did you geek out over all the science?"
Ryan Potter: Yeah, it wasn’t necessarily a love robotics and science. It was more for just a love of creating and within robotics, there's so much you can create, and I had the Lego robot kit... and a lot of models and robot [building kits] and all these different things that I just loved piecing together. So it wasn't necessarily a love for robotics and science, but more just wanting to be able to kind of put the things that were almost trapped in my mind.... to just bring them out and create and it's very meditative for me to use my hands and to build things. It was awesome being able to voice Hiro because that's literally who I was four years ago. I was that kid. I think I still am.
We then asked Daniel Henney, the voice of Hiro's loving older brother Tadashi, "You've been in a Wolverine movie already, and now you're in the Marvel Big Hero 6. Were you a big comic book fan as a kid?"
Daniel Henney: Not huge, but I was definitely into them. I was into Spiderman, Incredible Hulk, and stuff like that. It's still very surreal, though. It doesn't [feel] like, "Oh, this is my normal Tuesday - fighting Wolverine and dying in a helicopter." That's not normal for me. It's still very surreal. This movie was very, very special. It felt like you could feel the Marvel influence, but it was just a whole other beautiful experience. It was just bigger than anything I'd done before. So I think back, and I thought after I finished Big Hero 6, "Oh yeah, I did Wolverine, too," so there is a connection there, but I didn't think about it until afterwards.
Daniel Henney and Ryan Potter, photo courtesy of Kayvon Esmaili on behalf of Disney
Spoiler alert (kinda!) - We then asked, "Daniel, even though your character is a small part of the film, you made a huge impact. So how is Tadashi different from your character or your real personality?
Daniel Henney laughed and responded: I dress just like Tadashi. I always have. I don't usually wear suits, so there'll be days when I walk out of my house and I'll take a look in the mirror, and I look just like Tadashi. I wear a cardigan and a baseball hat. But to answer your question, he's made me a better person. He really has. You know, living in this world, we get caught up in things and sometimes it's hard to appreciate every moment like everyone preaches, you know? It was a beautiful opportunity for me to go and play this guy who is such a role model for what a man should be at such a young age - so smart, beautiful, intelligent, caring, genuine - the ultimate big brother, and he's very selfless. And so every day using your voice - lending your voice to that, I would walk out of that room feeling like I just sat through a therapy session. Like I wanted to tackle the world. I'd be at the grocery store afterwards, just smiling and ran into people - probably creeping them out!
We then asked Ryan, "What challenges did you face in channeling the emotions you had to bring forward?"
Ryan Potter answered: Like I said, I'm Hiro, so I didn't go into that room acting at all. I went into that room simply being myself and living in those circumstances. With a lot of the emotional stuff, the creators of the film made a really comfortable environment, so I just revisited a lot of things that I felt before. And like [Daniel] said, it was very much like therapy. I walked out of there like I was able to kinda purge a lot of things and it was just awesome. It was absolutely awesome.
In a previous interview we'd done with Scott Adsit, the voice of Baymax, he told us that the cast members didn't meet until the very first screening of the film. I found that totally fascinating! The voices of the film come together so seamlessly and naturally that you just can't imagine that the actors aren't standing right by one another, playing off one another's actions and emotions. We asked the guys, "Scott had mentioned that most of the cast hadn't met until the first screening. Did you the two of you meet early on in the process?"
Daniel Henney answered: No, we met the first screening day. It was weird, you know? I'm not lying at all when I say that I feel like a brotherly bond with this guy. We have similar experiences, similar backgrounds, and so the day of the screening, I hadn't met any of the cast, but I was the most excited about meeting Ryan... the minute he walked in the room, I had to gravitate towards him. I felt we needed to connect, and we did. It was a big hug and it just felt very organic.
Another blogger that I attended this interview with has a daughter that was born in Korea. She said, "My daughter is from Korea, and I was so excited that you're making this film and showing another face. How did that impact you in your thinking about doing the film?"
Ryan Potter: First of all, it was a huge honor being able to be to do the first multi-cultural, multi-ethnic Disney characters ever. It's absolutely a huge honor, but from the very beginning, it wasn't us necessarily us taking on the role - we would have paid. We would've paid them to cast us. [This is] wish fulfillment. It's every kid's kinda dream come true to be able to be a part of a film like this, and this one is really special because of how diverse it is, and it breaks the mold. We keep repeating it over and over, but the diversity is what makes it stand up and I didn't even realize that we were the first multi-ethnic Disney characters until the film had come out and somebody came up to me and said, "Well, how does it feel?" I was like, Pocahontas- no, no, no. Mulan, no. Oh my God, we are it, so it's absolutely awesome.
Daniel Henney responded: Yeah, it's really, really cool, you know? It was definitely on my mind when I first saw the scenario. It's something I try to constantly think about when I choose roles. It's very important. I grew up in Michigan, and when I was growing up there was no one on TV that looked like me. If there was, they were a martial artist, so they had very heavy accents and I couldn't understand what they were saying. So it was a weird thing when you're watching TV and my father's Caucasian and so I had that connection, but yet, I was very much Asian. So, it's very satisfying to know that we can do projects like this now that can give children like yours that little moment, and say, oh, I can do that because they can do that. And so it's a very special movie and not only that, but the characters are strong. They're not just characters. They're strong young women; they're strong young men.
We asked Ryan Potter, "Since you were a Marvel comic fan before the movie, how does it feel to actually be one of those characters now? Has it hit you?"
Ryan Potter: No, to be quite honest, I'm just sitting here and none of it has hit me. The only thing that's hit me is - oh you're this character and you did this role, and the movie's out. After that, none of it is even registering. I think in ten years, I'll go, "Oh wow, that's right, that happened!" I'm just so blown away by everything that has come from this whole kind of Disney experience, and especially with this film. I keep saying it's wish fulfillment and it really is. I grew up on anime and manga. And when I moved to the United States, I started reading Marvel and DC comics and I've always wanted to be a superhero, and now I don't have to put on a cape and go fight crime at night. I got to be a superhero.
To follow up on that question, we asked, "Do you feel like it kept you grounded then?"
Ryan Potter: Like I said before, it really is just me. So I got to just revisit my childhood a little bit, but everything I did in the film, it came from a very real place. None of it was put on and I wouldn't say it grounded me or humbled me; I would say that it was a part of my life that I got to kind of relive, re-experience in a very real way, in a very honest way.
You know, Disney movies are enjoyed by people of all ages, but those young fans are just the sweetest. We asked how they felt about those pint-sized fans. "How do you feel about the small fan base... whenever you see the younger kids and they see you on shelves, what is that like for you?"
Daniel Henney said: It's just the funniest thing. I think people think when you do movies like this, that they just throw a bunch of figurines and action figures your way. The coolest thing- let's be honest, when you do movies like this is to get your action figure. It took me a long time to find my Wolverine action figure because I wasn't a huge part, but I found it. This one, Tadashi's not a huge part of it, but he did get a figure. I think I was at an airport lounge, and these two kids were playing with Big Hero 6 figures, and they had Tadashi! They were six year olds, and I got to walk up as the weird older dude, and I was like, "Hey, where did you get that, kid?" It's so surreal to have that moment. It's very satisfying and fun.
Big Hero 6, photo courtesy of Disney
With people starting to focus more on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education, we wanted to know what they thought about it in relation to Big Hero 6. We asked, "Does this film celebrate science and robotics?"
Ryan Potter answered: Yeah, the characters are all geniuses, and the film does celebrate science and robotics, and just being a smart person. But what it really celebrates is being yourself, and these kids just happen to be very smart. A perfect example of it is Fred. He's not as smart as some of these people, but in his own sense, he actually is. He brings just as much to the table as any of these other characters do because they're trying to be superheroes, and he knows all about the superheroes. Every single one of these kids are all brutally honest in who they are, and they're proud of it. So they don't shy away from who they are. So yes, it does celebrate robotics and science, but also it celebrates just being a nerd. It celebrates being an outstanding young man and having high morals, and being a strong independent woman, and it celebrates simply being yourself. The science and robotics comes along with that. But I'm just so happy that a film like this was made, that the kids can see that whatever you're into - whatever obsession you have, carry it out. Do it. You know, I loved baseball and martial arts, and anime and manga, and like it still to this day... that's who I am, and I'm more than happy to tell people that. I feel like for the longest time it was almost kind of putting other people down simply because of their interests. And this film celebrates freely expressing your interests.
Wondering what they have planned for the future? We were too, so we asked them, "What's next for you guys?"
Daniel Henney said: I can't really disclose much, but I have a TV show that I'm probably doing here in the states. I guess it'll be coming out this fall. I'm pretty excited about it. It's another one of those things where it's not necessarily a role that you see an Asian-American man cast for, and so I'm proud to bust those doors open a little further. So this will be a big one, and I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully, everything goes well.
Ryan Potter pleased the mommy blogger crowd by saying: I applied for college.... I love it, all the moms are like, "Yep!" I applied for an art school, Cal Art's, it's the top. My entire family, they're all educators and they all had four years of education. They're all pushing USC on me and it just simply wasn't an option But, my mom grew up in the '60s, '70s and her dad just said, "You know, do whatever you want." She followed all her dreams and carried out all these different fantasies, basically. She's been the one family member in my life that's been like, "Do what you want." I don't wanna go to college and study math and science and English. I wanna study photography and film, and I want to create, and I want to bring the things in my head to life. I simply can't do math problems. I can do taxes, I can do all the math that's required in everyday life, but I don't know the circumference of a circle! I'll be continuing just pursuing my craft and all these different aspects - designing, shooting,acting, and then school on the side.
Photo courtesy of Kayvon Esmaili on behalf of Disney.
Big Hero 6 is available on Blu-ray and DVD NOW!
Be sure to get your Blu-ray Combo Pack with digital copy.
Check out the trailer here:
Disclosure: I participated in this interview on a press trip sponsored by Disney and ABC. All opinions are 100% my own.
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