What goes into making a Disney Pixar movie? The cast of Inside Out isn't quite sure.
In an exclusive featurette for E! News, the actors who voice the five emotions inside 11-year-old Riley's brain—Lewis Black (Anger), Bill Hader (Fear), Mindy Kaling (Disgust), Amy Poehler (Joy) and Phyllis Smith (Sadness)—share their hilarious (and likely incorrect) theories for how animated films get made.
"Well, first you have to come up with a big idea," Poehler says, prompting Black to ask, "Where do big ideas come from?" Kaling has the answer—well, she has an answer. "I think it's financial," she says. "'How do I come up with an idea with which I can make money to buy my second home?'" But Hader has another theory: "Most Pixar movies usually start having a fever dream, which is kind of life threatening."
Director Pete Docter co-wrote the screenplay with Josh Cooley and Meg LeFauve. However, according to Smith, they received added assistance from the actors.
"They sit everybody in a circle and they have one person say a word, and then another person say a word, and that's how they get the dialogue," Smith says. Kaling reveals another "really interesting" tidbit about the Disney Pixar filmmaking process. "Little animated creatures make the animation," she says, "which I thought was cool because you save a lot of money and they don't talk back."
What's it like to voice an animated character? "We were asked to get in the best shape of our lives, which I was like, 'No problem. Already there,'" Poehler says. For Black, the task was more troublesome. "It looks like all of us in this thing know what we're doing. That's just silly," he says, admitting, "We're just guessing."
Hader—who teases the director, as well the film's executive producer John Lasseter and producer Jonas Rivera—says he "wouldn't trade it for the world. That's me talking. They didn't program me to say that."
On second thought, he adds, "Maybe they did."
Did Kaling like being part of the voice ensemble? "So much of this movie was me alone doing my voice," she says, "and then today when I spent time with the other cast, I sort of realized I like being alone better than having to hang out with Bill Hader and Lewis Black." Perhaps Poehler sums up the experience best: "Movies are the world and the future is now and people are great," she says. "That's animation like broad strokes and then if you want me to get more detailed I'm happy to do it."
Inside Out is in theaters Friday.