ComingSoon Senior Editor Spencer Legacy spoke with Trolls Band Together director Walt Dohrn and co-director Tim Heitz about the latest animated Trolls movie. The duo discussed how they chose which songs to implement and got NSYNC together. The film is now available digitally, through video-on-demand platforms, and on home media.
“After two films of true friendship and relentless flirting, Poppy and Branch are now officially, finally, a couple (#broppy)! As they grow closer, Poppy discovers that Branch has a secret past. He was once part of her favorite boyband phenomenon, BroZone, with his four brothers: Floyd, John Dory, Spruce, and Clay. BroZone disbanded when Branch was still a baby, as did the family, and Branch hasn’t seen his brothers since,” reads the synopsis. “But when Branch’s bro Floyd is kidnapped for his musical talents by a pair of nefarious pop-star villains—Velvet and Veneer—Branch and Poppy embark on a harrowing and emotional journey to reunite the other brothers and rescue Floyd from a fate even worse than pop-culture obscurity.”
Spencer Legacy: Walter, Branch’s backstory takes the spotlight in Trolls: Band Together. What did you like most about the concept of BroZone and having these long-lost brothers?
Walt Dohrn: Well, you know, I liked two things. I liked exploring the family dynamics, especially who we are and how that is defined by that dynamic. And secondly, I really love the idea of exploring a boy band. We hadn’t really done that to this extent. Not to mention, it led us all to the reunion of NSYNC. So lots to love about BroZone, that’s for sure.
Tim, Poppy also has a long-lost sibling in Viva. What did you like most about the dynamic between sisters that we see play out here?
Tim Heitz: Oh man … first of all, it was so fun to have a chance to make this discovery about Poppy — that she has this sibling. And I think, for me, the thing that was most fun about it is the way the story is set up where Poppy realizes Branch has all these brothers, and she comes into this thing thinking, “Oh my gosh, having a family member must be just so perfect. You can do all the things with each other.” She’s kind of looking at it through rose-colored glasses, in a way. But then to see the reality set in of, “Oh, sometimes family members have different perspectives and they see things from different angles, and you have to work through those situations together to come out stronger on the other side.” I think it was a really fun journey for Poppy to go on. It’s just so much fun to see her matched with somebody who shares her level of energy and excitement. I think that was a fun thing to play off each other.
Walter, the Putt-Putt Trolls are really interesting because they’re isolated, and they still fear the Bergens. What do you like most about having this selection of trolls that have been cut off from society?
Walt Dohrn: Well, it was an opportunity to explore how much our trolls and Bergens have evolved. This notion of … I think [in] World War II, there was a group of Japanese soldiers that were lost on this island. So that was kind of interesting to us. What if parts of the world didn’t evolve culturally in their perspectives? That’s what allowed us to do it. Plus, they were mini golf trolls, which allowed us to design some pretty cool outfits. [Laughs].
Tim Heitz: Lots of argyle.
Walt Dohrn: Lots of argyle.
Tim, the Trolls movies have used musical numbers quite a bit. When it’s an established song, how is it finding the right fit? How often in the creative process do they get swapped out or changed?
Tim Heitz: It’s an ongoing part of our process. As we’re building our story reel and watching the thing in animatic form, we’re constantly talking about what song fits the story or what brings the energy we’re looking for, what furthers the sort of emotional storyline we’re trying to tell, or just what’s a fun, energetic song that’s going to get people singing and dancing and bring the joy that people are looking for in a Trolls movie.
There’s a lot of trying things out. We will plug a song in in editorial and listen to it and see if it’s hitting the notes we’re looking for. Sometimes we might try five, six, or seven different songs before we land on the right one. Sometimes, it’s sort of an immediate, “Oh, I know exactly what’s going to be the right thing here.” And it fits, and then you can build things around that. So it’s an organic process, I think. It’s one of the most fun things about working on these movies.
Walt Dohrn: “Sweet Dreams” was pretty early on. That fits really nicely, I think, as a villain. The song.
Tim Heitz: Also, “We Are Family” was one of the early ones, right? We plugged it in and then those ideas of Salt-N-Pepa and some of those others –the Lizzo song — and then got to mix that into the Lionel Richie song. There are a lot of fun things that got to build in around “We Are Family” and just took on a life of its own.
Speaking of songs, “Better Place” is a great get for the movie — the first NSYNC song in decades. What was your reaction when you realized that that was all coming together?
Walt Dohrn: It was kind of mind-blowing. It was so exciting because it was kind of towards the end … not exactly the end, but we had been working on it for a couple of years, right? It was a four-year process, these movies and this idea just naturally, organically grew out of Justin [Timberlake]’s experience with NSYNC that we were tapping into some of his memories. Then it organically turned into … Justin called us up one day, he called up our producer, Gina Shay, and says, “Hey, what if we get the guys back together? Tim?”
Tim Heitz: And I said, “Absolutely, no. No, 0% chance we’re interested. No way.” [Laughs].
Walt Dohrn: We were just all so excited. It felt such a natural fit and it was just so playful. They were really involved — speaking of the Putt-Putt outfits, they were even involved in helping design their characters in this film.
Tim, Bridget, and Gristle get some great moments here after having just a cameo in the second film. How was it bringing those characters back?
Tim Heitz: Oh, it’s so much fun. I think Bridget and Gristle are favorites of ours, as well as a lot of people out there. And we definitely heard from audiences after Trolls 2 that they missed Bridget and Gristle, and they were so happy to get that little cameo. But I think we all felt like not only were people hoping to see them come back, but it just made sense within the context of our story to open with this beautiful wedding ceremony and see Poppy with her sister-who’s-not-a-sister discussing how much she wishes she had a real sister, and then you come to find out, “Oh, she does, but now she has kind of two sisters,” was really cool.
Anytime we get to spend with Bridget and Gristle, especially if they’re riding a ’70s-style chopper and talking about how they got kicked out of their swimming park honeymoon, it’s good. We had a lot of fun with them.
Walter, what were some of the biggest lessons from World Tour that you learned and were able to implement here?
Walt Dohrn: You’d think there’d be a lot, Spencer. [Laughs]. One of the things was that we talked about with World Tour was we had so many characters. There were so many lands, so many characters. We said, “Well, what if we kind of pulled back on that so we have more time in the worlds we create?” I think if you watch the movie, it feels like it’s just as rich and just as big, you know? I think, really, at the core of this is the characters. It’s Branch and Poppy. It’s their relationship, it’s their journey. With this one, we really leaned into that interpersonal dynamic of them.
Tim, you established such a great cast for BroZone. Eric Andre, Kid Cudi, Daveed Diggs, Troye Sivan — they’re all musicians as well. How was it finding the right voices for those characters then?
Tim Heitz: Oh, man. That, again, is one of the most fun parts of this process as we’re figuring out the personalities of these brothers and starting to think about what actors we could cast to fill those roles. We do think about, “Can they sing? Are they funny? Can they hit the emotional notes that we’re all trying to hit with everybody?”
We spent a lot of time playing … we’ll take lines of theirs from various interviews or other shows, and we’ll kind of piece them together next to each other to hear how they sound talking to each other and see if it sounds like there’s a nice variety and a nice rhythm — that sort of comedic rhythm that we’re looking for.
Tim Heitz: And when we landed on these four guys to be the brothers, it felt like a light bulb moment, you know? It was like, “Okay, they all bring something so specific and so unique and warm, that’s going to bring the audience into these characters.” When you hear that these brothers sort of abandoned Branch as a baby, the audience might not immediately want to like those characters, but all of these actors did such an amazing job and really created characters that the audience could connect to and want to spend time with.
Walt Dohrn: Plus, what a thing on the bucket list. Who gets to make up their own boy band group? [Laughs].
Walter, Trolls Band Together has been a huge box office success, which came after COVID impacted World Tour. How has the reaction been on your end, seeing that the series is still going so strong?
Walt Dohrn: Oh, just huge. It’s been so nice, especially because we really hunkered down, and we were making this film during the pandemic, during some of the tougher times. So it’s incredible to put it out there. The reaction has just been lovely. People couldn’t believe it a third time around, and we found so many new ideas. All this new music and new concepts and new songs. So it really has been … I’m just so grateful for the overpouring of love for this film.
