ComingSoon’s Jonathan Sim recently spoke with Lewis Black (The Daily Show) and Paul Walter Hauser (Richard Jewell, I, Tonya, BlacKkKlansman) about their respective roles as Anger and Embarrassment in Pixar’s new movie, Inside Out 2.
“Disney and Pixar’s Inside Out 2 returns to the mind of newly minted teenager Riley just as headquarters is undergoing a sudden demolition to make room for something entirely unexpected: new Emotions!” reads the official synopsis. “Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust, who’ve long been running a successful operation by all accounts, aren’t sure how to feel when Anxiety shows up. And it looks like she’s not alone.”
Jonathan Sim: First of all, congratulations on the film and I wanted to ask: Lewis, what is it about this character, the physical embodiment of anger, that you think makes him so fun to play?
Lewis Black: I mean, partly it’s the voice. Partly it’s fun because essentially you get to play one note, but a thousand different ways. That’s really great. The way in which they took stuff from me physically, like he kind of ties his tie in this one. In the first one, his tie is down. That was the Daily Show. I’ve never really tied my tie on The Daily Show ever. I mean, they just had these little touches that when I first saw, when they were developing my character initially I was like, wow, this is going to be fun. I had no idea the level at which they would go to in terms of physicalizing it. And that just took it to a, I mean, I couldn’t bring it to that level as an actor and [I feel] lucky that there’s that little guy who can do it.
Yeah, of course. And I feel like this is one of those characters where I feel like you’re perfectly cast in, and I can say the same about you Paul, as Embarrassment. In the nicest way possible.
Paul Walter Hauser: Listen, I’ve been called much worse. I think the animation team and all the creatives in the Think Tank did an amazing job with how each character kind of physically does embody [the actor]. And I really like the hooded sweatshirt choice. Oh yeah. And almost too, you know, I’m looking at your press pass and his pigmentation kind of pink. Yeah. Very pink and kind of purple, and it’s like, it’s almost like somebody holding in a breath or something, you know? It’s really smart.
But that’s the thing. You’re playing this character, but Embarrassment doesn’t even have that much dialogue in the film. So I want to ask, what is it about this character that you can express through not many words, and only with some minor moments in voice acting?
Hauser: Yeah, you just try to get creative and to honor the moment in the moment. And I think I always start a little bit lower, like, let’s keep it real, and then let’s build up and get a little more broad and give every kind of palette or color that there is within that emotion or that moment. So, thankfully, they let me throw a bunch of stuff at the wall, and they found what stuck, you know?
Disney+ Has the Best Bundle in the Business
Sign-up today for access to Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+
Oh, I love that. And I think that one of the interesting things about the Inside Out movies is the fact that each character has all their emotions, but they typically have one emotion that’s sort of leading the way. And I wanted to ask in your heads, what do you think is the emotion that is the one that’s always typically the one taking charge?
Black: Is there an emotion called Nap?
I think that’s a good one. I mean, hey, I feel that all the time.
Black: I know, the universal emotion. Nap time.
Hauser: I’m always just in a weird dual race between prioritizing love and prioritizing self-amusement. They kind of run around the same parallel.
I’m talking to Anger and I’m talking to Embarrassment, but I don’t want to ask you guys about the things that you’re embarrassed about. So what is something that makes the both of you angry?
Black: I mean, what makes me angry is stupid authoritarian people. People who actually think that have no concept of how to delegate responsibility and decide that they’re going to take all of the responsibility on, and they’re appallingly bad at it, which is most of the folks in charge of practically everything…he said in his quiet voice.
You’ve spoken about the things you’re angry about in much louder voices.
Black: Yes, I have. I don’t wanna scare the kids off the movie.
Yeah, of course not. It’s a PG movie.
Hauser: I think I’m angry about really easily researched facts that kind of go under the radar. Like how literally every single nation is in debt. And that, of course, and people act like they’re living high on the hog when if they didn’t have war, there wouldn’t be a hog. Right. That’s where I’m at.
Those are very profound answers from the both of you. I can hear the anger switch coming up inside of your head. All right. Well, thank you both so much for the interview.
