Incredibles 2 is now breaking records at the box-office. At a recent press conference, the cast and creative team discuss how the film came about.
It has been 14 years since Pixar released The Incredibles. However, interestingly, Incredibles 2 begins exactly where The Incredibles ended. Writer and director Brad Bird commented that he made this choice because it was “bold and weird.”
The audience expectation would be that time “passes very literally, and they think that linearly, the characters should have aged.” However, a realistic passage of time would have been detrimental to the story. Bird stated that if the characters aged, “their superpowers don’t reflect the part of life that they’re in and their role in the family.”
Related: Incredibles 2 review: A super sequel that’s worth the wait
The changing industry
While the characters did not change between The Incredibles and Incredibles 2, the state of the film industry shifted drastically. To begin with, 14 years ago, the superhero genre was far less popular than it is today. Samuel L. Jackson, who voices Frozone in Incredibles 2 and plays Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, noted, “The genre has grown.”
In crafting the story for Incredibles 2, Bird was not too worried about competing with or being too similar to the rest of the superhero genre. He explained, “I realized that what excited me about the idea [for Incredibles 2] in the first place was not the superheroes, it was that it was about the family dynamic.” In Incredibles 2, while superheroes exist to embellish the core family story, it is “not what the movie is about.”
In addition, since the first film, the animation technology vastly improved. Producer Nicole Paradis Grindle remarked, “The technology has allowed us to make the film look more like what Brad intended it to look like the first time.” While Incredibles 2 maintains the visual continuity from the first film, with the new technology, “the characters are much more finely nuanced and developed.”
Incredibles 2 took advantage of this new technology to expand the scope of the film. The film introduces the city of New Urbem, which is more visually active than anything in the film’s predecessor. Grindle commented that with the new technology, “we were able to build a lot more sets more quickly. We’ve populated the world with a lot more characters that have hair and clothing…that makes the world feel richer and more alive.”
An evolving story
Not only has the state of the industry changed, but the story for Incredibles 2 has also evolved. Bird said that the final product for Incredibles 2 is about half or two-thirds of his original idea for the film. In the film, Helen Parr/Elastigirl has the superhero story arc, while Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible has to take care of the family. Bird said he had “the idea of the role-switch…when we were promoting the first film, and I also knew that I had the unexploded bomb of Jack-Jack’s powers, that the audience knew that he had them but the Parrs did not.”
One element that changed since its inception was the nature of Bob Odenkirk’s character, Winston Deavor. Grindle said that the character initially “wasn’t so nice.” Bob Odenkirk interjected about his character’s evolution, “I loved that he became more genuine.” In his final form in film, “when he starts, he’s exuberant and excited,” Odenkirk explained, “and as you go, you start to see an innocence to him that’s a real twist and is surprising.”
The visual world also helped to inform the story. Early in the film, the Parr family moves into one of Winston Deavor’s homes. Bird described how the vision of Production Designer Ralph Eggleston changed the course of the story simply through the design of the house. Bird explained that “the house needed to be impressive but wrong for the family, because they’re not in a comfortable place yet. They have to find their way there, and [the house] was a way of making the surrounding, storytelling.”
Incredibles 2’s evolution was similar to that of The Incredibles in the process of inserting the villain into the story. Brad explained that “the villain comes last.” In both films, the villain that he initially pitched “didn’t serve the story, so the villain plot kept changing.”
A film for all ages
Regarding whether or not Incredibles 2 is a children’s film, Bird said, “I made it something that I would want to see.” Even though it is animated, “it is an art form, it’s for anyone who likes movies and you don’t need to have a kid.” Compared to the first film, Holly Hunter, the voice of Helen Parr, said that “this one is particularly more not a kids’ movie…the movie has complexity that is really astonishing…[the story] is very sophisticated.”
One scene in particular struck Sarah Vowell, the voice of Violet, with its thematic complexity. Early in the film, the Parr family is living at a motel. Helen and Bob express “a shared worry that is really grown-up,” Vowell says, in an “affecting, beautiful scene.” Odenkirk agreed that “there’s like five movies in this movie. And they all work together to throw each other into relief and make each other better.”
Anyone of just about any age can enjoy Incredibles 2. Odenkirk said that everyone in his family “enjoyed the whole story. Everyone related to different characters and themes, because there are so many, and they’re delivered so well.”