Author: Emma Loggins
Date: 2009-10-05

Interview:


We had the pleasure of chatting with Kristen Bell about her latest project Astro Boy as well as what the chances were of a Veronica Mars movie. Check it out below!

The character of Astro Boy is pretty new for most people in America because it hasn't really gotten much exposure in the last 15-20 years. Were you worried about the property not being well known?

Kristen: No, because David informed us all how big it is overseas, and how, for some reason, it just hasn't touched down in America. But, it's really the Mickey Mouse to everybody else - especially in Japan. So, I think it was just exciting to be able to adapt it here and hopefully please all the original fans as well.

How much time were you actually in a sound booth recording?

Kristen: Not a ton. We've nothing on our plate compared to these animators. I've gone in a couple times and done a couple full days of recording. You do it over the course of six months or so and you see, originally, the pencil sketchings of what your character would look like and then these big plaques of what they think your hair style will be and what your face will look like when it's mad or sad or happy or laughing or angry and then starting to see the animation actually work and then the colors go in and then the depth goes in. There's so many layers and they work on these movies for so long. If you don't know how it's done (and I don't really even know how it's done), I don't think you realize how much hard work these people have all put into it.

What do you think David Bowers brought to this project in total?

Kristen: The heart. Definitely. He's so into the story and he's so loves Astro Boy with all his heart and he is kind of a little boy, truly, at his core. He loves this story and he wants everyone else to love this story, so he did his best to tell the original story of Astro Boy and also give it all the themes that were important to him. Which they really did. It's not a movie that shoves themes or morals down your face, but-down your mouth. Throat? Eyeballs? [Laughs] I don't know. Where am I going with this?

But there is just the idea of that Metro City just floats above and is the metropolis. It's beautiful and clean and the surface of the earth is just destroyed, because we've taken all these liberties and not been very eco-friendly and it's just gross and dirty and no one can live here anymore. Just the idea of that, I think that - it's just important to think about. "Oh wow! What if? That could happen one day." So that, maybe, makes people be a little more green or eco-friendly. And then the idea of - the movie starts out with this - the introduction is about robots and how they work for us and we're happy with them, but don't get to close to them because work for us. And the idea of sort of second-class citizens and not being as nice as you always should and that things are disposable.

Then Astro comes into the picture and he has every human emotion, but he's a robot and everything turns chaotic because people think, "Well, what do we do with that?" I think the movie's just about using your heart and your gut and treat people how they deserve to be treated.