Thats Alcatraz over there, she says, pointing at an ominous looking building on a rock.
And the Golden Gate Bridge is this way…
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Well, congratulations again on a wonderful film.
I had no idea it was going to be like this.
When we went to the Cannes film festival, and it was very quiet.
And Id seen it in a Pixar room where everybodys laughing and crying.
Then we showed it at Cannes and its just, like, silence.
I was thinking, That must hate it!
Whats going on here?
And then, it was quite the opposite.
After the fact, I found that in France, if they like something, theyre quiet.
If they dont, they boo and hiss they let you know.
They gave us a ten minute standing ovation.
I didnt know after five minutes; now what do I do?
It was quite gratifying.
I had no idea it was going to have the reception that its gotten.
Did you have a chance to help develop Sadness from the beginning?
The actors are generally attached in the third year.
So they had a clear idea of what they wanted by then.
Because its easy to play sad just annoyingly crying and whiny.
It gave her more avenues to travel than just being upset about something.
And the editors the editors are amazing.
The editors were able to make it look as if we were having a conversation.
Thats a lot of genius going on there as well.
I was fortunate, because I had three sessions with Amy Poehler.
Its really a double act isnt it?
Especially when shes leaving me and Im very morose.
It was easier to play off of someone than by myself.
You trust that theyll get what they need.
I liked the observation that Sadness also has the most empathy.
Joy tends to steam-roller people and take control.
But Sadness, because of her nature, she listens.
She listens, and she knew that he needed to vent and talk.
That was another part of the brilliance of the writing team.
They did their homework as far as the emotions were concerned.
They knew that there were 28-plus emotions or something, but they homed in on the five.
They knew that the emotions… Its not about heroes and villains.
And that the unlikely people are the ones who are saving the day.
They take you down a different path.
Was there one specific scene that you found difficult?
I think when Joy made the decision to leave me behind.
I havent seen the deleted scenes.
So he was able to give us direction with that.
As an actor, that was hard.
Another thing thats hard in animation is where they have you make sounds.
Like, just guttural sounds [laughs] Things you dont generally think of, you know?
You just do it.
And when youre asked, youre like, Oh.
Or things that you dont give a thought to until youre in the spotlight.
I found those sound days difficult but fun.
Is it quite playful, then?
Yeah, it depends.
Its a serious thing because theres so much you have to get done in a short amount of time.
But its the creative team they know how to do it.
Even the sad parts of fun.
What are your memories of makingBad Teacher?
It was your performance in that film that got youInside Out.
I was really fortunate to play that.
I was kind of the afterthought in that movie they couldnt find that role.
Right off the bat, she told me.
We hit it off really we did.
She couldnt be lovelier to work with, either.
Whether it was six in the morning or 12 midnight, shes lovely.
Because they had multiple parts.
By the time it was her turn… really, youd think theyd have shot her first!
But it wasnt it was 10 hours later!
But she was so professional.
So the eating scene that Jonas saw Id have to say thank you.
Thank you for watching it!
Did he say specifically what it was that he liked in that scene?
I guess it was my weird crazy insecurity.
Because I was very, Uhh, I dont know.
That kind of a mood.
Maybe Ill sit in the back, maybe Ill sit in the front…
I think Sadness has that in her shes insecure.
I guess he could see the relationship between the two.
Im just happy he did!
What was working onThe Officelike?
It was a good nine years.
A quick nine years.
So they had to have the backs of our heads or this or that.
Then as the years progressed, they said, Were not going to see them.
Dont bring them in!
The scripts were wonderful.
It kind of morphed, you know, after Steve [Carrell] left.
Do you have a personal favourite episode?
Well, there were so many that were good.
[Laughs] There are so many…
Then, one of my favourites is a weird little scene.
Then they chest bump each other and theyre so happy.
And then they go, What did we do?
Well, I dont know.
[Laughs] Its a stupid little scene, but I loved that.
I dunno what we did.
But they were happy about it!
There are so many.
I think he got it pretty much right, you know?
I liked that it was so different from the British one.
It maybe took the pilot and the first episode or two.
We got to work with Stephen Merchant, of course.
We never got to work with Ricky [Gervais].
Ricky never worked on the show or directed because Stephen directed a couple of episodes and acted.
We got to meet Ricky but not really work with him.
Phyllis Smith, thank you very much.
Inside Outwill be available on DVD and Blu-ray from the 20th November in the UK.