To bring the beloved characters of the animated adaptation of the #1 New York Times bestselling novel, The Wild Robot, to life, DreamWorks Animation brought in equally esteemed actors to lend their voices to the film. Meet the star-studded cast of The Wild Robot and see how they got in touch with their wild side.
Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o plays the state-of-the-art robot Rozzum 7134, or “Roz,” for short. Roz gets stranded on an uninhabited island, and struggles to navigate the environment without human guidance. She encounters a goose egg along her way, and she finds new purpose as a provider to the vulnerable gosling that hatches.
In playing Roz, Nyong’o felt like it was a new and major milestone in her career, and it left her feeling inspired.. “There was a level of collaboration that left me feeling inspired every time I left the recording booth,” Nyong’o says. “Chris Sanders and Jeff Hermann are so collaborative. Chris is the kind of director who doesn’t let his ego get in the way. Whenever I got into the booth and had questions or was debating him on something, he was ready for that. The whole team behind this project was so adaptable and collaborative. It felt like we were all getting our hands in the dough, and we were going to bake this cake together. Every time I left the booth, I felt empowered, highly valued and definitely inspired by the work that we’d done.”
Brightbill is the name given to the goose that’s found and raised by Roz, and he’s resilient despite his struggles with identity. Kit Connor voices the earnest goose, and director Chris Sanders felt that Connor brought depth and complexity to the character. “During our first recording session, I was amazed by Kit’s ability to infuse genuine emotion into Brightbill’s voice,” Sanders says. “He brought the character to life in a remarkably authentic way, really making Brightbill come alive on screen. Kit’s performance gave our animators a rich foundation to explore the nuances of Brightbill’s relationship with Roz far beyond our initial expectations.”
An unexpected companion along Roz and Brightbill’s journey is the red fox Fink, portrayed by Pedro Pascal in his first animated feature film. The dynamic between the characters was ever-changing, and it was liberating and enlightening for Pascal to find the voice that’s right for Fink’s complexity. “Initially, I approached it with ideas of sounding cool and funny, like how you’d imagine a fox would be,” Pascal says. “But Chris helped me move away from those artificial ideas and encouraged me to embrace my own sense of humor, color and ability to be ridiculous. He gave me permission to take big swings and go for it, which was liberating.”
Emmy Award winner Catherine O’Hara plays the possum Pinktail, who’s the first animal Roz successfully communicates with. A mom to multiple litters, she shares with Roz the wisdom she gained in hopefully guiding Roz in raising Brightbill. “Pinktail won’t let Roz get away without embracing motherhood and teaches her the role every day,” O’Hara says. “Pinktail’s strength is in her innate mothering instincts, approaching the role with a matter-of-fact attitude while giving Roz the space to learn through experience, intervening only when needed. Pinktail mothers with a sense of humor, which is a quality my own mother, who raised seven of us, believed to be essential.”
The formidable grizzly bear inhabiting the island, Thorn, is played by pop-culture icon Mark Hamill. Hamill wanted to be fully prepared for his role, and he took thorough measures to embody Thorn. “I read the entire book, all 279 pages, and then studied the script, which captured the essence of the story while allowing for adaptation to the screen,” Hamill says. “The advantage was having several sequences finished, which gave me a visual sense of the movie’s direction.”
Catch them along with Stephanie Hsu as fellow robot Vontra, and Bill Nighy as the goose Longneck, as The Wild Robot arrives in Philippine cinemas on October 9.