'Inside Out 2' Filmmakers Solicited Teen Girls' Feedback to 'Keep the Story Authentic'

Forget the parents. When it came to better understanding adolescents and their emotions, Inside Out 2 Director Kelsey Mann and producer Mark Nielsen went straight to the source: the teens themselves.

“We knew early on that we wanted to surround ourselves with people who were going to help us keep the story authentic,” Nielsen told Yahoo Entertainment of the highly anticipated sequel, which hits theaters June 14. “And because none of us are 13 or older girls, if you didn't notice, we thought it would be really important and helpful.

So, in January 2020, the Disney Pixar team reached out to a group of nine teenage girls who became unofficially known as “Riley's Crew,” named after the film's main character.

Inside Out 2 follows the original 2015 film about Riley and her emotional crew. This time around, Riley is a teenager trying to balance old and new friends while navigating a competitive ice hockey camp – all while feeling all the feels.

The five main emotions are always “at headquarters” – joy (Amy Poehler), sadness (Phyllis Smith), anger (Lewis Black), fear (Tony Hale, replacing Bill Hader) and disgust (Liza Lapira , replacing Mindy Kaling) – but new puberty-focused emotions, led by Anxiety (Maya Hawke), have entered the chat. Also among them are Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Embarrass (Paul Walter Hauser) and Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos). Nostalgia (June Squibb) also comes into play a bit.

Mann and Nielsen screened updated cuts of the film with the teens every four months for the next three years, and the girls, in turn, provided feedback.

“We always asked them the same questions,” said Mann, who is making his debut as an animated feature director. “What struck you? What went wrong? What happened to you? And what seemed confusing to you? »

The goal, Nielsen said, was to keep the story “believable and truthful for someone of that age.”

What resonated with Madwoa Hutchful, 15, of Oakland, California, was the dynamic of friendship, she told SFGate.

“Making friends, keeping friends and having best friends can be very difficult, especially growing up,” Hutchful told the Bay Area. “And feeling like you have to put on a show for people to think you're cool and stuff, and not show your weaker side. It's well described.

“You worry about what others think of you”

In addition to consulting “Riley's Crew,” Mann and Nielsen consulted emotion experts, including UC Berkeley psychology professor Dacher Keltner (who played that role in the original film) and clinical psychologist Lisa Damour.

When they asked Keltner what emotions were strong at that moment, Mann said he told them, “It's all the embarrassed emotions.” »

“This age is when you start comparing yourself to others, looking at yourself and worrying about what others think of you,” Mann added. “And so those are the emotions that we ended up leaning into.”

Enter anxiety – an emotion that is creeping into the cultural conversation around teenagers, and especially teenage girls. But that's not all.

“We entered the pandemic and everything got worse,” Mann said. “And [anxiety] has increased not just among teenagers, but really among everyone, including adults.

For a film that parents would see with their children, this connection made sense for the team.

What also made sense for Mann and Nielsen was casting Hawke as the frenzied, flashy-haired orange emotion, who walks into headquarters with literal baggage and essentially takes over.

After a Zoom call Mann had with Hawke in a business office behind the Mexico pavilion at Disney World, where he was vacationing with his family, he knew he had found their anxiety.

“From that very first audition, I remember hanging up on that call,” Mann said, “and we were like, 'Oh my God, she's wonderful.' We got our anxiety back. She's perfect.'”

What emotion is Mann feeling?

With good reviews and big box office predictions heading into opening day, there's plenty of anticipation for a film — a sequel, no less — that Mann says marks the end of a long four-year journey.

“That’s really where it all started, [which] I was looking at how I felt at that age,” he said. “I really could have used a movie like this when I was a teenager.”

So what are the director's emotions before Inside Out 2Is it opening day? Anxiety? Fear? Maybe even a little nostalgia?

“I worked with a great team who poured their hearts into this film, and now we have a finished film that we are incredibly proud of,” he said. “I can't help but feel that Joy is in front of my console.”

Inside Out 2 is in theaters June 14.