Sitting down with Inside Out favorites Sadness and Bing Bong, Phyllis Smith and Richard Kind. #InsideOutBloggers

 ****Disney provided me with an all-expense paid trip for me to cover this great event ****

Two of my favorite Inside Out characters in one room? Yes! We were extremely lucky to be able to interview.  Phyllis Smith, who is the voice of Sadness and Richard Kind the voice of Bing Bong. These talented actors lent their voices to these amazing characters and made the movie as great as it was. I loved Phyllis Smith in The Office, and Richard Kind in so many of his great works, but I especially loved him in Spin City. These were two down to earth folks, Phyllis was so genuinely excited, so much that she wanted to document it and take pictures.  

Picture courtesy of Dusty from http://asmomseesit.com/

Phyllis came into the interview taking pictures of us! Yes, myself and 24 bloggers are in a picture on Phyllis Smiths phone! It was like we were the celebrities! It was fun and a little surreal. But now it was time to get down to business and find out some answers we all wanted to know about the movie Inside Out and the fun characters they both played.
Sure, we as fans love the characters, but do the actors who voice the characters you love know how very popular those characters and the movie they are in are? Well not really. According to Phyllis Smith “I don't really know how popular it is to be honest,  I saw it in St. Louis, one or two people came up to me in St. Louis, I’m just kind of in, a little vacuum. I don't really know how it is. I’m glad that people are enjoying it.”
Richard Kind : “ I am not at all surprised at how popular, Phyllis’s character is. it’s a perfect voice performance and a perfectly written part by these guys because it’s such a touchy character because no one wants to be sad and yet we identify with you. So I am so taken by your performance because although it’s down in the dumps it’s not depressive. It’s simply sad. And I think that that's an amazing thing that you did." 

What about the beloved Bing Bong? Phyllis loved Bing Bong, “The heart of that character is just everywhere, Richard did a wonderful job with Bing Bong”.  Did you know that Bing Bong was a bit of a secret character initially for the movie Inside Out? The movie was to be released and Bing Bong was not to be in any of the ad campaigns. When the movie debuted in Cannes, Richard Kind was not even invited, then the movie came out an with an explosion of, oh, “we didn't know that this guy was in the movie”, what did Richard think of missing Cannes because his character was not announced? 

                                            photo taken by Silvia Martinez -mamalatinatips.com

He was very supportive, “Once again Pixar proves its brilliance. They thought ahead, and they were absolutely right. Nevertheless, I’d like them to send me to France right now.” He is such a funny guy, with a voice that was made for the character Bing Bong. Did you know, Richard Kind did not read for the part of Bing Bong, he was just cast for the part?

Ever wonder if the person is anything like the characters they bring to life with their voices? What part of yourself went into your characters? According to Richard Kind “Certainly my energy, I can be loud. I think I'm more animated off stage than I am on. But there was a lot. I happen to think that I'm a nice man. I live my life with morality and ethics. I'm more positive than I am negative. And I think that this guy (Bing Bong) is free of negativity.

I think there's purity to this guy. And as an actor I knew what I had to deliver. So that's what I give." When  Phyllis Smith was working on the voice of Sadness, when she started “I was so insecure, which I think helped with my character, because they didn't want sadness to just be a sad sack that was annoyingly crying all the time. And so they actually fed into my real insecurities. It worked”.

What's your preference voice acting vs traditional acting? Would you like to do more of one or the other?  Phyllis Smith, exclaimed “All of it!  I would love to do more animation. I’d love to work for Pixar again and also on screen. I mean it’s a different processes. They're both challenging. Just to be able to work is a good thing”.

                                           photo taken by Silvia Martinez -mamalatinatips.com

Both Richard and Phyllis favorite scene of the movie was a Bing Bong scene, when Bing Bong says “I’ve got a good feeling about this." This was one of the most heartwarming scenes of the movie for me. Seems like I am not alone, when Richard Kind brought his young daughters to see a rough cut of the film, they were able to see a bit of the scene with Bing Bong, in the canyon with the wagon.
(I will not spoil the rest of the scene for those who have not seen the movie yet…) when this scene was finished according to Richard Kind, his daughter was moved by what she saw “when it finished, she collapsed in her mother’s arms, sobbing, sobbing, sobbing, and had not seen the whole movie, only had a bit of context. When I knew that this movie would resonate, I was given proof at that point.”  I know at this point I was moved to tears as well.  See all of your favorites with the Inside Out Blu-Ray coming to stores on 11/3/15. The Blu-Ray is filled with extras, deleted scenes, and more!

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 Inside Out is on Blu-ray and Digital HD on 11/3/15

 ****Disney provided me with an all-expense paid trip for me to cover this great event ****

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