Written and directed byBrad Bird, the animated action adventure filmIncredibles 2sees Helen (voiced byHolly Hunter) called upon to help bring Supers back while Bob (voiced byCraig T. Nelson) is left to navigate the day-to-day family life at home. When a high-tech super-villain known as Screenslaver hatches a brilliant but scary plot that the Incredibles can only overcome if they work together, Violet (voiced bySarah Vowell), Dash (voiced byHuck Milner) and baby Jack-Jack jump in to lend a hand and their powers to help their parents save the world.
At the film’s Los Angeles press day, Collider got the opportunity to sit down and chat with actressSophia Bush(who voices a young wannabe Super named Voyd, with the ability to divert and manipulate objects around her by creating voids that allow the objects to appear and disappear) about joining this really cool superhero world, getting to tour Pixar, why being a part of this sequel is a real pinch me moment for her, who Voyd is when she takes off the mask, whether she sees herself in her character, and that she’d still love to do a live-action superhero movie. She also talked about her development deal with 20thCentury Fox Television, and how excited she is to be able to tell stories from an empowered position.
Collider: WhenThe Incrediblescame out years ago, there wasn’t the superhero craze that there is now. How cool is it to get to be a part of all that, but in this way, withIncredibles 2?
SOPHIA BUSH: It’s so amazing! There’s honestly a part of me that wonders ifThe Incrediblesdidn’t really launch the craze. I think everyone realized how much fun these films are, and how you get to tell these big stories about real life themes, and then add on this layer of incredible entertainment with superheroes and powers and action sequences. Now, we look at the whole Marvel Universe and we go, “Oh, okay!”
How cool will it be, the first time you see somebody in a Halloween costume, as your character?
BUSH: You know what’s so crazy? I hadn’t even thought about that, and then, the day that we made the announcement public that I joined the cast, my girlfriend Hilarie [Burton], who I used to work with, texted me and said, “Wait, does this mean I get to dress up as you for Halloween?” And then, I had that realization that I will see kids dressed up as Voyd, and it’s so surreal and awesome. It’s just an incredible thing. It truly is an amazing thing to be a part of a movie like this, especially for me. I’m such a Pixar fan, as it is, andThe Incredibleshas always been my favorite Pixar movie. To be in the sequel is a real pinch me moment, in my life. I got to play a character who has such an identity, and who I think is someone that kids and young women and college-aged men and women really can look at and identify with, as far as being a person who has had to hide who they are, who’s been othered by society, and who feels like they finally have an opportunity to step out of the shadow they’ve been in, and is wondering if the world is going to accept them for who they are, as they are. It’s really such a story about identity, and it is for everyone in the film. There’s this role reversal of who the bread winning parent is and who the stay-at-home parent is, and the growing up of kids that are trying to figure out who they are in the world. Everyone is figuring out their place. And then, you get this beautiful family story and you get superheroes, on top of it, so it makes it really fun.
In this film, we only really get to see the superhero side of your character. Did you think about who Voyd is, when she goes home and takes off the mask?
BUSH: I did. I thought a lot about what I’ve learned, as an activist in the equal rights space. I’ve thought a lot about how so many of the young people in the LGBTQ community, who have felt shunned or othered, or the many people who feel shunned or othered because of their race or their gender, have had people who they’ve been able to look at, in the entertainment world. They have role models and people who say to them, “It gets better.” I’ll never forget hearing the story of this young gay boy in Oklahoma, who talked about how, growing up and watchingWill & Gracemade him realize that his life was going to be okay, even though, as a kid, he wasn’t really accepted and didn’t feel like he ever would be, but he had something to look to.
I think about that reality and that kind of a story for Voyd, being this young woman who is different and who has to hide who she is, and who can’t tell anyone about her life and who can’t tell anyone about her identity, and who has these powers and this magic that she really has to diminish it. She has to dim her own light, but she grew up looking up to Elastigirl and wanting to be like Elastigirl. Now, Elastigirl is back and Voyd gets this call, and maybe she’s going to be able to be herself. It’s like that young kid meeting Eric McCormack or Debra Messing. It’s an out of body experience that she has, the first time that she gets to meet Elastigirl.
That’s what really personalizes it for me. When you see her, toward the end of the film, getting called on by Elastigirl, and she’s really got to get out there, even though she doesn’t have as much practice with her powers and she doesn’t know how to control them as well as a lot of people do. She’s good, but she’s not an expert yet, and there she is giving it her all because it’s a big moment for her. And then, you see her with Violet, and they’re just two young girls talking. I just find it to be so sweet and hopeful.
When you got to see how cool your character looks and you learned about all of the cool things that she gets to do and what her powers are, were you ever just the slightest bit jealous that it was all animated, or were you totally cool with not having to put on spandex?
BUSH: I was cool with it. It’s still a dream for me to do a live-action superhero movie. It always has been. When I was little, I always told people that I wanted to grow up to be Batman, and they were like, “That might not happen for you.” So maybe I’ll get to play some amazing character like that in a film. It is certainly really fun to dip my toes into the superhero pool like this, and I love that my character’s a woman in STEM. That’s pretty cool. She’s a little scientist, manipulating space and time. It’s pretty rad.
When I saw the film, I felt like I could see some of your mannerisms and facial expressions in Voyd. Did you feel like you could see yourself in the animated character, at all?
BUSH: It’s really interesting, the first time I looked at the film, I didn’t really feel that way, but we saw an unfinished version. And then, at the premiere, there were a couple of moments where she made these faces and I [saw myself]. They do animate certain aspects of the characters to be a little closer to you. I think that Winston Deavor looks so much like Bob Odenkirk. It’s really surreal, but also really fun. My nieces and nephews, and all of my friends’ kids, are just beyond excited to see the movie, so I’m excited for their feedback.
What’s it like to have that experience, the first time you go to Pixar and see everything?
BUSH: It’s the coolest! I actually went up about there years ago. I’m really passionate about animation, in general, and telling animated stories is something that I really want to do, especially now that I’m working on the production side of things more, so I went up there just to learn. I spent a day, took a tour, met with a ton of their producers and creatives, and got to go through the color mapping of movies, and look at the clay modeling and all of the pencil sketching to the 2D animations. I got to meet with a bunch of the animators and go through their spaces, and they were animatingThe Good Dinosaur, at the time. I was asking about the layers of tech that they apply to the films, how they’d write the code, and how the programming works. I just geeked out on the whole thing. And then, last year, out of the blue, I got this letter from (director) Brad Bird saying, “We’d like you to come and play this superhero, named Voyd.” And I was like, “What?!” So, my second trip to Pixar, I was actually up there to voice a character, and it was amazing.
That’s so cool! You also have a production deal with 20thCentury Fox TV. Was that something that was really important to you, as far as being more involved and making sure you have a voice, in that way?
BUSH: It’s about having autonomy. It’s a wonderful thing to do what you love, but what’s always amusing to me is when people come to sets and they think it’s going to be glamorous and amazing and cool, within an hour, they’re crawling out of their skin and they can’t wait to get out of there. Everybody goes, “No one knows how hard this is!” My wonderful technical advisor, Brian Luce, fromChicago P.D.said, “I’ve been an undercover detective for 30 years, and this job is harder than any job I’ve ever done.” I was like, “We don’t get shot at, but okay!” He was just talking about how people really have no idea what it takes to put these projects together. When you’re working 90 or 100 hours a week, and you’re working on something that you have no real ownership of, and you can offer feedback, where sometimes it’s taken and sometimes it’s not, and you can say that you need something, like better conditions for your crew, and nobody cares, if you’re not a person who’s in a position of power.
I feel like I’ve had incredible opportunities, and I also feel like I’ve really paid my dues. I’ve learned a lot. I sit in on a lot of meetings. I’ve directed on prior shows. I love storytelling. I want to be able to tell stories from an empowered position, and not as another puppet in somebody else’s show. I’m really just ready to do it. When I decided to leave my last job, and I got a call from Dana Walden saying, “We want you to come to 20th,” I was like, “You’re the coolest woman in the world! I would love to come and work for you!” So, it’s definitely been a really wonderful experience, thus far. I took a solid almost seven months off. I hadn’t had a year off in 15 years and I was exhausted, so I took a break. And then, for the last couple of months, I’ve really been ingesting so many scripts, meeting with so many writers, and sitting down with so many producers. It’s been such an education about things that I knew I loved, and now I understand much more about the detailing of those worlds. I’m really excited to start getting some projects off the ground, and to tell stories in a way that feels even more fulfilling to me.
Cool! I think you definitely have a lot to say, so I’m excited to see where all of that goes.
