Mindy Kaling and Bill Hader Cried at 'Inside Out' Pitch; Lewis Black Thought It Was 'Awful'
In addition to already being hailed as one of Pixar’s best films yet (which is saying a lot), Inside Out is also being called the studio's most ambitious. That’s because the film mostly takes place inside the head of an 11-year-old girl named Riley, whose guided through life by five central emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Disgust Mindy Kaling) and Anger (Lewis Black). Together, they face a high-stakes adventure through the expansive terrain of the preteen’s mind when her Riley starts to unravel.
Even though Inside Out is movie No. 15 for Pixar — the animation masters behind Toy Story, Up, Finding Nemo, and a stack of other gems — it still required a leap of faith for the voice actors to sign on to such an elaborate, abstract concept. Just ask the famously angry Black: “As soon as I got the first 25 pages that they sent me, which was kind of a summary of what they were doing, I said, 'They’re out of their minds!”, Black told Yahoo Movies (you can watch the video above). "And also, it just read awful. It really did.” Black said the pitch came with a package of prior Pixar hits. “These magnificent pieces of work, and I get this piece of s—t,” he remembered thinking.
Related: The ‘Inside Out’ Stars Cast Their Own Voices
Black’s co-stars Hader and Kaling were more easily swayed — to say the least — when Peter Docter (who co-directed the film with Ronaldo Del Carmen) showed them a PowerPoint presentation revealing the film’s premise and featuring images of Docter’s own daughter. “We both cried from just the pitch,” Hader said.
“I just started weeping in front of them,” Kaling explained. “And they thought I was crazy. But it was too late because I had already signed a contract.”
So there you have it. Even Pixar’s PowerPoint presentations will make you cry.
Inside Out is now making moviegoers weep in theaters.
Watch the cast take a Rorshach test with us: