Film, Interviews
Nov 6, 2014

BIG HERO 6 CAST Q&A

With a slew of successful superhero movies under their belt, Disney and Marvel don’t scrimp on the action-packed storyline for their newest superhero endeavor, Big Hero 6.

Based on the Japanese comic of the same name, that’s where many of the similarities end – so we learned at the Big Hero 6 Press Junket. As a Disney and Marvel fanatic, as well as after seeing the film’s sneak preview at Disneyland, I jumped at the chance to check out the film as well as had a chat with the cast and crew for Press Pass LA.

Set in the fictional town of San Fransokyo – a perfect mingling of East meets West – the story revolves around 14-year-old Hiro Hamada (voiced by Ryan Potter), a teenage genius with a passion and talent for making toy robots. After getting into some trouble with what seems to be a hobby to him, Hiro’s older brother Tadashi (voiced by Daniel Henney) introduces Hiro to his friends in the “nerd” lab at the specialized university he attends in order to positively influence his little brother to see his true potential.

In short, that he does and Hiro ends up embarking on a journey that he would never have guessed he’d take, along with a crew of nerd superheroes, including Go Go Tamago (voiced by Jamie Chung), Honey Lemon (voiced by Genesis Rodriguez), Fred (voiced by T.J. Miller), Wasabi (voiced by Damon Wayans, Jr.), and the ever-lovable Baymax (voiced by Scott Adsit).

Press Pass LA sat down with the cast and crew of Big Hero 6 at the legendary Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, where we learned from Disney’s latest superhero cast some very interesting behind-the-scenes details from the movie. One thing that was very apparent off-hand was the impeccable casting of the film. All of the cast members were sheer perfection for their roles and it was pretty uncanny at how true-to-life they seemed to their characters (minus the whole superpower thing, of course).

Despite meeting only a couple of weeks prior, you wouldn’t have guessed it, with the tight bond that Genesis Rodriguez and Jamie Chung formed over a year after working on the movie. Another thing you wouldn’t have guessed: much like her character, Genesis actually built robots at a young age.

One of the main things that the cast agrees on is that while it’s a superhero movie, it has a lot of heart and isn’t typical of superhero movies in that their characters are just normal kids.

“I love the idea that these characters are normal human beings and what makes them superheroes is their minds,” Damon Wayans, Jr. said. “It was just these guys and their will, and their ingenuity combined with their costumes.”
“I hope with this movie, they are going to inspire kids that want to become scientists again… that we can inspire kids to be real superheroes with their brains – that they can achieve incredible things just by education and just doing really well in school,” Genesis Rodriguez quipped, adding, “Hopefully we can get some really good scientists after this movie.”

Disney’s newest adventure Big Hero 6 hits theaters November 7 and you’ll definitely want a seat on the ride of your life. A word of caution: you might want to take a tissue or two. Don’t let the superhero front fool you – this is classic Disney fare.