He may not realize it, but Kelsey Mann is a Hollywood success story. The maestro behind “Inside Out 2” is celebrating his first Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature for what is, remarkably, his directorial debut. An opportunity that came after working his way up in the animation industry over two decades. But after 10 years at Pixar, when Pete Docter offered him the chance to direct the sequel to the beloved Academy Award-winning blockbuster, he knew what he wanted to do.
READ MORE: “Inside Out 2” Review: Anxiety attempts a takeover in a fantastic Pixar sequel
“I looked at it like I wanted to do a sequel that was worthy of the original,” Mann says. “I kept thinking to myself, ‘Alright, I want to make the ‘Empire Strikes Back’ of ‘Inside Out’ my personal, favorite sequel of all time.’ I’m like, ‘If I could do that, that would be fantastic.’ Irvin Kershner is the director of ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and he wasn’t on the first film. And so I kind of looked at it like that where I’m Irvin Kershner making the sequel to ‘Inside Out’ and Pete Docter is the George Lucas of the ‘Inside Out’ world. So, that was kind of my model of the type of film that I wanted to do.”
In a conversation that took place immediately following the Oscar nominations announcement, Mann reflected on the moment he knew “Inside Out 2” may have luck on its side, the influence of his teenage kids on Riley, his concerns over the gig, and much more.
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The Playlist: What was your reaction to the nomination? Were you watching with your family?
Kelsey Mann: It was pretty early and so most people were let’s asleep, especially in my house. I got two teenagers so they were definitely asleep, but my wife and I were together watching and, boy to hear “Inside Out 2” to called out as one of the nominees. It was really moving. I was obviously driven by a lot of joy, A little bit of sadness too is a little bit of tears tearing up. It’s kind of the combination of the two of them. I can explain that feeling, but that’s what I definitely had. You never know. You always hope that a film is going to resonate and do well and people are going to love it and it’s all this kind of unknown. And now to be on the other side and know that the film was so received by audiences all over the world and to end with an Oscar nomination, oh my goodness, it’s a dream come true. And I’m just so proud of the entire crew there at Pixar for making this film.
Well, when you came onto the project, you must have had your own anxiety. You were doing the sequel to an insanely popular massive box office hit. What were your trepidations? What were your concerns about even taking on the role?
Again, I feel like I’ve learned to really tap into my feelings and so I think it was really what I was feeling is what I made the movie about, which is kind of a battle between my own joy and anxiety. Talk about the other “Joy.” I feel like my Joy led when I first got offered by Pete Docter, he’s our Chief Creative Officer and the director of the first film. When he first offered me the idea of it, I was just so excited that I never thought I’d ever direct a movie, let alone direct a movie at Pixar, and to direct a follow-up film to the first “Inside Out,” which I love just as much as anybody else. And so I looked at it like I wanted to do a sequel that was worthy of the original. I kept thinking to myself, “Alright, I want to make the ‘Empire Strikes Back’ of ‘Inside Out’ my personal favorite sequel of all time.” I’m like, “If I could do that, that would be fantastic.” And I kind of looked at it too. Irvin Kershner is the director of “The Empire Strikes Back” and he wasn’t on the first film. And so I kind of looked at it like that where I’m Irvin Kershner making the sequel to “Inside Out” and Pete Docter is the George Lucas of the “Inside Out” world. So, that was kind of my model of the type of film that I wanted to do.
Well, you have surpassed him because Irving never got an Oscar nomination and you now have, but when you got into animation, was your goal always to direct?
No, I just wanted to work in film and I didn’t know how, I mean, when I first started, if you go way back, I didn’t know if that meant live-action or animation and I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. I ended up finding story and storyboarding, and I really love that because you wear many different hats when you’re a story artist and you get to do lots of facets of the filmmaking process when you’re a story artist. And it took me a long time to even get into Pixar. When I graduated college, I applied to Pixar and I ended up not getting a job. I got rejected by Pixar. And so I had to work on my portfolio and my skills and I moved to LA and took all these night classes and started to work in the industry from small studios to a little bit larger to a little bit larger. And it took me about 10 years before I felt like I was ready to apply again and I ended up getting an acceptance letter at that point and it was as a story artist. So it took me a long time just to become a story artist. And so when I got a job at Pixar, I thought, this is fantastic. I’m going to retire as a Pixar story artist. I’m so happy to do that. And then things started to happen to me and I started to get opportunities to be a story supervisor and I did that for a couple of films and then I directed a short, and then I got offered the spot to direct a sequel to “Inside Out.” And boy, I never thought that would ever be in the cards for me. So no, I’m just happy to work in film in any kind of capacity.
What did you do before you were at Pixar? Were you in animation? Were you doing other things in the industry?
Yeah, I worked in animation primarily. I’m from Minnesota, so I worked at a small commercial studio in Minneapolis for a couple of years and then I moved out to LA and I worked in internet animation for a couple of years. And then my big breakthrough was at Cartoon Network when I first became a full story artist as a career and as a job. And so I worked at Cartoon Network, a couple of different TV series, and ended up doing a little bit of directing actually there. And then you kind of jump around obviously when you’re in LA so I would move around, but I was primarily a cartoon network. And then I moved up to the San Francisco Bay area and got a job over at Lucasfilm Animation and worked on the “Clone Wars” TV series with Dave Filoni and George Lucas. And that was a fantastic experience to be able to do that. And that ended up leading over to Pixar, but it was a long 10 years of working at different places in the animation community.
You mentioned you had two teenagers. How much of your experience with them influenced how you directed the film and how you approached Riley?
I mean every single movie that we do at Pixar, you end up talking about your life a lot in the story room. And we do that because we’re trying to find the truth of what it is to be alive and what it is to be just a human being or a father or a son or a husband. You’re talking about your life and you’re trying to put that up on the screen so that it feels authentic and it feels real and that people can relate to it. So, we’re digging from our own lives including our experiences with our children. And I’m not only digging into what it was like for me to be a teenager, but I’m looking at what my kids are currently going through. When I started the film, my daughter was 13 and my son was 14, and that’s the age that Riley’s at in this film. And I’m kind of trying to see what they’re going through. I want everyone to relate to this film regardless if you’re a teenager or not. But I really wanted current teenagers to be able to look up on the screen and look what Riley’s going through and what joy and all the emotions they’re going through and having them say they got that right. That is so accurate. And I think that’s the part I’m most proud of too, is that I feel like we achieve that not only for teenagers today, but the teenagers and all of us regardless of your age. I think that some of my favorite stories are people telling me that their entire family got to go to the film together and they all got something out of it.
Considering the pressure of making a sequel to a beloved movie, was there a moment when you took a sigh of relief? Where you were like, ‘O.K. the movie’s good. People like it.’ Was it seeing reviews? Was it the weekend box office?
Oh my goodness, boy, there are a couple of times that come to mind. There’s a really special one actually that holds close to my heart. It was the day it opened and we were in Annecy, which is in France. There’s an animation festival that they do that I had never been to. It’s a beautiful location. And that’s where we were on the day that it opened and Disney threw a party that night and you kind of invited everyone in the animation community to it. We had done a screening there and I did an introduction to it, but I couldn’t stay and watch it with the audience. I had to leave and do other press or something. And people came to this party and they hadn’t worked on the film and they were just telling me how much they absolutely loved it. It had kind of rained that day and it was supposed to be a beach party. There’s a beautiful lake there, and it forced us inside. But then the rain kind of stopped and somebody came up to me and they were like, “Kelsey, you’ve been outside yet?” I go, “No.” And they’re like, “Look at this photo. There’s a rainbow outside.” I’m like, “Whoa, no way. “And they showed me a picture that they took and it’s this beautiful rainbow coming down to the horizon. And I’m like, “Wow, that’s a beautiful photo.” And they’re like, “No, look.”. And they zoomed in on the photo, and I’m not kidding you think I’m going to make this up, but there is a rainbow literally going down into an “Inside Out” to a poster. And the hair on my arm was raised. And it was the day it opened to the world. And as there’s, I am a visual person, I’m an artist. And that visual just speaks to the way I feel about what happened on that day and every day since I just feel like the world has smiled upon this movie. I just feel nothing but grateful for the way it’s been received into the world. And that picture just spoke that feeling to me.
Do you know what you’re doing next? Do you have an assignment? Are you directing anything or what’s in the works?
I don’t know exactly what I’m going to be doing next. I am obviously at Pixar and I want to stay there and I want to do something else there. So, I have to figure out exactly what that is. But I am super excited to be there, and boy, February is going to be a really fun month. I’m really excited for the next few weeks to be able to go celebrate this film that this cast and crew have worked so hard for. And having that end with the Oscars is incredibly special. Can’t wait for it.
“Inside Out 2” is available on Disney+
