The Wild Robot, an adaptation of Peter Brown's 2016 novel, has emerged as one of 2024's most universally admired releases. The latest animation from DreamWorks (and the last that they will be animating completely in-house) topped the international box office following its release. The film centres on ROZZUM Unit 7134, or “Roz” (voiced by Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong'o), a robot who is marooned on an island inhabited only by forest creatures. She has to acclimatise to her surroundings and ends up becoming the adoptive mother of a small gosling, who she names Brightbill (Heartstopper's Kit Connor). Pedro Pascal, Catherine O'Hara, and Mark Hamill also star.
Ahead of The Wild Robot's home entertainment release, FILMHOUNDS spoke to director Chris Sanders and producer Jeff Hermann about the process of adapting Brown's novel and plans for an already highly anticipated sequel. Sanders is an experienced animator and director with both Disney and DreamWorks. His credits include Lilo & Stitch (2002), How to Train Your Dragon (2010), and The Croods (2013). Hermann meanwhile has worked on numerous DreamWorks titles including Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) and the first three Kung Fu Panda films.
The Wild Robot is a wonderful film. I loved it so much. It's quite remarkable as it contains no human characters of note. Furthermore, especially in the beginning, there is barely any dialogue. Was the film ever a difficult pitch to DreamWorks or were they on board almost immediately?
Chris Sanders: They were the ones that had the book actually. I believe they acquired it even before it was published, right?
Jeff Hermann: Just before, yes.
CS: So they picked it up at a book fair, one of those events where they get to look at things before they are published. They secured the rights to it, and it was sitting in development at DreamWorks for a few years before we came along and started working on it. So full credit to them. But I would say that we were all aware of the different kind of book that it is, and the different kind of story that it is. As we began production, one of the things that we all agreed on was that we would take the film in the appropriate direction, which would be a very fresh and unique direction for a DreamWorks film. For example, there's [only] 50% of the dialogue that a film of this scale would normally have if it was animated. So it's relatively quiet and a lot more pantomime. So all of us understood that it was going to be a little bit longer before the film started pulling together. Because we had to wait for the finished animation to be dropped in before a lot of these things really found themselves.
Chris, the film branches out into new thematic territories for you like motherhood. But The Wild Robot is also another film from you that sees an outsider figure slowly become welcomed into a new environment and a new family. Do you like the continuity there, and did the film present any personal or creative challenges for you?
CS: I do like that kind of story. I like stories that are very fanciful but which at their core have very believable things going on. I think we were all very excited by the idea of doing a story that had a mother being a mother at the core of it. So that was fresh. In terms of challenges… I think this sounds a little too bland, but the overall adaptation process was really the biggest thing. Clearing things out, changing the story, but always in service to the original book and to Peter's story. To make sure that Peter's story made it to the big screen intact. Just doing all the things we needed to do in order to accomplish that was the biggest challenge.
The casting is pretty sensational. How did you settle on some of the big names who lend their voices to the film, And how did Lupita Nyong'o in particular come to be involved?
JH: Well, we didn't come into this with any preconceived notions for casting. But our casting process is a collaborative one with the studio and particularly with our casting director Christi Soper. She has these initial conversations with us about what kind of voice and what kind of actor are we after for any particular project. We give general guidelines; we want somebody warm, we want somebody funny, those kinds of attributes. And then Christi comes back with a preliminary list, and we start checking off our favourites or people who could be an interesting idea that we want to listen to a little bit more. The discussions and conversations go from there. Lupita was on Christi's very first list and always near the very, very top. It really just took a quick conversation to agree. Lupita's vocal quality is so unique. It's so lovely and warm. There's so much feeling and emotion in there that made her such a natural choice for this.
She has been full of praise for the film. Mark Hamill (who voices Thorn the grizzly bear) has also been openly celebrating its achievements. It's wonderful to see, and it must mean a lot to you both as well.
JH: Oh, one hundred per cent. We grew up loving his films and admiring the roles that he has played. He's just as remarkable a person in real life as he is on screen. For us to get to work with him, it's still something that we're having to pinch ourselves to remind us that it actually happened!
Well, I'm still pinching myself that I get to speak to both of you!
CS: I went to an event a few days ago and Mark Hamill was sitting there. I thought to myself ‘Oh, I can say hi to him!'
It has been reported that a sequel to The Wild Robot is currently being devised. Will you continue to adapt the material from Peter Brown's trilogy or take things more in your own direction?
CS: So it's not totally greenlit at this point, but I think it's something that we're all very interested in and we're certainly positioned for it. We ended the first book in the right position. It's true to the series that Peter wrote. I'm sure that if we jump in we will want to be true to the [second] book, just like we were to the first. But again we would do all of the things needed to do the adaptation right. It's always a bit of an art.
You said you would like to do a second one, I think that enthusiasm is widely shared!
JH: There is a lot of enthusiasm! Hopefully, we get to do it.
CS: I think we all had such an incredible time doing the first film. There are always challenges – it's never a breeze, because there are always the types of challenges that you look forward to when doing these things. But we all fell in love with the world and really enjoyed the characters. I think we would all like to spend more time with them.
The Wild Robot is available to rent digitally now.