I did receive an all expenses paid trip to Los Angeles to chat about Big Hero 6, but all bahlalalals, Marvel fan girling, and humor are my own
If you haven’t watched Big Hero 6 yet, you don’t know what you are missing. I was able to watch it for the first time right before going to Los Angeles for McFarland USA, and it is hands down one of my favorite Disney/Marvel movies yet. That’s why I was so excited to chat with Ryan Potter and Daniel Henney, the voice behind Hiro and Tadashi in this great animated movie! That day we had a chance to talk with Scott Adsit, the voice of Baymax, and then it was a chance to pick the brains of Ryan and Daniel. As soon as they walked into the room you realized, unlike Scott, how much Ryan and Daniel looked just like their characters. It was really neat!
Daniel Henney and Ryan Potter, voices of Hiro and Tadashi
On Being a Part of a Marvel Movie
Even though Big Hero 6 is animated, it was actually based off of a Marvel comic by the same name. We asked Daniel if he was excited to be in yet another Marvel movie as he just recently appeared in Wolverine. He shared a little bit about his love for comics as a kid.
I was definitely into [comic books as a kid]. I was into Spiderman, Incredible Hulk, stuff like that. It’s still very surreal, though. It doesn’t get like, oh, this is my normal Tuesday, you know, fighting Wolverine and dying in a helicopter. That’s not normal for me. I mean, it’s still very surreal. This movie was very, very special.
On Playing Tadashi
Though Tadashi doesn’t have a huge role in Big Hero 6 (no spoilers here, promise) he has a huge impact in the story line of the movie. We chatted with Daniel about how he might be like, or different from, his character Tadashi. Daniel does such an amazing job voicing the character that the audience quickly becomes attached to the heart warming, loving older brother.
It was a beautiful opportunity for me to go and play this guy who is such a role model for a man should be at such a young age- so smart, beautiful, intelligent, caring, genuine, the ultimate big brother, and he’s very selfless. Every day using your voice- lending your voice to that, I would walk out of that room feeling like I just sat through, like, a therapy session. I wanted to tackle the world.
On Playing Hiro
Just like Daniel, Ryan really related to his character Hiro. It wasn’t really acting at all to him. Ryan shared with us that he really went into the studio every day and was able to be himself to bring the quirky character to Hiro.
I’m Hiro! I didn’t go into that room acting at all. I went into that room simply being myself and living in those circumstances. I just revisited a lot of things that I felt before. I walked out of there like I was able to kinda purge a lot of things. It was just awesome. It was absolutely awesome.
On Bonding with Cast Members
One thing we learned from both Scott Adsit and Ryan and Daniel is that none of the cast members had met each other in person during the recording of Big Hero 6. This was really a surprise to us because Daniel and Ryan were really marvelous at bringing that brotherly bond between Hiro and Tadashi to life. It was hard to believe that they never met each other in person before. It really just shows how much heart and soul they both put into voicing their characters.
Daniel shared,
We met the first screening day. It was weird, you know? I don’t know, and I’m not lying at all when I say that I feel a brotherly bond with this guy. We have similar experiences- similar backgrounds, and so the day of the screening, I hadn’t met any of the cast, but I was the most excited about meeting Ryan.
On Being the First Multi-Cultural Disney Characters
One thing not many people realize about Big Hero 6 is that it features the first multi-cultural Disney animated characters. It was really awesome to be able to ask them how they felt about having this honor.
Both Ryan and Daniel could relate to the characters’ backgrounds, and joked they would’ve paid Disney to cast them in these roles so they could be apart of such an awesome project. Ryan boasted,
It’s every kid’s kinda dream come true to be able to be a part of a film like this and, this one is really special because of that, because of how diverse it is. It breaks the mold. The diversity makes this film what it is.
Daniel even went further on about it. He’s from a multi-cultural background and shared what it was like growing up watching shows where no one looked like him on TV.
When I was growing up there was no one on TV that looked like me. If there was, they were a martial artist, so they had very heavy accents and I couldn’t understand what they were saying. It was a weird thing when you’re watching TV. It’s very satisfying to know that we can do projects like this now that can give children like yours that little moment, and say, oh, I can do that because they can do that.
Meeting Ryan Potter and Daniel Henney was really refreshing. You could tell that voicing Hiro and Tadashi wasn’t just another job to them. They were both really passionate about being a part of the Big Hero 6 family. That’s probably why it was so easy to bring the brotherhood between their characters to life.
I keep pining over it, but you’ve got to check out Big Hero 6 on DVD. It’s not often I gush and gush about a movie, but trust me you will want to own this one. I am so glad I do 🙂
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