Interview with Inside Out’s Bing Bong and Sadness!

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I did receive an all expenses paid trip to the Inside Out/ The Good Dinosaur Event, but all fan girling are my own!~

Having been a girl that has dealt with a lot of sadness and pessimistic emotions in my life, I was really rocked to find out that we were going to be interviewing voice actor Phyllis Smith, the voice of Sadness. As if that wasn’t awesome enough, we also had a chance to interview voice actor Richard Kind, the voice of Bing Bong. (You have Bing Bong’s theme song stuck in your head now don’t you!)

This was a really fun interview. As we were sitting in the interview room waiting for the talent to enter, there was a fun buzz about the room. As soon as they entered we erupted into applause, and what was really cool was that they were taking video and pictures of us. It’s always fun when celebrities get as much into the interviews as we do. That’s one of the bonuses of being a “mom blogger” interviewing celebs. They aren’t quite sure what to do with us, but it usually means the actors are a lot more relaxed and we have a lot more fun than a stuffy old press reviews.

First off, they were both hysterical. It was a really fun time. We asked Phyllis what her favorite part was about being Sadness, and she told us

I’m glad that people are enjoying [Inside Out]. And every time I make somebody cry I go ‘yes’.

That was quite hysterical, it’s not often when people rejoice in making people cry, but for Phyllis that meant that her job was done. She was able to get through to the audience, but in a fun kind of way.

We also asked them if they were surprised at the popularity of Inside Out’s Sadness. Phyllis wasn’t quite sure what the response was going to be being her first voice acting job, but Richard Kind professed that he knew! He shared,

 I am not at all surprised at how popular Phyllis’s character is. It’s a perfect voice performance and a perfectly written part by these guys because it’s such a touchy character because no one wants to be sad and yet we identify with you. So I am so taken by your performance because although it’s down in the dumps it’s not– it’s not depressive. It’s simply sad. And I think that that’s an amazing thing that they and you did.

Of course, we also asked about Bing Bong. Bing Bong is kinda a sleeper hit character. Richard shared with us what a joy it was to be a part of the project, but he was told that his character wouldn’t be a part of any of the media promotion because they wanted him to be a surprise in the movie. It was all fun and games until they told Richard that he wasn’t going to be going to Cannes Film Festival. For those of you that don’t know, Cannes is a really prestigious film festival in France. It’s quite swanky. Richard jested,

I said………it’s fine. I’m going down– it’s great. I didn’t mean a word of that. I was very upset that I wasn’t going to Cannes. It really it upset me. It’s Cannes Film Festival. And it’s– and it’s on their dime. It can’t be done– and then when the movie came out, and I hadn’t been in marketing. And all of a sudden there was an explosion of, oh, we didn’t know that this guy was in the movie.

Of course being the comedic guy that Richard Kind is, he was joking the whole time. Though I don’t doubt he was seriously upset about missing Cannes (who wouldn’t be?!), he said it with a good heart. Though he joked about his demise for not being included he was quite surprised at the “explosion” of fan love for Bing Bong once the movies hit the theaters.

Being able to interview voice actors is probably one of my favorite kinds of interviews. When you watch animated movies, you always have this idea of what the actors look like, and they usually strangely warp into something kind of like their on screen animated role. It was a blast chatting with Richard Kind and Phyllis Smith from Inside Out, and if you still haven’t watched the movie you need to stop your life and do it NOW! (pssst you can get your digital copy below!)

Disney-Pixar’s INSIDE OUT will be available on Digital HD and Disney Movies Anywhere October 13 and on DVD, Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray Combo Pack and On Demand on November 3.

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Love Inside Out bunches and bunches? Then check out these other great posts about the movie!