NEW YORK — Too often, Black artists who work with major Hollywood studios are relegated to films centered on Black people instead of people of any race. Oscar winners Lupito Nyong’o and Kris Bowers have been gradually breaking those race barriers in their own careers. Nyong’o is the leading voice cast as the title character for DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot,” which takes place on a remote island where there are no humans—only robots and animals. “The Wild Robot” was released in theaters today.
In “The Wild Robot” (which is based on Peter Brown’s 2016 novel of the same name), a stray robot named Rozzum 7134, also known as Roz (voiced by Nyong’o), crash lands on the island and ends up taking care of an orphaned male goose named Brightbill (voiced by Kit Connor) and getting to know the various animals on the island. The voice cast also includes Pedro Pascal, Ving Rhames, Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy, and Mark Hamill.
Nyong’o graduated from the Yale School of Drama and won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for portraying an abused and enslaved woman named Patsey in the 2013 drama “12 Years a Slave,” her movie debut. She also received critical acclaim for her starring role in the 2019 horror film “Us,” written and directed by Jordan Peele.
But more recently, Nyong’o has been noticeably taking “color blind” roles that could be played by someone of any race. In addition to “The Wild Robot,” she also stars this year in Paramount Pictures’ sci-fi horror prequel “A Quiet Place: Day One.”
Bowers, a graduate of the Juilliard School, composed the stirring musical score for “The Wild Robot,” which is getting rave reviews and Oscar buzz. He won an Oscar for co-directing the 2023 short documentary film “The Last Repair Shop,” which is about the people who work at a musical instrument repair shop that supplies instruments to children’s schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. His previous film score credits include the 2018 Oscar-winning drama “Green Book,” 2021’s Aretha Franklin biopic “Respect”; 2021’s Richard Williams biopic “King Richard,” an origin story about the early training of tennis superstar sisters Venus and Serena Williams; 2023’s Joseph Bologne biopic “Chevalier”; the 2023 musical remake of “The Color Purple”; the 2023 racism drama “Origin,” based on Isabel Wilkerson’s nonfiction book “Caste;” and the 2024 Bob Marley biopic “Bob Marley: One Love.”
Nyong’o and Bowers recently discussed “The Wild Robot” with Chris Sanders, the movie’s writer/director.
Lupita, how did you master the challenge of expressing such a wide array of emotions only through your voice, and not just have a mechanical feel to it?
Nyong’o: I had an incredible partner here in Chris [Sanders]. And, early on, I asked him why he thought of me for the role of Roz, and he mentioned that he liked the warmth of my voice. So, we knew that we were going to end up with a Roz that sounded more like me to depict that evolution she’s gone through. And then we kind of reverse-engineered. I was inspired by the automated voices of [Amazon’s] Alexa and [Apple’s] Siri and the voices on TikTok and Instagram. What was similar in all of them was this kind of optimistic brightness.
So, after a lot of trial and error, okay, we had many versions of Roz. And that’s the beauty of doing it over two-and-a-half years. As the script develops, so does the voice. In the end, we ended up with that programmed optimism to start her off and we had these markers in the script of when and how Roz’s voice is evolving to show how she’s adapting to her new environment. It was all about just dialing it up. It was wonderful to have such a supportive and insightful partner in Chris.
Kris, “The Wild Robot” is the first musical score you have done for an all-animated film. What was the fundamental difference between scoring an animated film versus a live-action film? And did you have any inspirations when it came to composing the score?
Bowers: As far as inspiration, I started this film shortly after I became a dad. My daughter was only about 5 months old when we had our first meeting and by the time I was finishing, she was in the “terrible twos.” It’s a very different experience. But, you know, in those couple of years, just how much I was not only examining my own relationship with her and what it felt like to become a parent [but also] how many things I and my wife felt [that were] similar to Roz is learning how to do that. Also, just looking at my appreciation for my own parents—my own mother, and looking at that sacrifice and the sacrifice of my wife. And there’s so, so much of the emotion in this story that’s so palpable and involuntarily brings up these visceral emotions for me [that] were just also mirroring so many things I was already thinking about so much in my own life.
One sequence in particular I think about is the migration sequence. There’s a cue that we worked on for a long time, and my first pass at it [that is] really bright and happy. Chris [Sanders] reminded me about the fact that this is a really bittersweet moment where Roz is saying goodbye to Brightbill and they don’t know if they’re going to see each other ever again. And they’re not saying, “I love you.”
And I hadn’t even thought of the depth of that experience and what that would be like with my own daughter. Chris was reminding me of what that experience might be like with my own daughter. And I just remember going back after that conversation with him and writing that piece of music, and it just kind of coming out of me very naturally, because of how much the emotion was just kind of top of mind. And so, inspiration was definitely a lot of my own personal experiences.
The difference [between composing a score for an animated film and a live-action film] I would say is starting mainly with black and white pencil sketches and the animation. Having to rely so much on Chris’s guidance as a director to understand what I’m scoring to. Looking at the concept art to realize what this is going to look like in terms of color and imagery, and use my imagination. And so, if I have still images that I’m writing to, I’m imagining it in its fullest form so that I’m writing music that doesn’t feel like it’s held back at all.
What would you say is the most important message you would like audiences to take away from experiencing “The Wild Robot”?
Nyong’o: I really like the message that kindness is a force. I think oftentimes kindness can be considered a vulnerability. And in this film, we really show how Roz’s journey shows how it is a force and it’s a force to reckon with.
Bowers: I‘d say all of those things. And maybe add to that: just thanking the people that have sacrificed for you to be here and be who you are and remembering that—whether it’s our mothers or whoever else is playing that role. There’s so much that they are doing for us to be able to thrive in this world. Remember to thank them and say, “I love you” in a way when it makes sense.
