‘The Wild Robot’ Director Chris Sanders & Stars Lupita Nyong’o, Mark Hamill On Creating “Homage To Motherhood” – Contenders Los Angeles

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At the core of DreamWorks’ The Wild Robot is the heartfelt concept of creating your own found family.

The sci-fi animated adventure film — written and directed by Chris Sanders based on the 2016 Peter Brown bestseller — follows Rozzum, a robot that gets shipwrecked during a typhoon on an island populated with animals but no humans. While there, Roz discovers an unhatched egg of a gosling (Kit Conner) whose family she inadvertently killed. Because of this she takes on the role of protector, with the help of a sly fox (Pedro Pascal).

“Chris made me aware of the fact that in most animations, the mother is missing. And the mother is missing in order for the adventure to happen,” Nyong’o said Saturday at Deadline’s Contenders Los Angeles event. “But this film is really an homage and a celebration to motherhood and parenting and the unique bond between a mother and child, whether biological or chosen.”

The acclaimed film recently crossed the $300 million threshold globally since its September release. With $134.4 million domestic and $166.1 million internationally, The Wild Robot the No. 2 nonsequel studio film of 2024 behind It Ends with Us, the No.1 non-sequel Hollywood animated title of the year and the fourth-biggest animated studio movie of 2024 globally.

“I think one of the reasons why it’s been so well received and it’s resonating is because we can all relate to being either a parent or child,” Nyong’o continued. “And [the film] does so with an earnestness that is beautiful. Oftentimes in art when it’s advanced, we get kind of highbrow and we don’t want to be earnest, but the book was earnest, and this film is earnest and it appeals to a pure part of ourselves that just seeks belonging and love.”

In working with casting director Christi Soper, Sanders spoke about the decision to entrust Nyong’o to bring the motherly robot to life. “Christi did such a brilliant job casting this film. She’s not just looking for a great voice to match the characters but really looking for character matches. And there’s no better example than Lupita with Roz because Lupita really took the lead in deconstructing that character to understand the architecture of her particular thinking as a robot. There’s a lot going on there, and we wanted her to play believably as a robot that you could’ve bought from a very expensive company, but also had humanity so that we could connect as an audience. ”

Star Wars legend Mark Hamill, who voices a grizzly named Thorn in Wild Robot, also was on the panel and talked about why he enjoys working on toons.

“One thing I love about animation is it makes every actor a character actor because they cast with their ears, not their eyes,” he said. “So you’re going to be able to play parts you’d never get if you were on camera. And I found it incredibly liberating to discover this part of the business that I wasn’t really a part of for many years. I went to Broadway to try to get character parts and did seven shows, but when I came back and got into the animation role, I think the real turning point for me was the Joker, because people would stop you in the grocery store. … So you’re in Toys R Us doing the Joker voice for some bewildered child on Aisle 5.”

Check back Monday for the panel video.

The presenting sponsor for this year’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles is United for Business. Sponsors are Eyeptizer Eyewear, Final Draft + ScreenCraft, and partners are Four Seasons Maui, 11 Ravens and Robina Benson Design House.