Veteran Pixar producer Nicole Paradis Grindle re-teamed with two-time Oscar winning director Brad Bird for the highly-anticipated Incredibles 2. Not only was this sequel the highest-grossing animated feature of 2018, but it’s a Best Animated Feature Academy Award nominee and it has the most nominations heading into this weekend’s Annie Awards.

Jackson Murphy: How does it feel to be an Oscar nominee for this movie?

Nicole Paradis Grindle: It’s genuinely always an honor – and you feel it’s a bit of a cliche to say that. You can’t take anything for granted in this business, especially when you’re making a sequel. So it’s especially an honor when a sequel like this is recognized.

JM: And “Incredibles 2” leads the Annie Awards nominations, including one for Holly Hunter’s voice performance. She must, literally, feel incredible about that.

NPG: I think so. Holly was great to work with on this movie. For the first movie, she didn’t really know what she was getting herself into do – doing voiceover for an animated feature. She told us on this film that it wasn’t until after she saw the first feature that she realized what a great film that she was involved with – and what an impact it had on audiences. And it wasn’t just another throwaway kids thing. I think she, not having been familiar with animation, didn’t appreciate the following for animation.

So this time around, she’s also a mother – she has twin boys. So she approached the role, I think, with a little more wisdom about what it is to be in this role. In fact, she told us a story about how with her boys, she had friend of theirs over. And they never talk about what she does professionally. And they watched “Incredibles” with the boys and their friend, and the friend didn’t even put it together. And they said: “THAT’S MY MOM!” [Holly] remembered how this kid looked at the TV and looked at her and was in awe. That was her moment with this kid.

JM: That’s a cool story. You talk about the impact the first movie had – it was released in 2004 before all the modern Marvel and DC superhero blockbusters. So what did it feel like at that time working on a superhero film pre-Marvel & DC?

NPG: It felt like something different at that time. I think there was [the first] “Spider-Man” and “X-Men”, and the studio had done “Toy Story” and “Monsters, Inc.” We were going in a fresh, new direction with a superhero film at that time. But now, yes, there are a lot of other superhero films, which has allowed us to go back and appreciate that we were also, primarily, making a family movie. It’s a story about a family. So we got it going in both ways.

JM: I remember when “Incredibles 2” was first being talked about and I, and many friends, were very excited. We grew up with the first film and now we’re finally going to see a sequel. When you first heard that Brad was coming back and he was seriously going to do this, what was the first thought that popped into your head?

NPG: “I wanna work on it!” (laughs) I worked on “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille” with Brad. I love working with him. He works the teams very hard. He works them almost as hard as he works himself. But you know that whatever he’s going to do is brilliant. He’s really an animator’s director. Of course he writes these things and envisions amazing scenes. He’s great in every category, but the animators here love working with him – learn so much from him. He knows so much about the history of animation. It’s like going to class when you go to dailies with him. I looked forward to all of that.

JM: And do you remember Brad going through the awards mayhem last time for “Incredibles” AND for “Ratatouille” as well?

NPG: As I recall, he was done with all of the awards season on “Incredibles” before he was called up for duty on “Ratatouille”. Or there may have been some overlap. I do know that he was called from his vacation to come and work on “Ratatouille”. I think that might’ve been after awards season. And he was quite hesitant to come on board. I think he was still really tired from “Incredibles”.

JM: When you were doing early test screenings of “Incredibles 2”, what were some of the scenes that stood out to all of you at Pixar and the audiences?

NPG: Well, of course, Jack-Jack and the raccoon.

JM: Amen!

NPG: It’s the first scene that we animated. And when you build a production team, that first scene is really critical. It helps bring energy to the production because, of course, animators come to all of these projects skeptical a little bit, frankly… especially Pixar crews. So putting that one in there first and getting everybody energized for what the film was going to be about was huge. And it certainly had that impact on a preview audience.

Helen on the motorcycle doing that chase scene was a really big one. It wasn’t quite done, but we got a huge reaction from the audience on that one. And I always love it because Helen is mom in that scene. She has a great conversation… with Dash trying to find his shoes under the bed. I think it’s a really funny film that juxtaposes her superhero identity with her mom identity.

JM: I thought the section with Jack-Jack and Edna Mode was fantastic. Absolute standout. And because Helen was more of the focal point of this sequel, how did you approach the marketing – going after several different demographics but also going after females maybe more than you did the first time around?

NPG: I think that’s certainly a big piece of what we were doing. But the truth of the matter is that Bob (Parr) and the kids are in the film quite a bit as well. It feels like it’s Helen’s movie because she’s the one who’s doing the super job out there. But Bob’s doing a tough job in having to rise to his own challenges in the home-sphere, particularly with Jack-Jack, but also with Violet.

So we kind of wanted the film to appeal to everyone. Yes, there was the female aspect, and we have some amazing female characters besides Helen. Of course, in Violet and Edna, but… Evelyn Deavor was a really fun character to create. And Void, who is one of the up and coming supers, was a really exciting new character. So we wanted to appeal to women with Helen’s story, but once the film was out, a lot of people were talking about Evelyn and Void, too.

JM: I did not know it was Catherine Keener until the credits appeared. She did a really good job with that voice performance.

NPG: She was great. Catherine was… the obvious choice. Brad thought of her immediately. She brings such a cookie, female genius voice to that character. We were in love with her. And directing her is really fun, if I may speak for Brad. I was there in the sessions. She works the performance in all kinds of different ways, and she asks a lot of questions. And she does a lot of different line reads.

JM: I’m going to read you three statements, Nicole:
– “Biggest opening weekend ever for an animated movie.”
– “Highest-grossing animated movie of all-time in the U.S.”
– “Second highest-grossing animated movie of all-time worldwide.”

That is just unbelievable. Take me to opening weekend and you’re finding out the box office numbers. What’s going through your mind?

NPG: (pauses) We were just overjoyed. You never really know. You don’t know when you’re making these films how they’re going to land. And it’s just incredibly rewarding… to know that many people wanted to see the film – and enjoyed it. And the second weekend is almost more exciting. Of course you think people may come out for “Incredibles”. They know the film franchise. They’re going to show up for that. But when people kept coming and we got such amazing reviews, I think that was actually the highlight for all of us.

JM: So a few years ago, you were Oscar nominated as a producer on the Pixar animated short “Sanjay’s Super Team”. How was that night, and how do you think it’s going to be similar or different for you this time?

NPG: It was the first time I was a nominee and you can’t help but be a little wide-eyed the first time you go. I learned a lot… about the kinds of shoes I’m gonna wear, for one thing – and my expectations for what kinds of questions people are gonna ask. And how to steel yourself between maybe you win, which is really exciting and scary, and maybe you don’t win, and people will be sad for you – and while it’s okay that you didn’t win, people will you how sad they are that you didn’t win, and you have to manage that. But regardless of what happens, being nominated and being in the room with all these amazing filmmakers is incredibly exciting and rewarding. I think it’s gonna be a wonderful night no matter what happens.

JM: And you also have a “Special Thanks” mention at the end of the Pixar short “Bao”, which is also nominated.

NPG: Domee (Shi) was one of the story artists who worked on our movie. She did great work. She actually boarded the sequence you were talking about: Edna and Jack-Jack, when Edna first sees Jack-Jack’s powers. Her drawings were amazing. She nailed it right out of the gate. She caught Brad’s eye at that point. Everyone already knew that she was going to direct “Bao”, and she’s got a lot of great work to do at Pixar.

JM: So I know Pixar loves to keep secrets. Are you allowed to tell me anything that you’re working on in the future?

NPG: Probably not. (laughs) Who wants to spoil surprises, right?! But we have a long slate of great films with great new filmmakers coming up. So I think there’s a lot to look forward to. I’m excited. So I want everyone out there to stay excited, too.