April 26th, 2021 
Jackson Murphy 
Mike Rianda is the director of Sony’s new animated movie The Mitchells vs. the Machines, which premieres this Friday April 30th on Netflix. Rianda, who also voices son Aaron Mitchell in the film, discusses the significance of the title, working with Oscar winner Olivia Colman, incorporating Furbys and more!
Jackson Murphy: This movie has been in the headlines a lot lately because of its Netflix acquisition. It was gonna go to theaters, but then the shift to Netflix [happened]. When did the conversations begin with you and Sony and Netflix about getting this on the streaming service?
Mike Rianda: Well, the head of Netflix called me personally and said, “Mike, we need this movie, bud.” (laughs) No. Basically… we sort of found out a few months ago. I found out not that long before the world found out. I was actually really happy about it because we just wanted people to see the movie, man! It’s hard to laugh when you’re afraid of catching a horrible disease. I’m happy that people can see it safely and soon. Also everyone has Netflix, so I can just tell people, “Watch it on Netflix.” And they’re like, “Well how much is it on Netflix?” And I’m like, “It’s Free!” And they’re like, “This is incredible.” So I’m just happy that people can watch it.
JM: Yes it’s right there on Netflix and families will laugh a lot during this. And when I saw the $100 million acquisition headline, I was like, “Dear Phil Lord that’s a lot of money!”
MR: (laughs) Hey – the studio was happy! To me it meant that Netflix really values it, and they’ve been treating it like that. They’re really excited about it and they’re putting all their weight behind it. So I’m happy about that.
JM: And they’re also valuing the title because one of the other big headlines was going from The Mitchells vs. the Machines to Connected back to The Mitchells vs. the Machines. Why did you fight for this title too?
MR: I love this title! Hey – I have a whole presentation if you wanna just take 20 minutes out of the day. I just think… look… I love The Mitchells vs. the Machines. Connected is good… but I think it just doesn’t stick to your ribs as much. The movie is an original movie, and I wanted the title to reflect that. The exciting thing was Netflix was like, “Hey, we like the old title.” And I was like, “WE LIKE THE OLD TITLE! Let’s do that.” I was always strongly for that title and I’m really glad to have it back.
Mike Rianda
JM: It’s catchy. Immediately. The only other animated family for movies that I could think of that was a real family that’s all together… nobody’s sadly passed away, nobody’s divorced… was The Incredibles. And I feel like this is sort of The Incredibles for the next generation, in a way. Why do you think it’s so important to showcase a family like this in an animated feature?
MR: I do think it’s really important because. The Incredibles are wonderful. When I was a kid, I watched The Incredibles audio commentary like 700 times. I’m taking notes and doing studies. It’s a brilliant movie. But I do think that one thing I wanted to highlight in our movie is how specific and weird people are and how they’re NOT incredible and how they’re NOT special. And how they might seem like if they get into a situation that is high-stakes, I think it’s funnier to see, like, my dad being like, “What the Hell? Honey there’s a robot! Oh God. We’re dead.” Seeing someone who isn’t prepared for it because I also… love seeing dysfunctional families in movies because… I love my family dearly, but we’re not perfect. And I don’t think anybody is. Everyone feels like, “My family’s nuts but everyone else is fine.” If you’re able to show that and say, “No. We’re all a little bonkers,” I think people may hopefully feel less alone. (laughs)
JM: Yes. I think they’ll enjoy this family dynamic for sure. And in your voice cast is Olivia Colman. How did you get her on board?
MR: We dragged her. No. (laughs) She’s the best. When she won the Oscar, I was so happy for her. She deserved it. That performance was insanely great and one of the reasons why we wanted her for the villain. But I was like, “Okay. I get it. You’re not gonna do the movie now.” And then she was like, “No, I still wanna do it.” And I was like, “What?!” She was wonderful. The funny thing is: everyone was so charmed by her when she gave her speech. She is exactly that charming in real life. “Are we best friends? Is something happening? There’s something happening here.”
JM: We gotta talk about the Furbys. How did you get the rights to be able to use the Furbys?
MR: (laughs) We tried really hard. Initially, the producers were like, “Mike… Mike… they’re never gonna do this. You gotta give it up.” (laughs) And I was like, “Eh… come on… maybe they will.” And they just weren’t responding to our emails. So we were like, “Okay. Maybe it’s not a Furby. Maybe it’s a Tickle Me Melmo.” He’s like Immortan Joe from Mad Max: Fury Road: “COME BROTHERS!” And he has a metal arm and an eye patch. But it wasn’t as good! The artists in the studio were, like, rioting. “Bring back the Furbys! This scene sucks now!” It didn’t suck, but it didn’t have a giant Furby in it, that’s for sure. We just tried harder. I found a guy who used to work at Hasbro that I worked with years ago and I was like, “Andy, do you know anyone who works at Hasbro?” And he said, “I can give you these names.” I wrote them really nice letters. I love Furbys. It’s a fun thing in the movie. They’re very memorable. So we had this long back and forth and eventually we said, “Okay and… they’re a little evil…. They might say ‘The Dark Harvest has begun. I don’t know. It’s hard to tell.” (laughs) I think by the time we got to that part, they were like, “It’s fine. Just put it in the movie.”
JM: Good! Yes!
MR: We wore them down!
JM: All those efforts worked out for sure. In watching the movie and all the graphics Katie uses for her videos and everything that’s on social media, which is so detailed… as you were making the movie… did you find yourself having to update your visuals [as they were popping up on social media]?
MR: Yeah. We did. We would show kids and teenagers and my nephew was 14 and he was like, “Mike, that’s an old Vine video. Nobody likes that.” And I’m furiously taking notes. “Tell me what else!” He’s my unpaid 14 year old consultant. It was basically through trial and error and I think we found, or tried to at least, find stuff that even if it wasn’t super common anymore, it was at least understandable.
JM: You’re very successful with that. You also voice son Aaron, and I called the phone number. There’s a phone number.
MR: Oh yeah! Great!
JM: It is 66-BIG-DINOS. You call the number and you can hear all kinds of dinosaur facts and hear what Aaron has to say. That must’ve been fun doing that.
MR: That was fun! I love that kind of stuff. That’s one of the things that Netflix does that’s really fun. They did it quickly. I was adding lines as I was recording it. I love that kind of stuff. Any weird marketing I think is welcome because people are so numb to… “Yeah. I get it. You’re trying to brow-beat me into watching your stupid movie.” But if you can engage it in a fun, creative way, it might not feel horrible. It might be welcoming.
JM: We just had the Academy Awards. What do you think about this time next year and you being a Best Animated Feature Oscar nominee for The Mitchells vs. the Machines?
MR: I mean, hey man, there’s a lot of great animated movies that come out every year. It would be an honor to be among them. But we’ve also only seen a few animated movies so far and they’re really good. If we could that’d be wonderful, but the main thing I’m interested in is celebrating all the animation that exists. If we’re in: great. If we’re out: I wanna watch all the movies that get nominated. It’s all good. This movie being released is enough for me. If it happens to get nominated for an Academy Award, that would be wonderful but not necessary.
JM: Well, I think you got a good shot because I think this film is going to appeal to a lot of families and a lot of animation fans.
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