Two decades after Monsters Inc., and eight years after the prequel, Monsters University, the new Disney+ series, Monsters at Work picks up right where the 2001 original left off, telling an original tale about alternative energy, expanding the universe of Monstropolis with a slew of new characters and pushing the story forward.
Monsters at Work stars Ben Feldman as Tylor, a young monster who's spent his whole life dreaming of being a world-class "scarer" like his idol, James P. Sullivan. However, after being accepted at Monsters Inc., his very first day on the job is the exact same day the company switches over from harnessing the power of children's screams to their laughter. His skills are no longer valued by society, and he must cope with that reality while trying to figure out a new path for his life. In addition to returning cast members like John Goodman, Billy Crystal, and Jennifer Tilly, who reprise their roles from the original films, the series features voice work from franchise newcomers Mindy Kaling, Henry Winkler, Bonnie Hunt, Lucas Neff, and more. In an exclusive featurette below, some of the show's cast discuss their hype and excitement towards this new generation of Monsters Inc. stories.
Director Kevin Nolting Interview: 22 vs. Earth
While promoting the release of Monsters at Work, Executive Producer Bobs Gannaway spoke to Screen Rant about his work on the show. Gannaway is a veteran of Disney's animated TV spin-offs, having worked on shows like Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Timon & Pumbaa, 101 Dalmatians, and more. He talks about his approach to Monsters at Work, including the decision to shift the focus to new characters while allowing the "old guard" to play a key supporting role. He discusses working with Pixar and digging up old concept art to inform the look of the series, and shares his praise for the outstanding voice cast that's been assembled for the show.
Monsters at Work debuts its first two episodes on July 7, with subsequent episodes releasing weekly.
Hi there, Bobs!
Hey!
I just got to see a couple of episodes of Monsters at Work, a show I had been waiting for since about... What year is it? About 18 years or so.
Okay.
And after 18 years of hype and anticipation, I think it definitely scratched that itch I had been waiting for for so long.
Thank you. I've been working on it for over three years, so I appreciate that. In animation, when you commit to something, it's a big commitment.
Let's jump into that. Did you get to use assets and backgrounds and environments from the movies, or did you have to build everything from the ground up for the show?
In regards to assets, we rebuilt everything. My joke is, I think all the original stuff is on floppy disks! It's not, really, but it's... What's great is that Pixar provided us with much of the development art from the original films. Not only could we see the iterative process of how they got to where they got, but we could also explore building maybe a few things that they hadn't built in the shows. For example, the MIFT cart that they drive, it was a Monsters Inc design that was unused. I don't want to say it was "abandoned," but the story didn't ask for it. They were very generous in providing that. That said, from a technical standpoint, it's 20 years later. The way they did things back then is quite impressive, but with today's technology, it's still challenging, but we were able to rebuild the world.
Tell me a little bit about deciding... I'm sure it goes way back, but when did you decide to create a new character, Tylor, versus doing "the continued adventures of Sully and Mike?" They're in it, definitely, big parts, but at least in the first two episodes that I've seen, they're supporting roles.
The original concept was always... Look, I've worked on a lot of series that were translated from features into series. Sometimes it's "the continuing adventures." In this case, from the very early beginnings, the idea was to not recreate the movie as a series, but to expand the world with a new group of characters. Pete was very supportive of that. But also, he was, like, "Create your new character. Expand the world and create your new characters, and let's fall in love with the new group while we get to spend time and visit with our old friends." That was the concept from the beginning. Getting to the very simple of idea... It sounds so simple... Film and animation is very iterative, and getting to the simple idea of, "what happens to a monster who's wanted to be a scarer all his life, and he shows up at Monsters Inc the day it switches," it seems like an obvious idea. It took us, I think, a year just to get to that. But that's when you do lots of exploration, and you try to figure it out. But the great stories are told when there's lots of change in the world. And Zak, I think, especially in the Pixar world of storytelling, you don't start the plot until you care, until you're invested in the main character. So the idea of having a character that the universe throws him a curveball that's unfair, and he has to kind of figure it out, that seemed like the way to go.
Just from the jump... I hadn't seen any of the trailers or marketing, because I was already in. It wasn't like it went past me, but I was like, "I don't need to see it, I'm already in. Let's just GO. I'm down!" And I was so taken aback by that first half of the first episode. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but I was so hooked by that. People are resistant to... Not to be political or anything, but alternative energy! It's a whole new world!
Right.
And it's reflected in the show so well. You've got an incredible cast of new and returning characters. I I don't know it for a fact, but I know that in a matter or weeks, everyone in my house is just going to be walking around saying, "Mifter."
Henry, yes.
He's fantastic. Is he someone who just... You just let him loose, or is he a by-the-book kind of actor?
No. I think almost our entire cast is very collaborative. It's super important... There are great actors who are very respectful and want to do it as written, which is fine. But the script is just a jumping off point to the continued elevation and iteration of the story. And having actors that you can ad-lib with... And I pretty much read against them, all the scenes, and we just play. At that point, I know the show well enough to know where it's going, but I'm not going to be handcuffed by that. If a great idea happens, we're just going to go with it. We'll just figure it out! We keep working on the stories up until the last minute. But having Ben Feldman, Mindy, Henry, and Lucas Neff, who does Duncan, is fantastic. Alanna Ubach, who was in Coco, she's fantastic. All of them were ad-libbing, and I have a very fantastic editor, named Dan Molina, who takes all of that wonderful dialogue, and then goes and shuffles it, and creates, hopefully conversations that feel real and not written.
That's fantastic. I think a lot of people don't acknowledge or realize how much energy goes into making animated dialogue sound believable.
For the most part, you know, Zak, for the most part things are recorded separately. There's a big talent and skill, not only from the director's standpoint, the voice director, but the editor, to make it feel like everybody was together. That's why you come back and do scenes over and over again. Billy Crystal's done a great ad-lib, it's taken something in a new direction, so now we have to adjust the lines, but that's the fun; that's not a problem. Billy Crystal's great ad-libs is not an issue. The issue is, it just got better, so now we have to take everything up with it.
You mentioned that the Mift cart, in particular, was something that had been conceptualized in the past, but didn't have a place for it in any of the movies. For the new monster designs, did you go back to any of that old concept art and see if there was any of it you could use, or was it all from scratch?
Just to be clear, Zak, Mift was original to this. It was just the Mift cart, the cart they drove, the design... So, for the designs of the new characters, we looked very closely, especially at the Monsters Inc designs, to make sure they felt like the same world. And also paid attention to what kinds of species exist in this world. You'll notice Val has a little bit of an arc influence, in that she's this arc. It was important for me that each of these characters have a distinct silhouette. So when you see them, just their silhouette, you know who they are. So we were looking for something for Tyler that was very identifiable. So having these horns, very wide horns, okay, that hadn't been done. And then four eyes on our character who is kind of the sneaky one. That makes a nice silhouette. Cutter is actually kind of our tough, union character who is a little bit by the book, but just tough, she's like a safety cone shape. She's a safety cone. And exoskeletal, too. And then Val, we wanted to make sure that she's a curve, against Tyler's angle. It's like the straight against the curve. And she's this sort of buoyant one who wants to bring the group together. And of course, Fritz is sort of the near-retirement lovable boss who's very settled into his chair, you know? It's just a lot of fun. You really think about... I'll tell you, Zak, one of the first things we did with the crew was, we went to a power plant. Two power plants, actually, to walk the power plants, see how they work, meet the people who work there, talk about their day. You want to tether everything to truth. You can't make a movie about a power plant if you haven't walked one; otherwise you're just making stuff up.
Absolutely. Well, Bobs, thank you so much for your insight, thank you so much for the show, and thank you so much for just all of the work you've done over the decades. I'm a huge fan, and it's a real treat to get to talk to you.
Thanks, Zak! I appreciate it. I'm super proud of this.
I can't wait to see the rest of it, thanks!