Japan-Influenced Big Hero 6 Scores Oscar for Best Animated Film

Voice Actor Ryan Potter and CG Animator Matsune Suzuki Talk about the Heart-Warming East-Meets-West Story of a Boy and his Robot

Big Hero 6 is a magnificent mashup of Marvel-based Disney animation, Eastern and Western cultures, and the cities of San Francisco and Tokyo. Set in “San Fransokyo,” Big Hero 6 is an action-packed animated comedy adventure that finds robotics whiz kid, Hiro Hamada, forming a special bond with his personal companion robot called Baymax, while his diverse group of science-geek friends forms a band of unlikely heroes. Japanese- American actor Ryan Potter and Japanese CG Animator Matsune (Matt) Suzuki talked to Tokyo Journal shortly after the movie won the 2015 Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film of the Year.

TJ: How did you celebrate?
POTTER: I celebrated with my mom because it was a big moment and I wanted to share it with the person who matters the most and not a bunch of strangers.
SUZUKI: I was jumping up and down when the Academy recognized this. I was at my house with my family. I got a big hug from my daughter. That was the biggest reward I got.

TJ: Matsune, I understand you have been involved with Academy Award-winning films before. How many have you worked on?
SUZUKI: Four: The Fugitive with Harrison Ford, Avatar with James Cameron, Disney’s Frozen and now Big Hero 6.

TJ: Ryan, how did you land the role as Hiro Hamada?
POTTER: Disney and [Director] Don Hall were very adamant on casting true to Hiro, who is Japanese-American. A director I had worked with in the past asked if they’d see me. It wasn’t the average audition. It was more of a work session. I met Don Hall and we talked about Japanese pop culture for a little bit. We really got down to creating Hiro together, finding his character, and trying to find that likability.

TJ: What are the biggest challenges of doing voice acting?
POTTER: Sometimes you don’t have the clearest understanding of what’s going on in the scene because a lot of the time they animate afterwards. But I didn’t really run into that challenge at all [in Big Hero 6] because the creators of the film did such a good job in breaking down the storyboard and talking about the placement of that particular scene in the film. They did a great job with setting up each scene for me visually so when I went in… I won’t say it was a piece of cake, but it was a lot of fun to do. 

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