Inside Out 2 Made the Greatest Blunder By Not Including One Character That Could Have Given Anxiety a Run for its Money
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures’ animated coming-of-age movie Inside Out 2, which is a sequel to 2015’s Inside Out, is Kelsey Mann’s feature directorial debut. Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan returned to voice their characters from Inside Out, with the addition of Maya Hawke, Tony Hale, Ayo Edebiri, and more voicing the new emotions/characters.
Just like the first installment, Inside Out 2 also goes on to describe Riley’s emotions as they are joined by five new and dark emotions as she is in her budding adolescence stage. The new emotions are now trying to take over her head. The movie was released on June 14th, 2024, and has opened to critical acclaim, making it the third-biggest opening debut for an animated movie. A recent tweet showcased the concept art for two emotions that were scrapped (but should have been included) from the movie.
Concept art for scrapped Inside Out 2 emotions: ‘Guilt’ & ‘Suspicion’ revealed
According to Discussing Film’s X account, Inside Out 2 added five new and dark emotions to Riley’s character development as she is now ready to live her teenage years. These new emotions include Anxiety, Embarrassment, Envy, and Ennui in addition to the original five emotions: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger.
However, the post revealed that originally, the makers had decided to include nine new emotions that would overwhelm the original cast. The concept art for the scrapped emotions, Guilt, and Suspicion, was revealed by Pixar character designer Crystal Kung on social media.
The concept art showcases various sketches of the emotions that were eventually not picked up for the movie. Guilt is shown as a small purple man wearing a large backpack, probably denoting the guilt a human has. In one sketch, Guilt is also seen with a heavy ball and a chain, again denoting the state of committing or doing something that shouldn’t have been done.
First look at the scrapped Guilt and Suspicion emotions from ‘INSIDE OUT 2’
Read our review: https://t.co/feppZPuD0g pic.twitter.com/OktCOJ48ID
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) June 22, 2024
Suspicion is showcased like a hard-boiled detective donning a large trench coat, denoting the emotion of having an impression of someone or something questionable. The sketches by the designer do denote the emotions well and should have been included in the movie, as they would have given tough competition to Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke. These scrapped emotions are very powerful and could have helped in Riley’s character development.
Hawke’s Anxiety has garnered much attention in the sequel, as Riley suffers an anxiety attack in the third act of the movie. Anxiety has been the dominant emotion in 13-year-old Riley’s life, and when her coach banishes her to the penalty box, a tornado of anxiety forms inside the central controls which in real world is showcased as her suffering an anxiety attack. The actress brought some personal experience to her voice performance, sharing that she uses the voice she created in her head when she gets anxious (via Variety).
Director explains the process of picking the new emotions for Inside Out 2
At the press conference for the movie, director Kelsey Mann and producer Mark Nielsen were asked about their process of picking up the new and dark emotions for the sequel. They explained (via ScreenRant),
My first pass, my first screening that we did, had nine emotions. Nine new emotions showed up. I really wanted Joy to feel overwhelmed by all of these emotions that showed up. And I was like, Well, let’s have a lot show up. And then you couldn’t keep track. There were so many emotions, and they all canceled out because you couldn’t keep up with everybody. And my first note from the first screening was to simplify.
The director went on to explain that there were a ton of emotions, and then they tried to simplify those by understanding that Riley was going to be dealing with becoming a teenager. So they narrowed the emotions to what emotions show up when an individual is becoming a teenager.
Dacher Keltner, a Berkley professor who worked as an emotional expert for the first movie, decided to return to help the team with the sequel and advise them about the best emotions of a teenager. He helped them narrow the emotions by stating that most of the emotions are self-conscious ones.
Inside Out 2 has received an overwhelming response from the audience as if Riley’s dominating emotion these days has been Anxiety, but Guilt and suspicion could have been a part of Riley’s budding adolescence as those emotions start showing up as one starts growing up.
Inside Out 2 is playing in cinemas.
