Brad Bird Discusses Why He Finally Made The Incredibles 2

In an interview with Coming Soon, director Brad Bird spoke about why it took him so long to start production on The Incredibles 2. The original film came out in 2004 and the sequel arrives this summer.

On finally cracking the story: “I would take a little bit of the issue with the way that’s phrased, because it makes it sound like I was just sitting in a room going, “If only! If only I could crack Incredibles 2, then I wouldn’t have to do these other films.” It was more like I had it in my mind, I had the idea of the role switch, and that Jack-Jack was going to be featured early on, and then I tried other things with it, and I was kind of idly thinking about it. But I’m idly thinking of five or six different things, so it’s not like I did other films because I was waiting to crack The Incredibles. It’s more like that was always in my mind, and I suddenly looked up and it was 14, 12 years later, and if I wait any longer, I’ll lose the opportunity, because nobody will remember the first film, or the actors will be too on in years, or involved in other things. It was actually really fun to get in there, but it wasn’t an intentional wait. It was just the way things happened.”

On how the film would be different if it came out earlier: “The quality of the animation wouldn’t be as good. [laughs] I was very proud that we did the first film with all the technical challenges we had, I’m amazed that we got it on screen and that our compromises were few. That said, the equipment and the animators and all of that has improved a lot, and it was really fun to go back with these characters and have people bring more experience to bear in putting them on the screen, because they’re the same characters but there’s a nuance to them now that I wish that we had on the first film.”

On the script taking a long time to finish: “It was mainly the plot stuff. It was always changing. The plot part, the superhero part that we explored a lot of different ideas, and all of the ideas were interesting to me, and remain interesting to me, so if they didn’t serve the family emotionally… when you have a release date that’s fixed in space, and your time is always getting shorter, you can’t linger over decisions and go, “What if I tried it five different ways?” You have to go, “Not serving the movie. Out! Next!” So that’s the way it was kind of done, and every film has its own way of developing. I keep thinking, “Well, I’ve done one before, this will be easier for me.” No, it’s not. Even though you’re familiar with the game pieces, it’s a new chess game. You have different challenges. Every movie, I find myself adrift at the beginning of the movie, and then I find my way through the dark forest.”