The climate crisis is here and over the last few years, a question has loomed: how will Hollywood respond? Can blockbuster movies be a tool for mobilising audiences into action as global temperatures rise, fires rage and climate denialism continues to spread? Maybe in decades to come, The Wild Robot – a film by my guest today, Chris Sanders – will be looked back upon alongside Pixar's Wall-E as one of the first indicators of mainstream moviemaking’s processing of and pushback against the weather emergencies coming our way. The film – a stunning, Miyazaki-inspired animation about a robot washed ashore on a nature-abundant island, in an America devastated by unspecified ecological disasters – acknowledges what awaits if carbon emissions aren’t curbed head on, instead of alluding to it, like in other blockbusters. 

It’s a deeply moving tale that features the voice talents of Lupita Nyong'o as Roz – an android who learns to love through foster care. After an accident, she becomes the guardian of an infant goose named Brightbill, voiced by Kit Connor. Brightbill has to learn how to fly in time to migrate to warmer climes, before the brutal winter turns the island into a scarcely survivable tundra of sorts. In the spoiler conversation you’re about to hear, Chris reveals what the phrases “kindness is a survival skill” and “exceed your programming” – two mantras that informed the film’s creation – mean to him. We get into the truth behind Universal Dynamics, the shadowy company that created Roz. And you’ll also hear a deeply moving story about Chris’s mother and the regret he’s carried with him about their relationship, that influenced one of the key lines in the movie.

Script Apart is hosted by Al Horner and produced by Kamil Dymek. Follow us on Instagram, or email us on thescriptapartpodcast@gmail.com.

Support for this episode comes from ScreenCraft, Final Draft and WeScreenplay.

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