Meet the saviors of San Fransokyo in 'Big Hero 6'
The young heroes come to the rescue on the big screen Nov. 7.
When the city of San Fransokyo is in danger, a group of youngsters comes together to take down evil, science-style, in the Disney/Marvel animated film Big Hero 6 (in theaters Nov. 7). Directors Don Hall and Chris Williams give USA TODAY's Brian Truitt the rundown on this new superhero team.
Hiro Hamada (voiced by Ryan Potter)
Like the 18-year-old playing him, Hiro is a half-Japanese, half-Caucasian kid with energy to spare. Luckily for his hometown, though, Hiro is also a super-genius who turns his nurse robot, Baymax, into a formidable, action-movie presence when a threat arises. And while he doesn't have any actual superpowers per se, Hiro dons a flight suit with a red circle on the glove that magnetically connects to the back of Baymax, and they can act as a tag team in battle, Hall says. "They're symbiotic in that way."
Baymax (Scott Adsit)
Because the character was so special to the filmmakers, they cast a wide net to find the right performer. Adsit, a comedian and former star of 30 Rock, brings both comedy and humanity to Baymax, who evolves from a passive robot into a figure ready for a fight. Adsit has such sharp timing, Williams says, that "there are moments when there's real emotion that seems to poke through without breaking the rules of Baymax being a robot."
Honey Lemon (Genesis Rodriguez)
A chemistry student, Honey is the glue that holds the group together because of her empathetic, sweet personality and positive attitude. While that — and her girlie duds — doesn't exactly scream superhero material, she goes through one of the sharpest evolutions of the bunch, Williams says. Plus, Rodriguez herself is smart and was into science and robotics in school, Hall adds. "She brings some of that goofy, slightly geeky but joyful thing to the character."
Go Go Tomago (Jamie Chung)
Hall wanted a woman of few words for the group, and Go Go is a laconic Clint Eastwood type and industrial-engineering student who's pretty tough from the get-go. "The rest of the team are pretty hapless initially," he says. "She's the only one who can take care of herself." She has also developed a bike with magnetic-levitation technology, which Hiro incorporates into her supersuit. "She can roll around on these mag-lev discs, and they can detach on a whim and become blades she can throw."
Fred (T.J. Miller)
Miller, a scholar of storytelling and comedy, melds humor and nerdiness for Fred, a big sci-fi and comic-book geek, Hall says. Fred's really into monster movies, and he inhabits a huge, tentacled "Fredzilla" creature suit — piloted from one of its three eyes — that's designed to be an homage to Godzilla and other Japanese kaiju movies of old. It can do some amazing things, too, Hall says. "He can jump really high, and he breathes wicked fire out of that mouth."
Wasabi (Damon Wayans Jr.)
This poor guy doesn't know what to do when first faced with battling evil, though he does have really cool plasma-induced lasers that come out of his arms. "When those things turn on, they can cut through anything," Hall says. The conservative dude is the most cautious about his do-gooder role. "He's this huge guy, but his whole thing is precision and rules, and by the end of the movie, he moves away from that and embraces the chaos of what being a superhero is all about."
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USA TodaySneak peek: 'Big Hero 6' recruits Wayans, Rudolph
Like his character in the upcoming animated film Big Hero 6, Damon Wayans Jr. wouldn't have a clue what to do when given super-cool plasma laser blades.
In the comedic actor's mind, however, that just makes Wasabi a little bit more like the rest of us.
"Reluctant heroes aren't too big in America. Spider-Man loves being Spider-Man. They all like being cool. He doesn't like being cool," Wayans says with a laugh about his young do-gooder character.
Wayans is part of an eclectic voice cast that directors Don Hall and Chris Williams have pulled together for Big Hero 6, in theaters Nov. 7. The Disney/Marvel project centers on 14-year-old genius Hiro Hamada, his retrofitted robot, Baymax, and their team of rookie heroes tasked with protecting San Fransokyo.
Ryan Potter (Nickelodeon's Supah Ninjas) stars as Hiro, while Scott Adsit voices Baymax, T.J. Miller (Silicon Valley) is über-nerd fanboy Fred, Jamie Chung (Sucker Punch) is the gung-ho Go Go Tomago, and telenovela star Genesis Rodriguez rounds out the good guys as cheery and empathetic Honey Lemon.
"We've got a lot of characters in this movie, so the voices had to all be really distinctive," Hall says. "At the same time, we had to have really great actors who could ground the characters so they wouldn't sound too one-note."
Comedian Maya Rudolph also has a role as Hiro's guardian, Aunt Cass, a neo-hippie who runs a coffee shop and café out of a remodeled "painted lady" Victorian house.
The actress matched the "fun, kooky energy" needed for the character, Hall says, but because Hiro's usually getting in trouble and causing stress for his aunt, Williams thought Rudolph was perfect because she's also a mom.
"Even though you're laughing and having a good time, you're connecting with her and what she's going through," Williams says. "That's important for a superhero movie to have those moments."
Potter is a fit and youthful 18-year-old, so he was unfazed by all the marathon recording sessions needed for Hiro, Hall says. "That's really hard to fake," he says. "You can't ask a middle-aged person to act like a teenager."
And with his ad-libs, Wayans turned what could be a stiff character into an upbeat one.
Wasabi really likes order, Williams says, "and the idea of turning into a superhero team seems absurd to him. There's a stretch in the movie where he becomes more of the audience point of view. He's saying the things we're saying: 'Boy, this seems awfully crazy and dangerous, doesn't it?' "
His character is a nerd who, at times, would rather choose safety over saving the world, Wayans adds.
"But that's why he ends up becoming part of the Big Hero 6, because he also loves his buddies."
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USA Today