Sophia Bush: A Woman For All Women | #Incredibles2Event
Meet the new Super on the block: Sophia Bush is Voyd in Incredibles 2! If you’re “one of us” (ie, a Big Ol’ Disney/Pixar Nerd!) you want to read this interview. You won’t believe how her casting came about – and how she’s channeling her Debra Messing to be a woman for all women.?
When Sophia Bush came into the interview, she looked?flawless. FLAW.LESS. There was this gorgeous?outfit, impeccable?makeup, and a brilliant smile that lit up her face. When we complimented her look, she told us, “I just saw Sam [Samuel L. Jackson] in the hallway and he was like ‘fashion’, and I was like this is my super suit.”
And that’s when I fell in love with Sophia Bush. Anyone who quotes Samuel L. Jackson back to Samuel L. Jackson is cool in my book! She’s the perfect mix of style and Disney dork?and woman on a mission doing good for other women. I super love Sophia Bush, y’all.
Her interview was an absolute highlight and we couldn’t stop talking about the light she exudes for the rest of the day. Oh, and her character in Incredibles 2 is pretty badass too!
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Sophia Bush: A Woman For All Women
After settling in and kindly asking where we’re all from (and also thanking us for being there!) we started asking the questions that were on our mind.
She made us feel at ease- when she didn’t have to. She also opened up and shared so much- when she didn’t have to. Did I say I love Sophia Bush? Just checking.
Recording With Brad Bird For the FanGirl Moment
Number one: the fangirl moment when Voyd meets Elastigirl for the first time. We suspected that she didn’t record this with Holly Hunter after all the other interviews?(and nope, she didn’t!). So how did she find the inspiration to record the fangirl moment without Holly in the room?
The answer: Brad Bird. I think the answer with the Incredibles is always Brad Bird to just about every question!
Sophia Bush: “So,?what?s interesting is you go in and it?s you and Brad in the room. And he?s such a phenomenal director. And as any good director, he?s really got the movie put together in his head. So, I?m guessing obviously knowing that Holly and I are gonna be having a conversation in the way that you and I are, but I have no idea how she?s talking, how fast she?s talking, how loud she?s talking, what her intonation is. So, I have to think about what?s going on in the scene and kind of guess.”
“Brad knows what take he?s gonna get from Holly, so he knows when I?m throwing things at him which take of mine is right. So, he?s the mad genius scientist, which is awesome.
For me, I had to think a lot about who this girl is. You know, Violet is a teenager. Voyd is a young woman. And she represents, to me, so many of the girls who I spend so much of my life talking to, girls that are in high school, college, post-college, trying to figure out who they are.”
Elastigirl is Voyd’s Debra Messing And I Love Everything About This
Reason number 4,322 why I’m not an actress: I would never have thought about Voyd’s motivation or characterization in this way. Sophia went pretty deep, here, explaining the fangirl moment and what it was about for Voyd.
And I love everything about this explanation.
Sophia Bush:? “And the way that I related it was this, I thought a lot about being a young girl in this world of the Incredibles, who has powers, who thinks it?s the coolest. And then you see people like you become illegal.
And your parents tell you- you have to hide who you are because you could be jailed. You could be killed. You could be subject to harassment.
But you grew up looking up to Elastigirl. She was on your TV. There?s no one in your town like you.”
“But you had an idol. And you knew that she got to shine. And the way that came into a specific idea for me when I think about what intersectional activism, what I think about being a woman for all women looks like, when I think about what my level of relative privilege is, ’cause when we?re women we don?t have enough privilege, but as a white woman I have more privilege than a lot of other women.
And I think about what the struggles are in society for people who are not accepted or people who are othered because of their race, because of their gender, because of their sexual orientation.”
“And I thought about listening to my sweet superhero friend herself, Debra Messing talk about what it was like when Will and Grace was on the air. And she would meet these young gay kids from small towns where they maybe were the only gay boy or lesbian girl, and they were shunned and they were judged. And they would meet Debra or Erica McCormick. And over and over again these kids would say, I grew up in a place that didn?t accept me, and I saw you on TV and your character taught me that everything was gonna get better for me and that someday I?d get to be who I am.”
[tweetshare tweet=”Elastigirl girl is Voyd?s Debra Messing. She is that idol who made this girl, who had to dim her light for so long, feel like eventually everything was gonna be okay- @sophiabush, Voyd #Incredibles2 #Incredibles2Event” username=”noguiltlife”]
The #MeToo Timing of Incredibles 2
#MeToo was mentioned a few times in various interviews along the way.
The stars of Incredibles 2, at any rate, are talking about the changes and discussions going on. We asked Sophia what she thought about the women-centric storyline of Incredibles 2. She teased Brad that he must clearly be psychic with the timing.
Sophia Bush: “And Brad was like I mean I don?t know. I just thought it would be funny to freak Bob out, you know, is always his public answer, but then we?re talking backstage and he?s like, well, you know, my wife?s a superhero. She?s the coolest woman I know. And he?s really so for us, and I think it?s so important to be grateful at a time like this to our excellent male allies, because it?s like we?re not looking to burn all men at the stake. We just wanna like throw the trash out. So, and, you know, like Harvey Weinstein is trash. Bye. ”
BYE.
Sophia Bush: “And this movie manages to talk about identity and empowerment with not an ounce of tension, with so much humor.
It welcomes everybody to the table. I?ve not heard a single guy be like, oh, that?s like a woman?s movie. They love the movie. And I?m like, yeah, because women?s issues are just life.”
“They?re just issues. They?re everybody?s issues. And these are family issues. They really are for everyone. And so, I think it?s really refreshing in a time where people are a bit tense about where all of this goes from here to remind them that it can go to a place like this, that instead of othering people we should welcome everyone to the table, because if everyone puts their own personal brand of magic on the world, the world gets better.”
How She Was Cast As Voyd- Best. Story. Ever!
I love hearing how casting comes about for stars. As a layperson, I assume it’s usually dry and boring. Someone’s agent is contacted by some casting director and maybe there’s auditions and yadda yadda yadda. But sometimes the stories are anything but boring and there’s a lesson to be learned in the process.
One casting story I love came from Solo: A Star Wars Story. During the?interview with Paul Bettany,?the bloggers interviewing him heard how he decided to just ask to be in Star Wars.
He texted his friend Ron Howard a BIG hint about wanting to be in a Star Wars movie… and a few weeks later, there he was.
Lesson here: always ask if it’s something you’re passionate about. I’m trying to get better about this, myself.
Sophia Bush had another great casting story when it came to her role as Voyd. Her story lesson?
Be a big, passionate, authentic dork and sometimes that passion will open doors. I love this story.
Sophia Bush:?I opened my email and there was this letter from my agent, and I sort of started having an outer-body experience and like couldn’t figure out what I was reading, because I got very emotional.
And I opened the PDF, and the scan that was attached to it was the actual letter from Brad Bird on Pixar letterhead offering me the part, telling me who Voyd was, asking me to come and join the Incredibles family. And at the bottom of the page are all of the Incredibles family in like this beautiful 2-D drawing.”
“And I was like what. And I screamed so loud the whole restaurant turned and looked at me. I was morbidly embarrassed and also very excited. And I asked him, I said I don?t understand how this happened.
And he said, well, you know, years ago you came up here to learn about animation, and I did. I spent a day like asking all of the animators crazy questions about code, like a total nerd. It was the best day of my life. And they have a great cafe there, so lunch was also very nice.
And he said, you know, what we started to do was look for something for you knowing how excited you are about this whole universe.
And they take samplings of your voice from other jobs. So, they basically cut generic enough sentences of your dialogue and then cut it together with the other actors in Pixar films and figure out who?s voice they like the sound of your voice with.
And they liked me and Holly?s voices together. And I was like she?s a queen. I am dead. Great. Like, all of my dreams have come true.”
Having been to Pixar myself, I know exactly how that day went down. Best. Day. Ever! is right!
Alright, my Disney Pixar nerds: see? The lesson here is to?Be passionate. Be Authentic. Be YOU.
And who knows? The universe may respond!
Be sure to watch Incredibles 2 and Sophia Bush this weekend. You’ll love Voyd and did I mention I love Sophia Bush yet? Because I do. I love Sophia Bush.
In case you were wondering. Ahem.
Buy Movie Tickets in Advance from Fandango.?And take the family (and be aware of some potential concerns with my Incredibles 2 review which shares my thoughts on?Incredibles 2?s kid-friendliness.)
Incredibles 2 is in theaters now!
MORE INCREDIBLE INTERVIEWS AND POSTS FROM INCREDIBLES 2 EVENT
Holly Hunter And Craig T. Nelson on the Incredibles 2 | #Incredibles2Event
ABOUT INCREDIBLES 2
Written and directed by Brad Bird (?Iron Giant,? ?The Incredibles,? ?Ratatouille?) and produced by John Walker (?The Incredibles,? ?Tomorrowland?) and Nicole Grindle (?Sanjay?s Super Team? short, ?Toy Story 3? associate producer), Disney?Pixar?s ?Incredibles 2? busts into theaters on?June 15, 2018.
Follow?Disney/Pixar?on Twitter:?https://twitter.com/disneypixar
Follow?Disney/Pixar?on Instagram:?https://www.instagram.com/pixar/
Patty Holliday is the owner and creator of all things No-Guilt Universe. As a lifelong fangirl and pop culture connoisseur, she’s been creating online since 2009. You can find her work at No-Guilt Disney.com, No-Guilt Fangirl.com, No-Guilt Life, and as host of the top-rated No-Guilt Disney Podcast.
