Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 hits theaters September 27 and Movie Fanatic was given an early glance at several scenes, then got to speak with three of the big stars of the sequel to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Anna Faris, Bill Hader and Benjamin Bratt sat down for an interview at the Sony Pictures Animation headquarters.
Sure, we know that Terry Crews stepped in for Mr. T in the role of Earl, but what else did we find out from our visit to Sony Pictures Animation?
We learned that the sequel picks up literally 60 seconds after the first film ended. Bill Hader’s Flint and Faris’ Sam are now an item, but how serious do they get? The duo are called back to Flint’s hometown of Swallow Falls as his invention that sent food falling from the sky has spawned an invasion on the island of food of the most terrifying kind – including frightening Tacogaters … oh my!
“Who would have thought that a taco could be menacing?” Bratt asked and laughed.
When asked where Sam and Flint’s relationship has gone in the second film, ever the comedians, Hader and Farris have fun with the question. “I think they’re living with each other,” Hader said. “No. I’m joking.”
“He’s leaving stuff at her house. He’s trying. No,” Faris said and smiled. “They’re boyfriend-girlfriend maybe. I think they’re going with each other.”
Bratt, whose role as Manny gets an expanded role in the sequel -- even teased in the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 trailer -- adds his two cents on the Flint-Sam romance and says, “In the 60 seconds that have lapsed between the first one and the second, he actually said to her, ‘Will you go with me?’”
“It’s like, ‘We’ve got 60 seconds. Will you go with me?’" Hader chimes in.
The comic, who recently left SNL for the Hollywood spotlight, then gets serious about the question and how the relationship change alters his character’s perspective. “Well, Flint wants to get the girl in the first movie, and in the second movie, he doesn’t know how to hold on to her.”
Faris concurs. “He sort of takes Sam Sparks for granted,” she added.
“He takes her a little bit for granted,” Hader interjects. “They start dating and he immediately takes her for granted.”
“As boys are wont to do,” Bratt added.
Where Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the sequel is helmed by Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn. How did Faris and Hader think the change in directors affected things?
"They both have similar sensibilities in terms of enjoying bizarre humor and living in an animated world,” Faris said. “It’s so impressive how truly they immerse themselves in these stories and how they live it for however long they do it, two-and-a-half years or whatever.”
Hader, who is used to playing characters on SNL that are essentially animated in all ways except being physically drawn, found the leap to voice-over for animation a welcoming, albeit shock.
“I was surprised," Hader said. "You’re just screaming all day. You’re screaming for four hours. It really is. You stand in one place and you scream for four hours.”
Hader then talked about how the different directors shared a comic sensibility that played to his strengths. “Chris and Phil on the first movie, their sensibility was so unique and they were allowed to do it in such a big movie, and that’s carried over into the second movie. They’re really in touch with their inner child," Hader added. "Cody and Kris, and the first two directors in the first film, they’re all about silliness.”
Bratt is having one incredible season of animation. His Despicable Me 2 is breaking box office records, and within weeks, he will be seen again in animated form in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.
“The coolest part about it obviously is that it’s an opportunity to have my kids who are ten and seven finally participate in what I do on some level,” Bratt said. :They’re getting a big kick out of their old man being in some of their favorite movies in that this is the sequel to one of their favorites and the other one, Despicable Me 2, is a sequel. It’s a pretty fun summer so far.”
Before we let this terrific trio go, we wanted to know which one of their past characters would they like to see in the world of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
“I’ve got to do Jane from Smiley Face. I mean, she would freak out,” Faris said.
Hader turns to one of his SNL creations. “I’d do Stefon,” he said. “He would want it.”
Bratt goes in a completely different direction. “Is there room for a gangbanger in this place? El Gallo Negro from Blood In Blood Out,” he said as he started to mimic El Gallo Negro. “‘What the (expletive) is going on here? There’s a bunch of Tacodiles trying to eat me! That Barry is talking, man!’”