Having traded Parks and Recreation for Pixar, Amy Poehler found herself in the South of France this week celebrating another professional milestone—her first Cannes Film Festival. The Golden Globe winner stars in the animation company’s latest accomplishment in witty, all-ages entertainment, Inside Out. In the film, from directors Pete Docter and Ronaldo Del Carmen, Poehler voices one of five rivaling emotions inside the head of Riley, an 11-year-old girl shedding the carefree quality of childhood for the self-conscious, sometimes necessary, emotional conflict that sets in with life experience.
Poehler plays “Joy,” the energetic, upbeat ringleader who desperately tries to stave off the more negative, nagging feelings rising up in Riley’s head. The actress’s exuberance anchors the film and eventually gives way to a nuanced performance shift suggesting that Poehler might be another Saturday Night Live alum with dramatic depths worth exploring. It speaks to the quality of the film and Poehler’s work that, at a press conference, journalists asked the filmmakers why they did not enter Inside Out into competition. Pixar executive John Lasseter said that it was just a pleasure to be included in the festival. And perhaps no actress this year has better embodied that very sentiment at the très serious festival than Poehler, who cheekily mugged for photographers, joked with foreign press—(“How is it being in Cannes?,” a French reporter asked. “Just like being at home,” she responded to the surprise of the reporter, who did not pick up on the sarcasm)—and warmly welcomed us for a sit-down chat on the Croisette.
As electronica music mercilessly pumped through the window of Disney’s Cannes penthouse, the actress told us why she thinks Inside Out is “Oscar-worthy,” her female empowerment initiatives, and what it was like playing Tina Fey’s sister in the upcoming comedy The Nest.
VF Hollywood: How’s your Cannes?
Amy Poehler: I can’t believe I am here. Crazy!
It’s so surreal. It's like the most glamorous fever dream. Have you been on a yacht?
I was on one last night. It was very yacht-like. This place . . . [looking out the window]. I like the constant disco music. We were just saying that Cannes is, like, only quiet from nine A.M. to noon, when everybody finally goes to sleep.
Congratulations on Inside Out. I loved it.
May I ask, how old are you?
Thirty-one.
Because I am curious how the movie is playing to women in their 30s.
It gives you such a new perspective on emotions and it’s great that young people are going to have this as an emotional reference guide. Yesterday at the press conference, Mindy Kaling spoke about her personal connection to the film. Can you speak about yours and why you were interested in the project?
Well, to be honest, I was interested because it was Pixar. And they are like the gold standard, and if they had asked me to do anything I would have said yes. That’s not a good negotiation tactic, by the way, but it’s true. And then when I found out what the story was, and the setting, inside an 11-year-old girl—and I was playing Joy—it was really awesome. Because I do feel like I love that time when we were not polluted yet by boyfriends and society and starting to have to narrow down who we are and what we want to do. But just that sweaty 11-year-old body. Girls that age are just, like, super-free—not all of them—but they haven’t yet put as many limitations on themselves. It’s really a nostalgic time and you don’t have to be a parent to connect with the subject.
You are voicing this character that is constantly so energetic and upbeat. Was it exhausting having to be exuberant for hours inside a sound booth each day?
Well, you can’t voice Joy while sitting down. She is so animated, especially animated for an animated character. It was a good kind of tiring, but you had to kind of go for it. There were times when I would say to Pete Docter, the director, “Are you tired of me yet?” But Joy goes through the same stuff Riley does and she has to learn how to feel sadness, which is kind of the minor key, and I got to do that as an actress, which was really great.
Did you experience any emotional kind of self-discovery yourself while working on the movie?
Yeah, it was major. The movie is so satisfying because on one level it’s just this really funny Pixar movie that is filled with emotion and [it] is about these cast of characters who don’t belong together, but go on this journey to change a life. But the bigger perspective is it’s about very big conceptual things like what makes you happy and why do we try to always be happy? Why do we do our kids a disservice while protecting them from pain and resistance? But the experience was, overall, a joyful one.
It’s cool how this film ties in so well with your Smart Girls organization.
Yeah! When I found out what the project was, I couldn’t believe it, because I spend a lot of time in that world. I, too, am curious [about] what happens in girls’ heads. I don’t claim to be an expert but I like living there. I like being there. There are so many intricacies . . . and actually, not just girls but boys, too. I think [Inside Out does] a good job with making some of the stuff gender-less, which feels appropriate for the time.
I feel like we have a lot of great, empowering role models for girls and young women these days—you, Tavi Gevinson, Emma Watson, who is doing some great work as the U.N. Women Goodwill Ambassador . . .
I agree. She is doing an amazing job. From just a straight-up artistic, creative, and dramatic perspective, I have so much faith in the generation that is coming up, and young women are very inspiring to me. The way that some women are using their capital, and figuring out what their currency is—‘What do I want to do with the currency that was either earned or given to me?’ And when people use it in an unexpected or empowering way, or they add value . . . because it’s not always someone’s first instinct or the easiest path.
When did you decide that you were going to use your own currency and platform to help inspire women?
Well, I think Smart Girls started selfishly in that I wanted to do a Web series with my friends and figure out something that maybe I would have liked to watch when I was younger. The interesting thing about the young generation is that they’ve grown up in this digital age, so they can spot authenticity really fast. So if you just say, “I think I want to see what young girls are up to,” it doesn’t work. They know where you are coming from—a manufactured place. And Pete Docter, who did Inside Out—the film is based on his daughter’s [emotional coming-of-age], who was the voice in Up. So her tiny little voice is the girl in Up and then, like every kid does, even though you try to stop it, they grow up. So his stuff came from a real place. So that baseline informs the movie.
Earlier you mentioned that you enjoyed exploring sadness and the emotional range of your character. Now that Parks and Recreation is over, do you have any desire to try more dramatic acting?
Yeah, I am really excited for all those kinds of things. I feel like even at Parks, I got a chance to play real pathos and drama and comedy next to each other, which is my favorite thing to do. I mean, I think Inside Out is an Oscar-worthy film. It really shows how far Pixar has brought animation that this movie can kind of stand against other films. But all those things ahead . . . yes, in all different ways.
Are there any dramatic projects you are really considering?
Yeah, right now I am kind of producing and writing more. And launching a few shows and stuff and doing a lot of press for this. I was just saying that it is so easy to talk about this film because it is so good. We are just going to go out [on our press tour] and search for disco music all over the world.
Very excited to see The Nest. What did you and Tina Fey learn about each other from playing sisters that you didn’t know about each other before?
We know so much about each other. We’ve known each other for 20 years. It was fun, though, because we never played sisters and it is an interesting relationship to play because as sisters you are close but different, but on each other’s team but also really hard on each other. Neither of us have sisters, so it was interesting figuring out that dynamic. And, I don’t know if you know this, but the movie is coming out the same weekend as a little indie movie you probably haven’t heard of called Star Wars. So it’s going to crush at the box office.
Well, enjoy Cannes and, on behalf of the Internet, I really hope you and Tina host every future Golden Globes.
Aww, thanks. Enjoy Cannes and that disco music!
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