PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” hits theaters on June 14. One of the actors was in Philadelphia this past week, even making a stop at a Phillies game.
Tony Hale, known for his quirky, comedic roles like Buster Bluth in “Arrested Development” and the Vice President’s assistant Gary Walsh in “Veep,” threw out the first pitch at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday.
“There's something about Philly … you just felt the history,” Hale said after the game. “That stadium, there was … just this joy.
“I kind of heard Philly fans, they're intense. And I was like, ‘What does that mean? Are they gonna, like, hate me?’ But it was just so much support. … You could just feel the family of it all.”
The characters in “Inside Out” are emotions manning a control room inside a young girl’s mind. The first movie had Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust. In the sequel, new emotions enter the building as the young girl, Riley, becomes a teenager.
“There's been a demolition because of puberty,” Hale described the film. “We've introduced Anxiety, Ennui, Embarrassment and Envy.”
Hale plays the voice of Fear - voiced by Bill Hader in the first film. With the introduction of Anxiety, Hale had to make a distinction when thinking about his character.
“Fear, my character, reacts to an actual threat,” he said. “And anxiety is a perceived threat. So Anxiety is constantly creating scenarios … just kind of creating a whole world of a narrative that probably won't happen.”
Hale says he admired how the first film “orchestrated emotional life” in a way that is accessible for kids, and he was excited and intimidated to step into the movie’s world.
“This is one of those movies that I'm like, ‘Oh, this is a gift to the world.’”
He’s found lessons in the film even as an adult.
“I, for so much of my life, did not embrace my emotions,” he said. “I was just trying to stop them and just be like, ‘Just keep going, don't worry about it.’ And this just has such a message of having more compassion towards your feelings, have compassion towards your emotional life. They're here to help you, they're not against you. And that's just not a message I heard when I was growing up.”
“Inside Out 2” hits theaters this coming Friday, June 14.