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Tony Hale, Liza Lapira on joining the emotional world of ‘Inside Out 2’

By Mary Pat Thompson and Jason Nathanson Jun 12, 2024 | 5:00 AM
Disney/Pixar

Are you emotionally prepared for Inside Out 2?

The Pixar film comes to theaters Friday, and while Fear and Disgust may not be two of the new emotions protagonist Riley experiences in the movie, they do have new voice actors.

Tony Hale and Liza Lapira took over the roles previously played by Bill Hader and Mindy Kaling, and they told ABC Audio it’s surreal to be a part of the sequel film.

“I have such respect for this movie. The first one was one of my all-time favorite films, not just animated movies. And there is a little bit of imposter theory of like, am I going to match the expectation because I have such a reverence for it? Yeah. So there’s fear,” Hale said.

While Hale, who plays Fear, was already part of the Pixar family by having voiced Forky in Toy Story 4, this marks Lapira’s first time working with the animation studio.

“I haven’t processed it. I’ve tried to process it. It’s a very joyful thing,” Lapira, who plays Disgust, said. “It’s not just the Pixar of it all, but it’s the Inside Out of it all because it’s a very entertaining, fun film. It made me laugh and made me cry. But it’s also this really hyper-intelligent film on mental health.”

The movie follows a now-13-year-old Riley experiencing all of the new emotions puberty brings. So, which emotion ruled 13-year-old Hale’s brain?

“I think embarrassment,” Hale said. “Just that sense of like, ‘Oh, don’t do that, because that’s going to cause embarrassment.’ And just how uncomfortable he is all the time, Embarrassment, and just feeling out of place.”

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