INDIANAPOLIS — Keep your emotions intact because one of the summer's most anticipated films is nearly here.
"Inside Out 2," which comes out nine years after the Oscar-winning film, returns to the mind of a now-teenaged Riley as she is about to start high school. Her emotions – Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust – are back, along with new emotions that come with being a teenager: Anxiety, Envy, Ennui and Embarrassment.
Maurissa Horwitz, who grew up in Indianapolis and graduated from North Central High School, is the lead editor on the animated sequel.
"In the simplest terms, our job is to put the picture and sound all together," Horwitz said. "We're got an eye constantly on the pacing, the emotion, the humor of the movie to make sure the whole picture is working together as we want the story to work."
The new characters are voiced by some of Hollywood's biggest stars: Maya Hawke ("Stranger Things," "Do Revenge"), Emmy winner Ayo Edebiri ("The Bear," "Bottoms"), Adèle Exarchopoulos ("Blue Is the Warmest Color," "Orphan") and Emmy winner Paul Walter Hauser ("Black Bird," "Richard Jewell").
"Getting to watch these actors work and adlib and improvise, they just make everything better. They really bring our characters to life," Horwitz said. "Both Maya and Ayo in particular, they really helped shape the characters. Maya just brought this empathy to Anxiety, which was really important to us ... and Ayo, was just fantastic. She really made Envy come to life."
Returning to voice the core emotions of Joy, Sadness and Anger are Emmy winner Amy Poehler ("Parks & Recreation," "Baby Mama"), Phyllis Smith ("The Office," "Bad Teacher") and Lewis Black ("Accepted," "Man of the Year"), respectively. However, Emmy winner Tony Hale ("Veep," "Arrested Development") and Liza Lapira ("21," "NCIS") take over to voice emotions Fear and Disgust.
"The core emotion cast, they know their emotions so well," Horwitz said. "(Poehler) knows Joy so well, and she brings her to life in a way that no one else could. She really got attached to the story we were trying to tell about Riley and this new phase of life for Joy."
With previous film credits as an editor for "Nimona," "How to Train Your Dragon" and "The Bad Guys," Horowitz is working on her first film with the esteemed Pixar Animation Studios, known for “Toy Story,” “Finding Nemo,” “WALL-E” and many more.
"I was very lucky when we started. Kevin Nolting, the lead editor of the first 'Inside Out,' was still at Pixar, so we regularly had coffees," Horwitz said. "I actually would go back and rewatch the original movie at every screening milestone we had. We try to put the movie together every 12 to 16 weeks to check in on it — Is the whole story working? What do we want to change? What do we want to keep adding?"
Horwitz's efforts certainly paid off, with a 92% fresh rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
"The emotions that are coming in ... they're all equally relatable to the core emotions. As an adult, as a teenager, as a kid, we're all dealing with this all the time," Horwitz said. "I certainly tapped into my Westlane Middle School and North Central High School years from growing up in Indianapolis, and we are all sharing stories about our teenage years as we were making this."
"Inside Out 2" opens in theaters nationwide Friday, June 14.