Netflix hosts Q&A fan screening of The Mitchells vs. The Machines at The Aero Theatre
The Aero Theatre in Santa Monica held a free screening of “The Mitchells vs. The Machines.” After the screening, a question and answer panel for fans was held on September 18.
Phil Lord speaks his mind to the fellow fans of The Mitchells vs. The Machines at the Aero Theatre, Saturday, Sept 18, 2021. Zipporah Pruitt | The Corsair
“The Mitchells vs. the Machines’’ is an animated motion picture following Katie Mitchell (voiced by Abbi Jacobson), an avid movie-maker accepted to film school to achieve her dreams. However, before she begins college her father, Rick (voiced by Danny McBride), arranges a last minute road trip to bond with her family one last time. He brings along Katie’s mother Linda (voiced by Maya Rudolph), her younger brother Aaron (voiced by Mike Rianda, himself), and Monchi the pug (voiced by Doug the Pug). Their travels are then halted as an artificial intelligence rebels against humans. Two malfunctioning robots help the Mitchells as the family tries to save the world. Sony Pictures Animation produced the film in partnership with Netflix who handled the distribution and they released it on April 30, 2021.
After a screening of the film on Sept. 18 at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, California. The Q&A with director Mike Rianda and producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller began to field questions about the film. Animator and showrunner for the upcoming Netflix miniseries, “Maya and the Three,” Jorge R. Guiterrez moderated the panel. Guitterez is famous for his previous works, as the creator of the Nickelodeon show ‘’El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera’’ and the film ‘’The Book of Life.”
Rianda was a creative director, writer, and voiced minor characters on the Disney Channel series ‘’Gravity Falls.’’ This is Mike Rianda’s first film with co-director and co-writer Jeff Rowe. Lord and Miller are responsible for many projects in animation like ‘’Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse,’’ ‘’Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,’’ and ‘’The LEGO Movie.’’
According to Rianda, family is the film’s main theme. Instead of using archetypal characters, the director took inspiration from his own family. “I want this to be a real person, you know, and so I'm not creative. So I stole from my own parents.” Rianda said.
The film spoke about machines being a tool instead of something that can control people’s lives. “Technology is a tool, and what you do with that tool is what matters. How you can bring together and make something together,” Jorge Gutiérrez said.
Chris Miller mentioned how he and Phil Lord joined Mike Rianda. “Wow. It's so hard to find somebody who knows how to be funny and also to make you cry…”Absolutely, I mean, this guy's a genius.” Miller said.
Finally, director Mike Rianda said the point of the movie was to make the weird stand out. “What's the weird, unique thing and let's make that weird thing work.” Rianda said.
As also shown by Lord and Miller’s other films like ‘’Spider-Verse’’ and ‘’The LEGO Movie,’’ these two are experts in leaning into the weird according to director, Mike Rianda.
The Q&A concluded with guests staying right after, signing autographs and speaking to fans of the film. “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” is available to stream on Netflix.
