January 26th, 2021 
Jackson Murphy 
On March 5th, Disney will release its latest animated feature Raya and the Last Dragon in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access. The studio recently gave members of the press an exclusive first look at 30 minutes of footage, along with special presentations from the makers. One of those was a “How to Draw Tuk Tuk” video. Tuk Tuk is the animal friend and sidekick of main character, Raya.
I showed my drawing to Raya directors Don Hall (Oscar winner for Big Hero 6) & Carlos Lopez Estrada and writer Qui Nguyen over Zoom. They really liked it. We then got into a cool conversation about the making of their epic action/adventure.
Jackson Murphy: Sidekick/helper/animal characters have been so quintessential to Disney and children watching these movies growing up. What makes Tuk Tuk worthy of being in such an iconic catalogue of characters?
Don Hall: I think his loyalty to Raya – that their connection isn’t just owner and pet. It’s much deeper than that. It’s a true, true friendship. And he has the cuteness factor, and it’s off the charts when we show him as Baby Tuk Tuk. And I love that we get to meet him as this adorable little ball and then see him later when he’s the size of a Volkswagen Beetle. I love the non-verbal characters. It always gives such a nice flavor to our films. It just gives the animators a blank slate with which to create these great characters.
JM: Awkwafina is a graduate of UAlbany right near me [in NY]. The Capital Region always loves and supports her when she’s in a new movie. In listening to her [as Sisu the Dragon] it seems like her voicing an animated character and being so expressive is just perfect.
Carlos Lopez Estrada: It really is. She’s been attached to the project for years now. One of the incredible benefits that you get from an animated movie taking so long to develop is that you are able to take the contributions from the voice actors and incorporate it into the story and into the character designs and the animation. It’s really a collaborative process. We would record a few scenes with Awkwafina. Obviously we would get to see all of her gestures – the way she uses certain words. Qui would put them into the script. The animators would see it. Their animators’ vocabulary would start to add things they would see and capture from Awkwafina’s performance that would also affect the way the model is being worked on.
And we would bring that back to Awkwafina and be like, “Look, here’s a scene. Here’s a model. Here’s how your character is looking.” And then she would get super excited and obviously start building off of that. She would come up with new ideas. It allows you for a period of building and character development that nothing else would just because we have a year to workshop scenes with her – see what works, see the humor that’s landing the most, play for test audiences. And that relationship we have with the voice talent is really invaluable in shaping these characters.
JM: I look forward to hearing her in the whole film. Qui, there’s a major time jump for Raya of six years. Was there hesitation to make that major time jump and did it work right away to do what you wanted to accomplish with the character?
Qui Nguyen: Yeah. I think it was really important. The world that we’re living in is one that is in a dire situation. We wanted to be able to also show what that world we’re trying to get back to looked like. And the relationship she’s trying to save is the one with her father, who’s been sadly turned to stone. It was really important that we had those moments in the film. But it’s such a great joy to see her youthful, fun, precocious young self with her Baby Tuk Tuk vs. the warrior superhero that she’ll become later in the film.
JM: Don, we’re coming-up on the 10th anniversary of the release of Winnie the Pooh, which I loved. And I still think it has one of the best trailers of an animated movie EVER. You have made four animated films over the last 10 years, which is quite an accomplishment. Does it feel like a blink of an eye or a journey?
DH: Blink of an eye. The last year or maybe year and a half of making these movies – even if they’ve been in development for a long time – that last year and a half is intense. And Raya was really no different. It felt like we just started and then we’re here ta;king about the finished movie. And not only that but having done it in an unprecedented, challenging time that we’ve never had before, in terms of the pandemic and working at home and dealing with… you know… the world. It was all pretty challenging and takes up so much of your attention. It’s weird to think… Yeah, I guess it’s been 10 years. I didn’t even think about that.
JM: James Newton Howard is getting major Oscar buzz right now for his score for News of the World. Maybe he’ll finally win. He’s had eight nominations. His music in Raya sounds epic. What’s it like working with him?
CLE: If he doesn’t get it this time, we hope that he gets it with ours because the score for Raya is a miracle score, as we like to call it. He captured the emotion and the intimacy of the movie. He also captured the epic scale of the world of Kumandra. He was able to gather all the inspiration that we had been pulling from all of the cultures of the region. And he was also able to cap it off with a contemporary edge that we were really excited about. If you consider all of those things and making sure the score is cohesive and that it’s beautiful… and that you don’t have to think about all these things, you’re just experiencing it… we think that the work James did in this movie… no one else could’ve done it. The score is absolutely gorgeous and we hope that it gets all of the recognition that it deserves because James really handled it masterfully.
DH: He’s also a warm, wonderful collaborator. Somebody so accomplished doesn’t have to be that way, but he was. He was a joy to work with. I really do hope… like Carlos said, if he doesn’t get it for News of the World, hopefully he’ll get it for Raya and the Last Dragon.
JM: Good. You’re making history with this movie in an unexpected way: it’s the first simultaneous debut in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access. How do you feel about making history in this way?
QN: It’s a dream come true – to know that, especially in the world that we’re in right now, everyone has the opportunity to see it. If it was just in one medium or the other, it would probably alienate certain communities or certain areas that don’t have the same flexibility to make it to the movie theater. Of course we’re making a huge film. We’d love to see it on a giant screen. But safety’s first. And to be able to have people enjoy it in the safety of their homes if their communities aren’t able to go out… it’s really important when you’re making one of these movies that everybody gets a chance to see it. It really is for everybody.
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