A Behind The Scenes Look At "Hoppers"

The Next Best Picture Podcast

Tv & Film

4.2 • 542 Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2026

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The first of Pixar's two films this year, "Hoppers," hits theaters on March 6th. This sci-fi, spy-thriller-influenced nature flick could be considered a major departure for the famed animation studio. While previous Pixar films are plentiful in humor, "Hoppers" is their first truly comedy-first film. Ahead of the film's release in just over a month, Pixar invited Next Best Picture to the studio to check out "Hoppers," along with an extensive look behind the scenes at how they brought this hilarious new adventure to life. We were lucky enough to get to spend some time speaking with Director Daniel Chong and Producer Nicole Grindle, Production Designer Bryan Imagire, Visual Effects Supervisor Beth Albright, and Character Art Director Anna Scott. We hope you enjoy this behind-the-scenes look at Pixar's newest film. Thank you and enjoy! Check out more on NextBestPicture.com Please subscribe on... Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA7KiotcWmHiYYy6wJqwOw And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture and listen to this podcast ad-free Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to The Next Best Picture Podcast and these are Daniel Howitt's interviews with the director for hoppers.
0:07.7	Daniel Chong, the producer Nicole Grindle, production designer Brian Imagery, and Beth Albright, and character art director Anna Scott.
0:18.1	Doc!
0:18.5	I need your help.
0:19.8	Mabel, I'm in the middle of class.
0:22.2	A class that you are enrolled in.
0:24.7	What's up, Mabel?
0:25.7	Come with me.
0:27.2	The traditional methods to understand animals just weren't working.
0:31.6	But we've done it, Mabel.
0:34.0	We created a revolutionary technology that gives us unprecedented access to the animal world.
0:40.3	We call it hoppers.
0:42.3	Huh?
0:43.3	We put this into this.
0:44.3	Yes, yes. This into this.
0:47.3	Mabel, be careful!
0:48.3	I'm Daniel Howe from Next Best Picture.
0:50.3	Thank you both so much for showing us all of Hoppers.
0:53.3	Loved watching it. What surprised me so much is how comedy forward the movie is. That was just so much more than previous Pixar film. So, Dana, I wanted to start with you. Was that a topic of conversation in your initial pitch, that this was going to be heavy on the jokes, fast-paced comedy.
1:13.2	How did that sort of balance of comedy come about?
1:17.9	Yeah, I mean, it's very innate in the reason I did this job was for comedy.
1:22.9	I mean, I started off reading a lot of comic strips and loving them and copying them.
	...

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