While I know Kyle MacLachlan has done a lot of work, the 2 shows I most remember him from are Desperate Housewives and most recently Marvel’s Agents of Shield. I am a fan! Needless to say, I was very happy to be interviewing him for his role as the voice of Riley’s Dad in Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out. Joining him on the interview was the lovely Kaitlyn Dias, the voice of Riley.

Leanette Fernandez with Kyle MacLachlan and Kaitlyn Dias

During our time together I was able to learn a few fun facts about the movie (and them). Here’s what they had to say…

  • Kaitlyn was initially brought on as the scratch voice (typically used to sync dialog to the film until the hired actor can provide the voices) but she ended up being the actual voice of Riley. She was 11 years old at the time.
  • Kaitlyn was working on her character for four years. So, of course, her voice changed a little bit. So, over time she had to actually make her voice a little bit higher [CHUCKLES] to make it sound younger.
  • As for why Kyle was drawn to play this role, he said “…when Pixar calls, it’s hard to say No”. Plus, he was curious as to how they were going to tell this story.
  • Kyle and Kaitlyn never recorded their lines together, they did them in different sessions but Kyle did work with Diane Lane at their first recording session together in the big room at Disney.
  • Kyle brought how he relates to his son to his character. As to how he relates to his character, he likes to think of himself as pretty patient, calm and relaxed but shared that there are moments when anger takes over, but, [LAUGHS] I try not to have any of that in front of my son at all.
  • Kaitlyn did relate to her character, especially when it came to having to move away from her friends because she had to do the same thing in elementary school.
  • Kyle was moved watching the movie “a couple of times, seriously. As an adult,you’re revisiting territory that you aren’t gonna be able to experience except in a movie like this because you don’t wanna go back into those worlds, because they’re very painful, and you recognize that in order for your child to grow, there are painful things they’re gonna have to go through…the acceptance of that and realizing that ultimately the thing that’s gonna make it easier is just…to be present as a family.”
  • Kyle’s favorite Inside Our character is Joy. He said it’s because “I tend to be in joy mode most of the time…the way she would manipulate sadness in the beginning and sort of like try to pull the wool over her eyes…that’s kind of what I do. [CHUCKLES] …Joy for me was the one I identified with most, I guess.”
  • Kaitlyn’s favorite Inside Our character is Anger, she said it’s “because he has hilarious facial expressions. [CHUCKLES] Plus the fact that he explodes and you make s’mores off of him.”
  • Kyle MacLachlan said that the ‘70s were the era where he was most focused on music and while he does love ACDC, his heart belongs to Zeppelin.

Be sure to check out the voice performances of Kyle MacLachlan and Kaitlyn Dias (and all of its cast members) in Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out, on Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital TODAY!