- 1 week ago
The cast of "Disney’s Haunted Mansion" serve laughs and all the deets on their remake of the classic fantasy comedy.
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00:00I don't know if there was a lot of pranking going on.
00:03There was a paperwork signed. Don't forget about that.
00:05Yeah, I think we were kind of trying to keep our distance a little bit.
00:10Just like be respectful of people's space at a time where we're just like coming out of the whole like, you know, kind of still in the whole pandemic of it all.
00:19That's right, yeah.
00:19And just trying to be respectful and give each other space.
00:22It was actually sometimes it felt a little sad because we were in our own little pods at certain points where we were like, I miss you.
00:29Like behind the sheet and we had to be safe, you know, and but, you know, being able to, you know, get together and play with these with these people who are just so imaginative.
00:39It always felt like I didn't know what was coming or what was going to be dredged up like Danny.
00:44Like he's such a fun guy and a fun actor who just throws stuff out.
00:49You don't know where it's coming from.
00:50Oh, and it's just so naturally funny, just so good at doing that.
00:53And it's just a fun performer.
00:56Like he'll go ride his bike around set and then pop up and just be hilarious.
01:00And I'm like, how do you do this?
01:04Wait, I should warn you before you step inside the house.
01:08This could change the course of your entire life.
01:10I'm not afraid of a couple of ghosts.
01:13You say that now.
01:15I'm glad that you responded to Ben.
01:30I did too.
01:31I thought it was a really special character that was going through trying to find himself.
01:37And that's exactly what we're all trying to do, really.
01:41And he's also mourning the loss of his other half, someone that he's chosen to want to do life with and can no longer do that.
01:52And dealing with that mourning and that loss and that grief and how he's going to synthesize that, how he's going to work through that in himself.
01:59That's what he's trying to figure out.
02:00And when we meet him at the top of the movie, he's kind of going about it in the wrong way, trying to drown it all out.
02:06And he's doing these mundane things in life, aimlessly sort of moving about.
02:10And then he has this opportunity that happens by him.
02:14And he kind of makes a choice to follow the omen for some reason.
02:19And this omen leads him to this larger group of crazy, wacky, fun people who then he goes on this journey with where he starts to uncover pieces of himself through this.
02:29And he starts to realize the things that he always thought was so, maybe it isn't so.
02:33And then the more he questions things, the more he starts to unlock and grow the garden that is his mind.
02:39And through that interacting, he starts to be able to therapize with his mortality, with the loss of his love and partner.
02:47And he also has this budding relationship with this young child that shows him a lot about himself and his own childhood and remembering.
02:56I think a lot about this movie is also remembering, like past lives, remembering yourself together, remembering who you are, putting yourself together again.
03:06And these characters he comes into contact with help him remember who he is.
03:10So, NOLA was central to me in terms of this film.
03:15I mean, you go to Disneyland, Haunted Mansion, it's in New Orleans Square.
03:20And my family is from Louisiana, okay?
03:22I know what this place smells like.
03:24I know what it sounds like.
03:25I know what the food tastes like.
03:27And I felt like, you know, when I was pitching for the movie, I told the studio, I was like, first of all, like, New Orleans is a black town, okay?
03:34It's a black and brown town, and I want to root this movie authentically in the culture there.
03:39And here's why it's not like a, it's not a representation thing.
03:43The mansion itself, the reason why people love it is because there's a bunch of things that don't belong together.
03:48It's funny and it's scary, and it's a little tragic, but it's also a little joyful.
03:54And that's why people love that ride.
03:56That's why people love New Orleans.
03:57New Orleans is, like, the place in America where all of these cultures and classes and music and art were interacting at a time when none of that was going down anywhere else in the country.
04:09And so, of course, there's a culture here that leads to gumbo and jazz and to, you know, second-line parties filling the street at, you know, at a funeral.
04:19I felt like if we get that right, people are ready mentally for this movie, because that's exactly what it strives to do, is to, like, kind of ride that line in between, you know, laughs and tears.
04:32Oh, man, where are there ups and downs?
04:35No, honestly, it was, it was a joy.
04:38Lakeith was, like, top of my list.
04:40I told him when we were going after him for this movie, it's like, in everything I see Lakeith in, he pulls me into characters.
04:48If it wasn't Lakeith in that role, it would be really hard.
04:53It'd be really hard to, like, see myself in them.
04:57You know, I had just seen Judas and the Black Messiah, which is just brilliant, and you were robbed and the whole thing.
05:02No, not really, because you were up in there.
05:03No, let's not do that.
05:04Okay, but you, I felt like this is a character that is grieving at the start of the film, and yet it's a comedy.
05:11I need somebody that's going to pull me in immediately, you know.
05:14You know, I, too, am a shady Black man trying to make it through the world, and I needed somebody to make that a universal experience for everybody, and I felt like Lakeith was that.
05:25And, you know, my first film, my first series, it was all about comedic ensembles.
05:31I love a comedic ensemble.
05:33I love, you know, finding the right people to put in the right playpen and just seeing what they do together, and I think it created some amazing dynamic duos that we didn't know we needed.
05:44I need the Lakeith Owen Wilson, like, buddy comedy immediately.
05:49Like, I need it.
05:49I need Danny and Winona Ryder and Tiffany Haddish to, I don't know, be in a school bus, travel.
05:56I don't know what the plots are.
05:58I'm so sorry.
05:58We can ask AI later.
06:00But I feel like these people just felt both so unexpected, like, why would they hang out together, and so write at the same time?
06:09And that, to me, is, like, what's at the heart of the story.
06:12It's like, sometimes life throws you, I'm really about to say this, sometimes life throws you in a haunted house with people that you wouldn't expect to be in there, and you have to work together to find a way out, Lakeith.
06:22Yes.
06:23I did my first horror movie, Bad Hair.
06:25I learned some teens doing that film, okay?
06:28And one of the things that I learned is that, yeah, like, for, part of horror is the shock and the surprise of what happens, and for us, like, you know, unfortunately there are some horrific things that are part of our everyday reality and life, so it's not as shocking what happens.
06:42In a horror movie, but I got to tell you something.
06:44I have such a, I'm so glad you asked that question.
06:47There is something so profound to me, and I know this is a fun movie, and it's family-friendly, and it's funny, and it's four quarters, but the thing that is so cool to me, the cinema is filled with black people terrified of ghosts.
07:00It's like a whole thing, like, from the beginning of the movies to, like, 1945, like, every black person in every haunted house is terrified, and it's, like, eyes bug out and they run out.
07:10As a whole, it's like, the whole movie is based upon that conceit, and so to come back in a haunted house and have this dude be the hero that leads us through that house, I know that that's a subtle thing for only a few, that, there's something really profound about that to me.
07:27There's something really powerful about black folks moving through scary spaces, even cinematic spaces, and coming out triumphant and more whole than they went in that does feed me on a level that's just, you know, beyond getting to make, you know, hopefully fun, great movies.
07:43They're already dead.
07:45They're gonna be dead.
07:46I'm glad that I cried well because I was really crying.
07:49I wasn't, I wasn't faking it.
07:52I, I know what that's like.
07:55I know what that feeling is.
07:57I've been there, and I really have a great director in Justin.
08:02Um, he was helping me in the way that he was speaking and, and getting into my mode and, and energy and feeling and sphere and environment in a way that fed me what I needed to be fed in those moments in order to continue to keep focus.
08:20It's not easy, like, to grab onto certain things and then stay there, um, so sometimes you need a director that's gonna help, and he really was a big help with that, um, but the short answer is just, I've been there, and I know it, and, um, and I understand Ben and what he's going through, and so I, I wanted to give him his moment to share that, and so I just, I let him have it.
08:42And New Orleans can't help it.
08:44It's like, I, I was raised Catholic, but we were black Creole Catholic, so that's already a different flavor of Catholicism, and what that particular thing did is it brought in all these other things that maybe weren't strictly Orthodox Catholic, that were more cultural, and so growing up, ghosts were just honestly a matter of fact.
09:02It wasn't like, uh, it wasn't woo-woo, you know what I mean?
09:05Like, uh, sort of like having an intention, and like, we would pray the rosary for a certain amount of time, and a lot of this stuff was kind of all right.
09:14It was already in there for me, and when I started to kind of, you know, branch out of that, that upbringing, uh, and sort of put my own kind of spiritual beliefs and practices together, I found that so many things that I, I, I sparked to existed for a long time, and some of those things we brought here, and we developed here, and I don't know, when, when Keith was talking about, you know, reaching out to your ancestors and stuff, I, I started doing that with my films, specifically with my last movie, of just really asking for, you know,
09:44let me, let me, let me be a vessel to say things that, like, maybe other people couldn't say, didn't have that platform to say, and, and I always find myself, you know, realizing there's some really ancient, powerful wisdom there for me, that, like, all I gotta do is kind of look for it and dig for it a little bit, but it's really there, and it's actually kind of dependable.
10:02Uh, so, so for me, it kind of fits like a glove, honestly, like, I'm, I'm a bit, I'm kind of woo-woo, I, like, gave these dudes crystals, and, like,
10:10You do the woo.
10:11There was, there was always, like, a triangle of crystals around my chair on set, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.
10:16It's just, it's such a fun movie, um, that is thrilling, and that will make you feel things in the butterfly region, and just feel all kinds of cool things, and it'll, it'll remind you of your own life,
10:28by, um, shocking you, um, scaring you, uh, uh, but also, uh, making you feel alive with the laughs, and making you feel like, it's, it's a ride, it's like having,
10:39the reason why we go on roller coasters is the reason why you should watch this movie, because it's the same thing.
10:44It's a thrill, um, and it makes you feel good, and you get to enjoy some, some time, uh, with some really fun characters,
10:51but then also there's something for those who want to engage in a, you know, the question of internal dialogue and internal conflict and struggle,
10:58and getting through things like that, and dealing with some of the harder concepts, like, uh, like death, and, and, and loss of loved ones, and things like that,
11:06so there's really something for everyone here, and I really think that this kind of movie that is as big, and action-packed, and loud, and colorful, and, and, and, and awesome as this,
11:19you need to see it on a big screen, um, uh, you can watch it on any screen, but go see it on the big screen, trust me, trust me when I tell you this.
11:28Bye.
11:29Bye.
11:29Bye.
11:29Bye.
11:29Bye.
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