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Mike Rianda
The Mitchells vs. the Machines is a sci-fi comedy from Sony Pictures Animation. The film was written by <anchor>Mike Rianda</anchor> and follows a family as a college road trip is interrupted by the robot uprising.
Director Mike Rianda Talks New Movie ‘The Mitchells Vs. The Machines’
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# Director Mike Rianda Talks New Movie ‘The Mitchells Vs. The Machines’

Rosa Escandon
Contributor
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

I write about women in comedy.

Apr 26, 2021,10:18am EDT

Updated Apr 26, 2021, 06:30pm EDT

This article is more than 3 years old.

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THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES - (L-R) Abbi Jacobson as “Katie Mitchell", Maya Rudolph as “Linda ... [+] Mitchell", Danny McBride as “Rick Mitchell”, Doug the Pug as “Monchi”, Mike Rianda as “Aaron Mitchell”, Fred Armisen as "Deborahbot 5000" and Beck Bennett as "Eric". Cr: ©2021 SPAI. All Rights Reserved.

©2021 SPAI. All Rights Reserved.

Netflix has unveiled its newest animated feature, The Mitchells vs. The Machines. The original family action-comedy premieres on April 30.

The film follows Katie Mitchell and her family as a road trip to her dream school gets interrupted by a robot uprising. The film features an all-star cast including Maya Rudolph, Danny McBride, Abbi Jacobson, Eric Andre, Olivia Colman, Fred Armisen, Beck Bennett, Sasheer Zamata, Jay Pharoah, Doug the Pug and others. The feature boasts an impressive creative team which includes writer/director Mike Rianda and producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and Kurt Albrecht.

The Mitchells vs. The Machines is Rianda’s feature-length directorial debut. “In a way it's really hard to make one of these movies, no matter how many times you do it, the first time, second time, third time,” Rianda says. “I do think it's really hard to do it the first time because I was coming from TV... The audience has to care exponentially more per second because if the audience doesn't care for a moment, the movie's dead and people start checking their phones.”

The film was originally supposed to be released in theaters for Sony, but due to theater closures is instead premiering in the streaming format. “I'm really excited that it's going to be on Netflix because even though I love theaters, don't get me wrong,” Rianda explains, “I'm really excited that as many people can see it as soon as they want and as safely as they want.”

The impressive cast was selected in part for their improvisation skills. “It's so hard to make these things feel spontaneous,” Rianda says. “So anything that you could inject into the movie that feels spontaneous or full of life or happening in the moment is so valuable.” Rianda himself voices a character who is reminiscent of the director as a kid. “I was a very obsessive child,” he says. “I had a lot of free time, which I share with the character… Now I'm still sort of an obsessive little kid, but now I've grown into this horrible adult body.”

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THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES - Mike Rianda as “Aaron Mitchell”. Cr: ©2021 SPAI. All Rights ... [+] Reserved.

©2021 SPAI. All Rights Reserved.

Rianda being a kid at heart has been important for how he approaches working on children and family entertainment. Rianda recalled being in a writers’ room earlier in his career and having another writer say to him about a feature, “It’s for kids who cares?” That stuck with Rianda as someone who makes cartoons. “People are enjoying animation just as much as live-action,” he says. “There's nothing in the code of animation that says it needs to be for children.”

While the stakes and hi-jinks of the film are zany, the film is at its core about family. “I tried to take the thing in my life that I love the most, which is my crazy family, and combine it with the thing I loved when I was a child, which is killer robots,” Rianda says. “I feel like the executives didn't appreciate it, but I said, ‘It's like Black Mirror for kids’ and they're like, ‘Eh, I don't like that tagline.’ It's a real delicate balance to keep to make the movie in a way that will engage adults… and also have it be something that kids would enjoy.”

The Mitchells vs. The Machines is in many ways a very human film, about robots. “I said, when we set out to make the movie, ‘we want to bring together families.’ Being in a family is hard work and it's easy to be cold to your sibling or not apologize to your dad or not answer the phone when your mom calls or whatever. It takes effort to say, ‘Hey, let's eat dinner together as a family,’” Rianda explains. “I hope this movie can help kids see their parents as real people that might have flaws, but are trying and gave up a lot for them. And to help parents look at their kids as individuals and not just sort of reflections of themselves. My greatest wish is for families to connect over this movie, whether they're sitting around watching it together, or however else, it inspires me.”

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