The Russo Brothers understand the risks and rewards of bringing a new world to life in an industry dominated by sequels.
As they told Blavity/Shadow and Act Managing Editor Trey Mangum, developing The Electric State at Netflix was a project that could have raised concerns for studios.
“It’s risky, right? Because they’re expensive new ideas, especially big CG worlds like this. They don’t have a built-in audience. You have to go earn that audience,” said Joe Russo. “They can be risky for studios, that’s why you see so many sequels. And look, we’re gonna go make two more Avengers movies, but, you know, we like to try to balance it out with original storytelling. And it’s great to have a home like Netflix that has been so supportive of such an ambitious movie like this. They’ve really let us bring exactly the vision that we wanted to screen.”
Familiar faces in ‘The Electric State’
Anthony Russo explained that one of the aspects that made working on the film easier was collaborating with actors they’ve worked with before, such as Anthony Mackie, who voices Herman the robot. They’ve also worked with other stars of the film, including Chris Pratt and Stanley Tucci.
“There’s two aspects to that for us. Number one, it’s very hard to make movies. You spend a lot of time away from your family in order to do it. So the people that you’re spending time with—who are great collaborators [and] are dedicated to the movie, where the movie is the biggest thing, bigger than all of us—you just want to have a good time with the people you’re working with,” he said. “But also, along with that, as you get to know an artist more and more, you start to discover other layers in them. So part of the great thrill for Joe and I, getting to work with people multiple times, is we get to find new expressions for them.”
Anthony Mackie’s surprising transformation as Herman the Robot
“I mean, Anthony Mackie’s voice acting in the movie for the robot Herman is completely thrilling. I don’t think anyone will even be able to recognize it as Anthony Mackie. But he had a ball with that role. We had a ball collaborating with him on it. But I think that’s just a great example of, like, you know, that was something we could do,” Anthony continued. “Even though you don’t see anything like that in Anthony Mackie’s history as an actor, that’s something that we can see in him with our personal relationship over the years.”
The Electric State stars Millie Bobby Brown as a girl in an alternate version of the 1990s, where sentient robots have been sent away to live as an outcast society. With the help of a friendly robot, Brown’s character embarks on a journey to find her long-lost brother.
The film also features Pratt, Tucci Giancarlo Esposito, Jason Alexander, Ke Huy Quan and Woody Norman, along with the voice talents of Mackie, Colman Domingo Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Alan Tudyk and Hank Azaria.
