‘Raya’ Creative Team Talks Representation, Visual Inspiration

Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon premiered early in 2021 and ushered in a remarkable new era of inclusivity for animated films. Following the recent trend of female protagonists, Raya gives us a robust suite of South Asian characters, something not typically seen in American-based animation. As such, audiences and critics have celebrated the film in theaters and on Disney+ not only for its inclusivity but also for its blend of comedy, action, and emotional payoff. The film also recently received the most nominations at the animation industry’s Annie Awards and is widely considered a strong contender for the upcoming Academy Awards.

Here, Ray’s creative team of screenwriter Qui Nguyen and directors Carlos López Estrada and Don Hall talked to Awards Daily about many details surrounding their animated action adventure. They discuss the film’s opportunity to showcase South Asian characters while creating a strong, but also very funny, female heroine. Additionally, they describe the design elements for both an intense chase scene as well as the faceless Druuns of the film. Finally, they reflect on their overall appreciation for animation as a genre.

Awards Daily: Qui, what was the inspiration for this story?

Qui Nguyen: We came in about a year-and-a-half before we premiered the film. The ideas of the film have been brewing at Disney for quite some time to have a heroic journey based on South Asian cultures and themes of unity. A lot of that had already been in the brew. We all had our own personal reasons on why this story was very important for us to tell. For me it was definitely to draw a Southeast Asian super girl for my kids. Something they had never seen before, and to be able to put that into pop culture. That was very, very important to me but ultimately we as a trio, along with Adele (Lim), really sat around and decided that this would be a film that would really tackle trust.

Obviously when you look around the world right now it is a conversation we are all having. It is becoming more seen in Disney films, one of them directed by Don here, that allow us to have those tough conversations. Zootopia allowed us to talk about profiling. Big Hero 6 allowed us to talk about grief. Then this film allowed us to talk about what’s going through a lot of kids’ minds right now, the division that is happening in this world. To be able to have this conversation in our homes with a fun badass movie like Raya as the catalyst was definitely the fuel to the fire for me to write late into the night to make this correct for Don and Carlos to direct.

AD: I was impressed by Raya’s companions and how quickly they melded into a group. How did you guys go about deciding that process?

Don Hall: From a story structure perspective we had a gift of the different lands and we wanted a character to represent each of those lands. Then we have this great device of gathering the pieces of the dragon gem, which takes us spot wise to all the different lands. All those machinations were already in place, which was helpful and then it just became how are they going to bring some comedy to the table but also moments of vulnerability and pathos?

For Boun we introduced him very comedically: he is fun, swaggery, just a cool kid. But there’s that moment when they are on the boat and they are seeing the Druun and he talks about them taking his family. Your heart just goes out to this kid. For however many years the Druun have been running around Kumandra, he has been on his own. Then we have a similar moment with Little Noi and the fact that the Ongis (these monkey platypus characters) are her only family and to survive she has to run this little con game. She is very good at it and it’s very funny but she is forced into it by the situation.

Then Tong the warrior–we realize he had a family, including a little girl about the same age as Noi who was also lost to the Druun. Making sure they could all bring some comedy to the ensemble, but also that underlying pathos they’re carrying into it just like Raya.

AD: You mentioned the Druun. Where did the visuals and the concept of them come from?

Carlos López Estrada: The idea of them really evolved I think the most drastically of every other character. If you see earlier concepts of the Druun they looked more like demon soldiers made out of ash, then at one point solidified magma. They kept evolving and evolving and they reached their final form when we realized this wasn’t going to be a movie about humans versus the Druun, it was going to be a lot more profound about trust, about people overcoming their differences and the things that were keeping them divided. So having this existential threat that you couldn’t fight with tools and weapons, it would make the test that humans had to pass more challenging. So this is when the Druun became non-sentient and we even called them a virus and this was before COVID became a thing; then it hit too close to home. We called it a virus because it became this unstoppable force that no one could understand that spread and multiplied, and unless something major happened it would eventually take over the world. That set the stakes for the characters so much more than anything else would. Design-wise it was our incredible team helping us visualize these ideas to make them this faceless terror they ended up becoming.

AD: I read about the change in voice actress for Raya as her character evolved. What changed about her as she came into being?

Qui Nguyen: In making movies like these you are copying other film styles and the original concept took a lot from Asian martial arts films. The character of Raya was very much like the characters you see in those movies. I think the easiest example to give here is Uma Thurman in the Kill Bill series, a very silent, stoic, badass ninja that doesn’t say a lot who speaks with her fists, not with her mouth. Then when we saw the film screen, which is part of our process, we realised quite quickly she wasn’t a super interesting character to watch. I grew up with characters like this. And she didn’t feel like one that was super unique, and not one that I wanted to emulate. All kids want to be quick with their fists but they don’t want to be the silent type. And for me, a person who has the same skin color as her, you don’t want to be once again regulated to being the sit-back-don’t-say-a-word character. We are trying to get kids like me to talk up more culturally, so it was so important to switch that up.

So the voice we originally had was so strong at being that badass, but we wanted someone that could imagine the characters more quippy and fun and, as I always say, as quick with her wits as she is with her fists. So we wanted someone like that, and Kelly Marie Tran was someone who was on our radar. And her voice was automatically someone that just went straight to what our imagination of the character could be. Reshaping the character from stoic badass to this fun cool character who on the outside looks like that badass but at the same time is fun, someone you wouldn’t mind hanging out with and having conversations with about your favorite TV show.

AD: The chase sequence to the marketplace I thought was so beautifully shot in terms of the movement of the characters as well as the background around itk. What went into creating that sequence?

Don Hall: A desire to do a chase, and then we turned it over to a storyboard artist named Javier Ledesma, who is just a genius at this kind of thing. I’ve been doing this for a long time and I’ve never seen somebody put that amount of kinetic energy into storyboards. One drawing per thing, and to be able to coordinate all of that but do it with an eye towards what is going to be fun in animation as well as an eye towards humor–I have to give the credit to Javier. What he storyboarded was very big and we did have to whittle it down and shape it a little bit, which is common, Javier over delivers! But it really started with him, and it blew us away, and when we get it into layouts and expand and refine it in animation. I will say that my favorite moment is when Noi throws her diaper at Raya. You see her waddling away, jumping into a new diaper, and that’s the kind of stuff you can only do in animation. That’s why I love our job.

Carlos López Estrada: It’s also such a good example of how our layout department took every opportunity to make this scene look like such a different movie than we have ever seen in animation. They were heavily inspired but also elevated these insane camera moves and live-action techniques. The movie feels like nothing we’ve seen before in animation and this scene in particular was a really good example of it.

Don Hall: Even like the funny scene where we go to slow-mo and Noi waves to Raya–that all happened in animation. One of our jobs as directors in animation is to make sure we give as much creative leeway to every department that we can that is appropriate to where they are in the production process. You can’t be reinventing things in lighting, but for animation, keeping it open, keeping it fresh, and letting people try stuff. An animator had an idea and we looked at it and we thought it was hysterical so of course it goes into the movie. That happened quite a bit.

AD: Keeping with animation, what got you all interested in that as a medium?

Don Hall: For me I don’t know. This was it. I didn’t have a plan B or C or anything. This was all I ever wanted to do, seeing the early films of Disney, being inspired by Peter Pan, Jungle Book, Pinocchio, and Dumbo. I love comic books and love to draw and tell stories, and who better to do that for than Disney? I know it’s kind of a boring story, but this was it or nothing.

Carlos López Estrada: I think the amazing thing about working at Disney is that all of us grew up with these stories in our childhood. It’s just surreal to be contributing to the legacy of the storytellers and artists who really shaped the way we think creatively. For me it was a lifelong dream, and getting to work with Don was amazing. So the same thing. I grew up watching Disney in theaters and on VHS, not even thinking that would be a possibility for me to be working with them, and here we are.

Qui Nguyen: I think this was a dream bigger than I could imagine. I grew up with the DNA of a lot of storytellers who wanted to create heroes for those who don’t often get to see themselves that way. Then there was the chance to provide a new hero to the world that represents my kids. I was sharing the story with Don and Carlos earlier. It blew my mind I was standing in the middle of my neighborhood with all these little girls running around me wearing Raya costumes. That was something that couldn’t happen even just last year. This is a brand new unique thing. I can put on a costume and I don’t have to put on someone’s skin to be a hero. That was something that kind of blew my mind. I can write heroic stories like this character in indie flicks but it doesn’t have the impact that having a character like that in a Disney movie has. That was something that made me want to be part of this company, and working with Don and Carlos and Adele has been an absolute dream.

AD: Carlos, this is a fanboy question from me that has nothing to do with the movie, but I have to ask. What was it like doing a music video with Billie Eilish?

Carlos López Estrada: It was a lot like working with Don Hall.

Don Hall: Go on, explain.

Carlos López Estrada: She’s great. I was also a fan so it was incredible to be able to do that.

AD: Don, as the only one with an Oscar so far, have you been giving advice to your co-creative team on what to expect for the season?

Don Hall: Ah no, not yet, because I don’t want to jinx it. If we are lucky enough to get nominated, then we’ll have a conversation. But that was an amazing experience, and I do hope these guys get to experience it.

AD: Anything you want to leave our readers with?

Don Hall: Just to underscore how much love and effort went into the making of this film. We came onto the film about a year-and-a-half before its release. But man, for that year and a half we poured everything we had creatively and emotionally into it. It’s been the most rewarding experience I’ve had in twenty-some years. Part of it was how we came together during the pandemic, which threw a big wrench in things. But how everyone responded to that was a reflection of their deep love of the film and the fact that it didn’t impair us in any way, this working from home construct. In fact, we learned a lot of things that could help us when we actually get back in the building. I know it may sound trite or cheesy because the theme of the movie is trust, but it was the theme of making the movie as well. You had to rely on each other in ways we’ve never had to do before. I think it resulted in an amazing film that I will forever be proud of.

Carlos López Estrada: I will share the pride that Don feels, in creating the movie and all the people involved in creating–both cast and crew. Then just seeing the final product, seeing the impact that it’s had, it’s been the most rewarding experience. I feel that so much of ourselves went into it, and I know it means so much to so many people. Seeing it out in the world and seeing that it’s having the impact that we were hoping it would have, there is nothing better than that.

Raya and the Last Dragon is now streaming on Disney+.