Neenah’s Johnston tries new role for ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’
Phil Johnston’s Hollywood career is leveling up.
The Neenah native made a name for himself by writing (or co-writing) “Cedar Rapids,” “Wreck-It Ralph” and “Zootopia” — the latter of which won the Oscar for best animated feature. Now he has shifted over to the director’s chair for “Ralph Breaks the Internet.”
Johnston co-directed the sequel to the 2012 hit “Wreck-It Ralph” with pal Rich Moore, who directed the original as well as “Zootopia.” Johnston, a 1990 Neenah High School graduate who got a degree in journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, spoke recently about the movie, which landed in theaters Wednesday.
Question: How long did you work on “Ralph Breaks the Internet”?
Answer: Well, it’s sort of complicated because the idea for the sequel began like four years ago. And then I started working on it and I wrote a script in probably 2015. But then I got moved on to “Zootopia.” Rich and I, who I’m directing this one with, went and worked on “Zootopia” for however long, a year or something. Then we returned to this one like two years ago.
Q: Was it difficult to avoid the pitfalls that a lot of sequels experience?
A. You kind of fall into two traps with sequels. One is that you’re just remaking the first movie with slightly different locations and stuff. The other is you’re making a movie that’s so radically different that it doesn’t feel at all like the first one. So it’s quite difficult to find that sweet spot where you recognize the characters and the tone feels right, but then the story is sufficiently different that it’s a different movie and it’s earned its way into the pantheon.
Q: In one of the trailers for the movie, there’s a scene where characters talk about “Ralph Wrecks the Internet” vs. “Ralph Breaks the Internet.” Was that basically a conversation you guys had at some point?
A. Oh yeah. Of course. That one we were very well aware of, that people were saying “Why isn’t it called ‘Ralph Wrecks the Internet,’ and wrote that as a response to that. That is an example of public opinion affecting our content; however, those very conversations we had internally as well. “Why isn’t it ‘Ralph Wrecks the Internet’?” “Oh, ’cause you know breaking the internet is a thing, you know, that whole thing, yeah” … we had those conversations in house as well.
Q. Are you proud of what you’ve created?
A. I’m really proud of it . ... At its core I think is a pretty simple, relatable story. It’s kind of like if two friends from Neenah went to New York City and one of the friends fell in love with New York City and the other just wanted to go back home to Neenah. That’s what the internet becomes for the Vanellope character. It’s a place she really falls in love with, and Ralph’s like, “Let’s just get back home to the arcade,” which is sort of representative of the small town. I actually drew a lot from growing up in Neenah and I moved off to different places around the country, ended up in New York and now in Los Angeles. I still have great friends who live in Wisconsin and we’re still good friends even though I live here and they live there . ...
There’s a line that this character Shank has — she’s voiced by Gal Gadot — who says, “There’s no law saying best friends have to have the same dreams.” That’s, I think, a pretty universal message, not just for kids but for adults as well. Friendships change.