At the 'Inside Out 2' premiere, Kensington Tallman shares her similarities to her character Riley and speaks on her personal journey with anxiety saying, "it's okay not to be okay sometimes."
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00:00This is a big day for you. How old were you when you started recording the voice of Riley for this movie?
00:04So it's been a long journey. I first auditioned at 13. I'm about to be 16 now.
00:10I officially started recording when I was 14 and we were entering adolescence at the exact same time.
00:17So we were feeling all the same feels. I was feeling anxious, you know, feeling envy, ennui, embarrassment, all of it.
00:24And so I've had just the blessing of really growing up with Riley.
00:27I saw the first film when I was six and I just remember like crying, crying when I left the theaters.
00:33And so to be here today is such a blessing.
00:36You know, I get to play such an iconic character and I'm so happy to be here tonight.
00:40I heard from the director that there was a group of teenage girls who were advisors on the movie.
00:45Did you get to talk to them at all?
00:47Yes. So I haven't met them yet. I'm hoping some of them will be here today.
00:51But they are called Riley's Crew and Riley's Crew are a bunch of teenage girls.
00:55And they watch the film through every revision because we revise the film so many times to make it perfect.
01:00And they give their notes about Riley because they really want to make sure that we're staying authentic to a real teenage girl.
01:07And our director, Kelsey Mann, allowed me to improv and add my own spin on it and bring myself to it, which was really special.
01:14So I think you guys will really see Riley, our beautiful teenage girl on screen.
01:19And that's what I was going to ask you next.
01:21Did you get to give any input? And it sounds like you did.
01:23So how did you help shape Riley's dialogue or just what she was feeling?
01:27It was a very collaborative process. It was so refreshing to work with such incredible creatives.
01:31Kelsey Mann is the most amazing director. We improvised a lot.
01:35He let me go off script and bring my own real messy teenager-ness to the film.
01:41And I think that was really important because, you know, we're not perfect.
01:44We make mistakes and I've had my own journey with anxiety.
01:49I've struggled with anxiety for a long time and I thought it was something, you know, I should be ashamed of.
01:54And this film has really shown me that it's something we all deal with at some point in our lives.
02:00It's OK to not be OK sometimes.
02:02Have you seen the full film yet?
02:04I have. It is absolutely incredible.
02:06I mean, we go through so many different revisions and I don't get the full script.
02:10I just get my scenes. And so I didn't know what was going to end up in the final cut.
02:14And everything just came together so beautifully.
02:16The visuals are absolutely stunning.
02:19And it's just so incredible to see.
02:22I mean, I'm at a loss for words.
02:24I've been working on this film for so long.
02:26And our animators and our writers and our producers and our directors have been working on this film for so, so long.
02:32And so I think they're also very emotional seeing everything come together.
02:36Definitely. I got to see the film on Friday and I loved it so much and felt all those feelings.
02:41So congratulations. I hope you have a great night tonight.
02:43Thank you so much. I really appreciate that.
02:45It's so nice to meet you.