Why 'Pancake Milkshake' Didn't Make It Into 'Ralph Breaks The Internet' And Other Fun Easter Eggs & Cameos Revealed
Today, we continue my interview with Ralph Breaks The Internet directors Phil Johnston and Rich Moore, and producer Clark Spencer, in a discussion that is all about the film's spoilers, cameos, and easter eggs. The filmmakers explain why the "Pancake Milkshake" scene, which was one of the funniest parts of the film's marketing (and has been included in a lot of the film's merchandising), didn't make it into the actual movie. They also share their favorite cameos and easter eggs. If you've seen the film and don't mind spoiler chat, read on!
Can you talk about Pancake Milkshake? Because that was such a phenomenon with the trailers and the marketing. And I'm guessing it had a place in the movie at some point.Moore: Definitely, yeah.Can you tell us like what the original purpose was?Moore: Well, it was one of the online games that they visited when they were loot hunting. After they met Spamley. And that section got really long. Where it was like we just need to get to Slaughter Race and trying to get Shank's car. We're spending too much time in this beat that really has nothing to do with the story. Everyone gets what loot hunting is. We don't have to kind of show it.But you had this trailer out there that people loved.Moore: Yeah, so Pancake Milkshake was one of the first things that we animated, too. So it was finished as a complete thing, and it ended up, and the people that make our trailers were like, "Oh we wanna use this in the trailer." Like great. So it's in the trailer. And then suddenly it's like that's when we hit that point where it's like we need to cut it. We can't keep it in just because it's in the trailer. And people were saying, "Well, but they're making the plush and the Funko figures."There's a whole toy line.Moore: Yeah, and it's like, "Well, I'm sorry, but it's, I mean, it's a case of like if it is not serving the story, we can't keep it in there." So then Phil was the one who had the idea of like, what if we make it a end credits scene? Kind of a post-credits scene. And it's a joke about that the little girl in the car is upset that it wasn't in the movie. And it just leads right into the Mom saying, "Oh, play your game. That'll make you feel better." And then we have the scene as it was.I love that because I'm the guy that like watches all the trailers and I'm like, "That scene was not in the movie."Moore: Yeah.Johnston: Yeah. Absolutely.Moore: I'm the same way. It drives me crazy. I remember when Empire Strikes Back came out. There was one shot in the trailer of C-3PO at Hoth in the rebel base ripping a sign off of a door. And I'm like what is that? I gotta see that. That's something very special. And it never appeared in the movie. And through the whole thing I was like, "Maybe at the end they will go back to Hoth, and we will see that." But yeah, that drives me insane.There's a lot of Easter Eggs in this film. I think, particularly in the Oh My Disney section. I think a lot of them are pretty obvious if you look around and stuff. Is there anything that people might miss that are your favorites that you got to sneak in there?Johnston: I like the Clarabelle Cow. I mean, that one's pretty...Spencer: Did you see the hand-drawn Humphrey Bear and Ranger?That's awesome.Johnston: Mark Henn did that in about a week. Animated that, 'cause we were at the end and didn't have the ability to do anymore CG animation or didn't have models built.Moore: Right. And I'm like, "We gotta add more stuff."Johnston: Why don't we do some 2D stuff? And Mark Kiraletamaki, who's our co-head of animation, was like, "Remember Humphrey Bear and the Ranger and all they walked around?"Moore: Jack Hannah cartoon.Johnston: "Cleaning up the park for the litter. And well, couldn't they be doing that in Oh My Disney?" Mark, could you draw it? Do that, can you animate that? "Absolutely." So that happened, I mean, within – very few things are clear in my memory, but that's within the last several months that that was, maybe July something, that he did that. And that's a cool one.Moore: Yeah. I like Judy Hopps with Rocket Raccoon in that little chase scene.Johnston: They're hidden.Moore: They're kind of hidden off to the side. There's –I didn't know, I don't think I caught that one.Moore: Yeah, it's hard to see, yeah.Johnston: The Monsters, Inc. door's in there.Moore: In the background. There's Arlo from Good Dinosaur. There's a lot of like...Johnston: It might be worthy of screen grabbing and...I can't wait to do that.Moore: Like on the Disney Animation, but it's like the old posters from the old movies are recreated like as kind of signs on the outside, so there's a lot.Johnston: Not to mention the outside of Oh My Disney has a lot of the hotels and motels that you see near Disneyland. So the exterior you'll see like motels and things that evoke Disneyland.Moore: Dot com. Yeah.That is awesome. Can you talk about some of the voice cameos in the movie? 'Cause there's some that like are obvious, like Groot.Moore: Groot.But there's Michael Giacchino reprising his role as the same stormtrooper he played in The Force Awakens. How did that happen?Moore: Well, just knowing like he's a good friend. We're both humongous Star Wars fans. And knowing that we were gonna have Stormtroopers and people were like, "Well, who are we gonna get the people that do the Stormtroopers?" Why yes, we should. We should get Michael to do one. And I texted him, would you be willing to don the uniform once more? But yeah, it was pretty, I love Mantzoukas, Jason Mantzoukas is like the fan that's grilling Groot.Yeah, that's great.Moore: And it kind of looks like –It's so very Comic-Con.Moore: Yeah.And you guys always put yourselves in the movie somewhere, right?Moore: Not really. Like we do some voices. We're no, that's Ron and John, like Musker and Clements always do caricatures of themselves.Yeah voices, that's what I'm saying.Johnston: Oh yeah, I do...Moore: Oh, we do, like I do Sour Bill and Zangief. Phil's the Surge Protector.Johnston: I do Surge Protector. And the Auctioneer who auctions off the tortilla chip that looks like Beyonce.
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Ralph Breaks the Internet is in theaters now.