11 Things We Learned At The 'Ralph Breaks The Internet' Press Junket

Our favorite video game villain-turned-hero is back and his new adventures take us to a place many of us love and hate – the internet. Ralph Breaks the Internet opens on November 21st and will reunite us with Ralph, Vanellope, Felix and Calhoun, but also introduce us to several new characters including Yesss, the head algorithm at BuzzzTube, and Shank, who is voiced by none other than Wonder Woman herself, Gal Gadot. Not to give away any spoilers, but Ralph Breaks the Internet is not one to miss. It touches on everything people today experience on the internet, complete with cat memes, search engines, hearts and likes, as well as the dark side of it all. We got a chance to attend a press conference for the film and to hear from the cast and creators themselves on some fun facts about the movie. Here are eleven things we learned at the Ralph Breaks the Internet press conference:

1. The last line in Wreck-It Ralph is actually what gave directors Rich Moore and Phil Johnston the seeds of the idea for a Wreck-It Ralph sequel. The lines involve Ralph thinking about his friendship with Vanellope after he has been lonely for a while, and deciding and if she can like him, then how bad can he be? It’s that that made Moore and Johnston want to revisit Ralph because, though the sentiment is sweet, it’s also “really, really dysfunctional.”

2. After some back and forth, Johnston imagined the world of the internet like Rome or Istanbul, with ancient cities buried beneath modern cities. “That’s how we envisioned it,” he said. “Like a city that is multi-layered where the newest, biggest websites are up on top. Then the old forgotten stuff is down at the bottom.”

Ralph and Vanellope look over the internet

3. John C. Reilly is back voicing the titular Ralph, a vintage video game character who is exposed to the internet in this film, which Reilly thought was interesting. “There are a lot of really fun metaphors that we’re also playing with in the film,” he said. “And this idea that the arcade is like the childhood kind of arena of their friendship and the Internet represents the sort of larger world beyond as they grow and mature.”

4. Sarah Silverman, who voices Vanellope (who just so happens to be the new “official” addition to Disney princess canon), said that the voice cast records together and gets to improvise a lot. “The script itself is so fantastic,” she said. “I think they always book about an extra hour of time than they need. Because we get real chatty.” She also revealed that it gets a little bawdier than anticipated: “And there is definitely an album. Like a very R-rated comedy album somewhere in the audio footage of recording for sure,” she laughed.

5. Reilly also added that he felt recording together really added to the story. “I think that’s what sets both of these movies apart is that feeling of heart and real emotion. It’s because we’re looking into each other’s eyes. I’ve done other animated work where I didn’t meet the other actor ever. And I’m sure there are practical people that say it doesn’t matter, it’s just a voice. But to me it does matter. I think it does come across in the film. It gives the film a soul it might not have if we weren’t there together.”

6. Taraji P. Henson, who voices the character of social media savvy Yesss, shared that voicing a Disney character was a bucket list accomplishment for her and even better was how much she loved the character. “I thought she was incredible,” she said of Yesss. “She’s a go-getter. She’s the head of a company. She’s no nonsense. She has heart.”

Ralph, Yesss, and Vanellope

7. Jack McBryer returns to his role as Felix, Ralph’s co-worker in their video game and husband to Calhoun (Jane Lynch). When the plug is pulled on Sugar Rush, the childless couple decides to take in the orphaned racers. The challenged of parenting fifteen adolescents comes as quite a shock at first. So why do it? “After a few years of marriage, they’ve experienced some tension and perhaps some stagnation,” McBrayer explained of Calhoun and Felix’s marriage. “So now they’re thrust into these new circumstances that really force them to not only evaluate how they feel about each other, but what their preconception of what parenthood could be vs. reality.”

8. Speaking about parenting, Felix and Calhoun share a secret to parenting during the film that isn’t revealed to the audience. So, of course, the cast and creators were asked what the secret to being a great parent is. Henson, the mother of a 22-year-old son, believes that it’s honesty and truth since, with the internet, kids aren’t as sheltered anymore. “Just tell them the facts and guide them,” she shared. Reilly, who has two sons (ages 20 and 17), shared that the “most important thing…is seeing who the child is as opposed to who you want them to be or who you think they will become.”

9. The directors and cast also shared a variety of insecurities they have, relating them back to Ralph’s own insecurities. Johnston, however, was the most transparent and shared that he had been depressed and anxious for many years, and that perhaps Ralph had that too because of his own real-life struggles. But, he added, it wasn’t all bad. “Here I am talking about it,” he pointed out. “That song at the end [of the movie], that Imagine Dragon song is all about that. Like opening up about all the foibles we have, the fear, the anxiety, the depression and stuff. And talking about it [too].”

Shank (Gal Gadot) and her video game crew

10. The team also shared what they missed from the pre-internet days. Henson wished that kids could go back to playing outside and using their imaginations all day instead of needing a computer or video games. McBrayer just wants to remember phone numbers again (Henson added that she doesn’t even know her own – she just looks it up). Moore misses broadcast television and the ability to only see something when it aired, when everything was an event. Silverman misses how the world would come together to witness a big event or catastrophe, like when Baby Jessica fell in a well and how everyone tuned in simultaneously to see her being rescued. Reilly misses a time when there was one objective truth, rather than a number of different versions of events according to what site you might visit.

11. Writer Pamela Ribon shared that one of the things she hopes kids will take away from the film is that change is OK. “I hope they think about it [and understand it] when you have to start a new school or your friendships change and you move into a new place, that fear that you have. That everything will be different and you’ll never know those friends again. We really thought about that, that shift in life. Because it keeps happening. No matter how old you get, you move into a new place and you meet new friends. And you don’t have to lose your old ones.”

Ralph Breaks the Internet hits theaters on November 21st. You can get your tickets here!