Ralph Breaks the Internet is the sequel to Wreck-It Ralph and is the 57th animated feature from the Disney Studios. It is directed by Rich Moore (who directed Wreck-it Ralph and co-directed Zootopia) and Phil Johnston (co-writer from the first film now joining in as co-director on the sequel) .
At this point, Screen Rant has interviewed the directors of Ralph Breaks the Internet several times, so this time for the home release, we go deep into one of the most iconic scenes in the film.
Screen Rant: Gentlemen, hello.
Screen Rant: I hope you guys don’t mind that for this entire interview all I’m gonna be talking about is Pancake and Milkshake.
Rich Moore and Phil Johnston: Hello.
Screen Rant: Genius.
Phil Johnston: Yes!
Rich Moore: Alright!
Phil Johnston: Finally!
Screen Rant: Now, lets talk the nitty gritty of Pancake and Milkshake.
Rich Moore: Let me just loosen my belt. (LAUGHS) Ahh yeaaah! Finally get comfortable.
Screen Rant: Now, I’m kind of jumping ahead to the end of the movie, but that mid-credits sequence…how did it come about to sort of call out the trailer only scenes.
Rich Moore: Let’s…do it!
Screen Rant: It was!
Phil Johnston: Well…it was in the movie.
Screen Rant: Oh no!
Phil Johnston: Pancake Milkshake was in the movie. Around the scene where they where go to Slaughter Race, they were doing loot hunting at other games and one of which was going to be Pancake Milkshake where they had the Golden Waffle for five dollars or something like that. And it was funny and it always got a laugh but also was stalling the inevitable of the story…
Rich Moore: Let’s just get them to Slaughter Race.
Phil Johnston: And so, we’re like… we gotta take it out. And then, the marketing people put it in the trailer…
Rich Moore: Well, then we decided to take it out after the trailer came out. It wasn’t until after that first trailer came out it was like…we gotta lose this. We need to get to Slaughter Race sooner. So we kind of took it out.
Phil Johnston: Yeah.
Rich Moore: People were like…and it was fully animated, it was one of the first things finished, it was all lit. And people were like, how could you cut that out? People are gonna be really disappointed that Pancake Mi…oh! And they started to make toys of the characters!
Screen Rant: How late was that to include that in the end?
Rich Moore: That’s what it was! They came in to show us the collectables. It was like “Oh my god they made them. They made the Pancake Milkshake.” And then they were like, “WE LOVE THESE LITTLE CHARACTERS! We wanna make the plush, we wanna make the little mystery mini’s of them.”
And we were like “Oh my god they…how are we gonna get out of this.” You know? So Phil had the idea like…what if, we use it in that context as a post credits scene, or mid-credits. It’s a little girl that we go to the back of the car and the little girl was upset that the scene wasn’t in the movie. And then it goes right into the scene.
Phil Johnston: And we were also able, from the trailer, people were like…is that the model from baby Moana?
Rich Moore: And it was!
Phil Johnston: Obviously we changed it…
Rich Moore: Put her in contemporary clothes.
Phil Johnston: So we were able to use the voice actress who plays Moana’s mom…
Rich Moore: As the mom in the car…
Phil Johnston: We named the baby Mo in the backseat. We actually didn’t follow our own advice and we read the comments and we put it in the movie.
Screen Rant: That shot of the bunny…when he sees the stack of pancakes…kills me…
Rich Moore: About…six months before it came out?
Phil Johnston: Yeah..
Rich Moore: Or within the last nine months before the movie came out because we were just like…what are we gonna do when these toys come out, it would be so obvious that Pancake Milkshake is not in the movie.
Phil Johnston: And we loved the scene, it always made me laugh.
Screen Rant: This time out, Phil you join as a co-director what was the process now with both of you directing this film as opposed to last time when it was just Rich…
Rich Moore: The timing is so great on that…
Phil Johnston: I just showed my kids Mr. Creosote from (Monty Python’s) The Meaning of Life the other day, which we obviously borrowed heavily from. Ours is much less disturbing than that, as it turns out it was a bad parenting choice, to show a 7 year old that scene.
Rich Moore: Well it’s the rib cage that shows at the end…
Phil Johnston: Dad, is that guy dead? No, not in real life…he’s fine. He’s fine son.
Screen Rant: Right, of course, I’m staying on topic…
Rich Moore: And this is only as it relates to Pancake Milkshake…that’s all we’re talking about right now…
Screen Rant: That’s horrifying….
Phil Johnston: Well it’s based on my life, Pancake Milkshake. I was…
Rich Moore: Forced to eat pancakes as a child…
Phil Johnston: I was that bunny…
Screen Rant: I.. (laughs) don’t…
Phil Johnston: I was that bunny, I was…a human foie gra. (LAUGHS)
Rich Moore: Now we’re gonna find his birth parents…we’re gonna take these people to court. Because this was immoral. It was wrong what they did. It was abuse. We’re gonna find those people who feed you those pancakes and those milkshakes. And they will see the inside of a cell.
Phil Johnston: Oh they will pay. They will pay dearly. (Laughs)
Screen Rant: I have one more question to ask you. I brought this up to Tudyk, Alan Tudyk so I wanna see how you guys feel about it …next Ralph film, there’s a scene in which it’s just a room of only Alan’s characters.
Rich Moore: You need to cry? Do you need to cry a little bit?
Phil Johnston: I’m holding it in. I’m swallowing it like I swallowed those goddamn pancakes. (Laughs)
Screen Rant: Both Dukes (Duke of Weselton from Frozen and Duke Weaselton from Zootopia) HeiHei (from Moana)…
Rich Moore: Nice! I like it.
Screen Rant: King Candy of course…and you can have…
Rich Moore: There’s King Candy…
Screen Rant: I don’t know what the talks will be about…
Phil Johnston: and Knowsmore.
Screen Rant: Alistair Kriel from..?
Rich Moore: And what was is his name…
Phil Johnston: Weselton?
Screen Rant: I don’t know what the conversations will be…but I want…
Rich Moore: Krei! Yeah. (Alistair Krei from Big Hero 6)
Screen Rant: TudyCON!
Phil Johnston: What if Alan Tudyk, real life Alan Tudyk comes in there and is sort of moderating a panel discussion with those guys…
Rich Moore: And it’s all like the voices in his head.
Phil Johnston: TudyCON.
Screen Rant: That’s…I think that’s…
Rich Moore: TudyCON! Oh my god!
Screen Rant: K-2SO (Rogue One) clearly.
Rich Moore: This is pretty good…and then like…Wash (from Firefly) has to be there. Like all his characters…
Screen Rant: I think this is happening.
Phil Johnston: Oh yeaaaah!!
Screen Rant: Right?!
Phil Johnston:That’s a really good idea.
Rich Moore: Come on!
Phil Johnston: It’s at least a good short.
Screen Right: I’ve always wanted to hear that! Gentlemen, thank you so much this has been a lot of fun.
Phil Johnston: Yeah…that’s a great idea. You’re hired Justin.
Rich Moore: TudyCON!
Rich Moore: Thank you! Wait, you can’t leave now! You’re have to talk more about TudyCON!
Phil Johnston: Thank you.
Disney’s Ralph Breaks the Internet is now out on Digital and will be coming to 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD on February 26.
