Joanna Sotomura: The Voice and Soul Behind AI 'Sunny' in Apple TV+'s Breakout Series 'Sunny'

[00:00:10] [SPEAKER_01]: Joanna, thank you for joining me today on Pop Culture Unplugged. Thank you so much for having

[00:00:15] [SPEAKER_00]: me.

[00:00:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Exciting times, you know, the listeners, the viewers, the students, and everybody can see

[00:00:19] [SPEAKER_01]: you as the AI Sunny in Sunny, actually. I love saying that so funny. Apple TV Plus. First

[00:00:27] [SPEAKER_01]: of all, what's it been like to be on a show like this? Because a lot of the fans are

[00:00:30] [SPEAKER_01]: loving this series.

[00:00:33] [SPEAKER_00]: I know that's been amazing. I mean, when you work so hard on something, you hope that

[00:00:37] [SPEAKER_00]: people love it and appreciate it as much as you do. But you always don't want to like

[00:00:41] [SPEAKER_00]: set your expectations too high. So I'm just I'm so happy it's getting received the way

[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_00]: that it is. And it was wonderful to work on the show was just incredible and so surreal.

[00:00:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I just feel really lucky.

[00:00:52] [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to jump into the series in a few minutes, too. But I was doing some research

[00:00:55] [SPEAKER_01]: on you and I get done, you know, you've done a little bit of everything film, TV

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_01]: and a lot of voiceover. What made you get into the industry? What pushed you?

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_00]: I think being kind of a when I was in seventh grade, it was kind of like a shy,

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_00]: new kid. And my dad suggested that I get into acting because if I do theater, then

[00:01:16] [SPEAKER_00]: everyone has to like be your friend for the three months that you're rehearsing.

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_00]: So I was like, great. So I did that. And then decided I wanted to pursue

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_00]: a job in the arts. And then I went to college for theater and I had a professor who

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_00]: actually believed in me and said, I think you should do film and television. I think

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_00]: you'd really thrive there. And so from there, I just did small little indie stuff.

[00:01:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I did an indie horror film and then Little Co-stars. And they just started to build

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_00]: to the place where we're at now where I can like talk to you about this amazing show,

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Sunny. So I've just I've just felt very fortunate.

[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Do you enjoy doing a little bit of everything? Like TV film even in the voiceover

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_00]: and theater? Oh my God, yeah, I love acting. So any like opportunity to be able to act is just

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_00]: the best. I feel like I'm flying every time. So yeah, any form that I can do that in is perfect.

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_01]: So you've done a little bit of everything. What's the goal? Do you like get something in

[00:02:07] [SPEAKER_00]: the bucket list that you want to hit someday? Yeah, I mean, to be in like a really cool

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_00]: feature film that's also well received would be amazing. And then something in like the real

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_00]: like a rested development kind of absurd comedy world would be so my jam. Oh my God.

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_01]: That's amazing. A lot of people love the sitcoms like what's one of your favorites? Is that one

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_00]: of your favorites, would you say? Yeah. And also I really love Girls Five Ever, but Girls Five Ever

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_00]: is it correct? Yeah, it's just that sort of like really fast paced, silly comedies. It's

[00:02:50] [SPEAKER_01]: attractive to the role. And let's tell us about the audition process for this.

[00:02:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, totally. So when I got the audition, it was first a voiceover audition. I had the

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_00]: breakdown for Sunny where she was like a four foot tall robot girl who's sort of like a girl scout

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_00]: who means well but messes up something to that effect. And I was like, I can do that.

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_00]: So I read for both the Susie, I read Susie and Sunny's parts in my little closet for the

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_00]: V.O. audition and then they were like actually it's going to be a lot more than that.

[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's put you on camera. So I was like, oh great. So I did a few scenes from episode one

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_00]: and then I just kept progressing and then I met Katie, Robbins, Lucy Churniak. Then I

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_00]: did a chemistry read with Rashida and every step of the way I was like,

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_00]: I think I might be moving to Japan in a few weeks. That's so well, not only that but

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I think I might be playing this robot who I fell in love with. And through that process,

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_00]: they let me read more and more of the scripts and I just I could not put them down. I was like binge

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_00]: reading everything. And I just was hoping to God that I'd be able to have a part of the series.

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And so when I booked it, it was just it took a while for me to actually believe it.

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_00]: And then I flew to Japan for six months and worked on this crazy, crazy show.

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, did you know what the robot looked like while you were like

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_01]: auditioning? I mean, just to get an idea or a picture it?

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_00]: No, not at all. So I just I just made her up in my mind and to me she looks kind of like

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Eve from Wally. Yeah. It was just they had like a slight descriptions in there,

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_00]: but I had no idea. And so when I booked the role, that's when they let me see the robot

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_00]: and its functions and the helmet and all that things. So that was yeah, that was a whole

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_01]: treat in itself. It was crazy. So it's just great too. Like you know, you do in the voice

[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_01]: the voiceover this too, but you're also doing the motion capture I saw online.

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. So it's like this new tech. It's not necessarily motion capture because

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_00]: it was movement in real time. So what would happen was I would go on as Joanna and I would do

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_00]: the rehearse the scene and they would put a little piece of tape on my tummy is like

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_00]: sunny as I lines. Okay. And then I would and I would wear this helmet that had a monitor,

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_00]: a ring light and a camera that in real time captured. I didn't have dots or anything,

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_00]: but it tracked my face and captured my expressions and my voice and then transmitted that to the

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_00]: robot that they would then wheel onto set. So in real time, she was acting with a robot where

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_00]: if I moved my head left, so he would move her head left if I blink blink. So it was all

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_01]: all real time. That's amazing. So in a way, like while you're working with us too,

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_01]: how do you like connect with an AI like that? How do you try to make it your own?

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_00]: How do I try to make sunny my own like robotics and all the

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_00]: that's a great question. It was definitely challenging in the beginning because

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_00]: we all were trying to figure out how to make this work in the dead of Kyoto heat,

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_00]: but it was pretty easy. I mean, in terms of finding her soul and then transmitting

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_00]: it through the robot because the writing was just so good that once we got the technical stuff,

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I just got to play and let her live. And a little bit of the animation struggles or the

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_00]: puppeteering struggles just faded away and led to the sunny that you see now. So yeah.

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Was there a description you were also given for this character?

[00:06:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. So it was like the four foot tall robot girl who means well, but I didn't know what her face

[00:06:26] [SPEAKER_00]: would look like. I didn't know necessarily how they wanted her to speak. I didn't know what her

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_00]: capabilities would be. So it was a lot of discovering in the two weeks before we started

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_00]: filming in Japan with the what a workshops team. How did you decide? How did you decide

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_01]: with the voice or what kind of voice you wanted to go with?

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. Well, I definitely thought she should be her namesake, something sunny and bright.

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_00]: And in the beginning too, she's very childlike in the sense that she wants to always learn

[00:06:57] [SPEAKER_00]: and wants to please Susie. And so I figured maybe and also I thought it would be fun to have a

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_00]: voice that was kind of opposite of Rashida's. So something like a little higher and excited.

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And you know, and then throughout the series as we progress, she sort of finds new tones

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_00]: and new ranges to express new emotions. And that was that was really, really cool to be able to

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_01]: play with that. Do you like a deal and do like some research also? Like try to watch something

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_01]: no similar to get an idea how you wanted to play this character too? Like with that

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_01]: evolves like AI? I'm sorry. Did I do I do like go out and do some research also like

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_01]: go watch a different show or a movie that's kind of like similar base with like AI stuff just to

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_00]: get an idea also? You know, I just had a talk with my Alexa in my series and we all just

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_00]: sat around and yeah, I picked their brains. But no, I didn't I didn't want to do too much

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_00]: research because for me in my the way that I act to if I over prepare, I tend to be

[00:07:54] [SPEAKER_00]: for lack of a better term robotic. And I yeah, I wanted to just kind of feel it out

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_00]: and make her something totally new. But I do hear a lot of people think she's like Wally and

[00:08:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Betamax and Big Hero 6, which I love so yeah. Rashida Jones, I'll work with her. Tell us

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_00]: sort of about that in collaborating with her. Oh, yeah happily. Rashida is just the absolute

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_00]: coolest person that you could ever hope to work with. She's just first of all she's

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_00]: insanely talented to be able to play like Suzy Sakamoto who is so torn and broken and find

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_00]: these moments of like dark levity in it is just such a fine wire to walk as an actor and she

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_00]: crushes it. She's such a light to be on set, she was such a leader and it was just

[00:08:46] [SPEAKER_00]: yeah, I felt very, very fortunate that the first time I got to act in a role like this

[00:08:50] [SPEAKER_00]: was opposite someone like Rashida Jones. How do you describe the show to fans or like

[00:08:55] [SPEAKER_00]: the people that haven't seen it? Cool. No, I would say it's a dark comedy mystery thriller

[00:09:07] [SPEAKER_00]: that takes place in near futuristic Kyoto with a woman who is at the lowest point of her life

[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_00]: and her very bright homebot. There you go. What do you know for like behind the scenes,

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER_00]: what's been like your favorite moment? You know what's kind of funny? I like when,

[00:09:29] [SPEAKER_00]: so when I would be acting as Sunny we would obviously like cut and then I'd moments where

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_00]: I go over my lines or do something but I'm still in the Sunny helmet and a lot of people

[00:09:36] [SPEAKER_00]: just to, I don't know they assumed it was like a real robot so they would come up to Sunny and

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_00]: like whisper in her ear or pat her head. Especially with when we had kids on set

[00:09:44] [SPEAKER_00]: they'd be like really amazed by her so I tried to give her a little life like a little actor

[00:09:49] [SPEAKER_00]: in between takes so I'd like try to interact with them or when some of the robotics team would come

[00:09:56] [SPEAKER_00]: and wipe Sunny's face down I would just like close my eyes like I was getting a little massage.

[00:09:59] [SPEAKER_00]: So just trying to give her a life and animating her in between takes was really fun.

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_01]: So how do you feel about a sunny spinoff? Would you be all for that? A sunny spinoff?

[00:10:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Sure. I mean what's a sunny spinoff? I don't know. Sure, why not? I loved playing her.

[00:10:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I loved giving her life and I'd happily happily do it again.

[00:10:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Amazing. What's been has been any any word on a season two or continuation of this series?

[00:10:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Have you heard anything? I know we can't talk too much about spoilers.

[00:10:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and I'm very good at giving away spoilers like too good. I in terms of

[00:10:36] [SPEAKER_00]: speaking too I mean I would love it. We should be so lucky to be able to keep telling the

[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_00]: story. So I mean I'd be all for it for sure.

[00:10:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Joanna what's next for you now? Any are you allowed to tell us about any other projects

[00:10:47] [SPEAKER_00]: you got coming out or? Yeah, I mean the biggest thing honestly is just promoting the show and

[00:10:53] [SPEAKER_00]: we worked so hard on it two years ago. We started filming June I believe of 2022.

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's just been yeah it's been a long time. So it's just getting it out there and

[00:11:03] [SPEAKER_00]: like seeing people's reactions and enjoying the ride that is that is sunny airing now.

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm sure you eventually get those 8 by 10s of sunny and they're gonna want you to sign it.

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'll just do a little like three finger handprint or something.

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_01]: Amazing. Joanna, I know we've been talking about the show in the future and everything.

[00:11:26] [SPEAKER_01]: Let's end this by how can now the listeners of the viewers find your social media to keep

[00:11:30] [SPEAKER_01]: up with you? I know you I love the way you've been posting things about the show and

[00:11:33] [SPEAKER_00]: everything behind the scenes. Oh thank you so much yeah I'm seriously so immensely proud

[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_00]: of it so thank you. But yeah people can follow me on at Joanna Sotomora on my Instagram and

[00:11:45] [SPEAKER_00]: TikTok which I looked back and I made some videos during the pandemic where I'm like

[00:11:49] [SPEAKER_00]: wow you had you had a lot of time kid. Yeah Instagram and TikTok would be the best.

[00:11:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Amazing. Joanna I want to thank you for giving me permission today hopefully we get another

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_01]: season out of this and continue on. Yeah thank you so much it was great time with you. Thank you.