Baymax Big Hero 6 Scott Adsit Exposed

My kids love Big Hero 6 so much that my 7-year-old constantly asks, “On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain”. As someone who kickboxes, I’d rate it at a ten today! That’s why interviewing Scott Adsit, the voice of Baymax in Big Hero 6, was a surreal experience. Hearing him do Baymax’s voice live gave me goosebumps! We had so many questions to ask him!

Our first question for Scott was how he discovered and developed the unique voice of Baymax.

I didn’t know if it would be a robotic voice, and they brought me in for the audition. The script was the first indication that it wouldn’t be a typical robotic voice. When I saw the picture, I just saw soft and huggable, so I found a very benign bedside manner voice. I mixed that with a state of the art of robotic interaction vocally which is pretty much an automated phone system. He will talk with the flow, but then there are elements within a sentence that are variables, so they’ll sound a little separate from the rest of it.

We then asked if he drew inspiration from past movie robots. Our goal was to understand what to avoid when creating Baymax’s character.

I more looked at family members who are very soft, huggable, and benign. I didn’t research other robots. First of all, I know all the other robots, and if I going to research it, it would be to stay away from C3PO.

Next, we asked how Baymax’s character evolved throughout the film.

We found the voice pretty early on in the audition, I think. The big change was somewhere in the middle of the process. They decided to give him another facet which is when he loses power and becomes, for lack of a better word, drunk. I came in and they introduced this concept to me, and they’d scripted a bit of it. My first question was okay, so how do I take that voice and make it drunk, because it is such a straight line, the voice. I said so do you want it to sound like, like a robot who’s drunk? And they said no, just be drunk. Then they put a process, a little filter on that, which Baymax has and that was it. I just played over the top drunk.

An interesting thing about the processing filter on Baymax. I was told this after the fact. John Lassiter, who is the man in charge of the studio, wanted there to be a processing on my voice, but he also wanted my voice to come through. They would bring him examples of a filter that they wanted to use in the sound department, and he would say no, dial it back a bit, dial it back a little bit. They kept dialing it back, dialing it back, until eventually, it was just my voice, no filter. John liked what I was doing naturally. What they ended up doing was a combination. They have all that filter on me at the beginning when you meet Baymax, and then during the course of the film, they dial it back, dial it back, dial it back, so that by the end, and I don’t know if you’ve all seen the movie, but in the, at the, in the last scene in, in the void, um, there is no filter on my voice at all. It’s just me.

He finds his humanity with a subtle kind of a subtextual thing that subliminally you may not notice. I didn’t.

We asked if he ever took the character of Baymax home with him and stayed in character off-set.

Yes. I was just talking to Daniel before I came in her, and he has such an altruistic character in Tadashi. We were saying wouldn’t it be great to be egoless and helpful your whole life and every day but we can’t do it. I would go home and I would catch myself talking with the voice, which is not much different from my voice, but I know when I got it on. I would have to catch myself saying don’t, don’t start talking like him all the time because then that would really annoy people, especially casting directors.

Now, we wanted to know how many fist bumps he’s been asked to do since the movie’s release.

I’m never forced to do it, and it happens a few times a week. Not everyone knows it’s me either. I’ll get more 30 Rock requests from people because they see my face.

We then asked if portraying the silent hero impacted him personally.

I see the value in just entertaining without needing to feed my own ego. There’s a certain satisfaction in being a stage actor where you get an immediate response. You can walk off, and say that was great. That’s part of the reward of that. With this, it is bigger than me, and I know I’m a small part of what makes Baymax Baymax and so lovable, because Baymax is this diamond with every facet being a different person.

When we talk about Baymax, it’s not me, you know. It’s everyone who worked on it, who decided how he walks and how he blinks, all of that.

Here’s the awesome part—I had the incredible opportunity to interview the actual Baymax! Yes, the one and only healthcare companion we all know and love. I was so excited about the interview that I took to Facebook and asked my friends and followers what questions they thought I should ask. To my surprise and delight, Baymax answered not just one but two of the suggested questions! It was such a fun experience getting to interact with Baymax this way, and hearing his responses made the interview even more special. It was indeed a memorable moment!

Chatting with Scott Adsit was an unforgettable experience that deepened our appreciation for the heart and humor he infused into Baymax in Big Hero 6. Hearing his insights into the character, the creative process, and behind-the-scenes moments made the interview truly special. Whether you’re a longtime fan or just discovering Baymax Big Hero 6, it’s clear that Scott’s portrayal of this beloved robot will continue to resonate with audiences of all ages.