'We could not achieve that with puppetry or animatronics': Joe and Anthony Russo didn't want to build real-life robots for The Electric State for two big reasons

The Electric State directors have revealed why they didn’t use animatronic robots
Joe and Anthony Russo say it would’ve been too expensive to make them
The pair’s comments come amid reports that the Netflix movie cost over $300 million

The Electric State‘s directors have revealed why the forthcoming Netflix movie doesn’t actually have any robots in it – and it’s all down to money.

Speaking ahead of the film’s release this Friday (March 14), Joe and Anthony Russo said it would’ve been too expensive to make every single android that appears in the sci-fi flick.

To combat this, the pair and the film’s sizable crew utilized a combination of visual effects (VFX) and motion capture (mocap) performance work to bring the movie’s robot ensemble to life. It’s a tactic that the Russo brothers say they really got to grips with in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame – the last Marvel movies they directed and, at the time of publication, are two of the three highest-grossing films of all-time.

Michelle aims her gun as she stands next to some robot mascots in The Electric State film — *The Electric State*‘s robot contingent vastly outnumbers its human cast (Image credit: Netflix)

“There are so many robots that, if we went with animatronics, it would’ve cost five times as much to make,” Joe Russo said when I asked why they didn’t create real-world versions of the robots that popular one of March’s new Netflix movies. “Having worked on [Infinity War and Endgame villain] Thanos, we also have a good sense of what’s required to get great mocap performance.

“It’s really important for live-action actors to have other actors to work off of,” he continued. “We had an incredible troupe of mocap actors who were trained to move like the robots, say their lines, and create that chemistry with Chris [Pratt, who plays John Keats] and Millie [Bobby Brown, who portrays Michelle].

You’re actually getting more human performance within the robots themselves
Anthony Russo, The Electric State co-director

“It was a very layered process. We would record the voice actors before we began shooting. Then, we had the mocap actors listen to the voice actors’ recordings and perform the robot parts. When we were done shooting and were layering on the VFX, we brought the voice actors in again so they could see their character fully fleshed out and then re-record their lines.”

John stepping onto Herman's right hand during a battle in Netflix's The Electric State movie

I can see why the at-time gigantic Herman wasn’t created, but still… (Image credit: Netflix)

“Our movie explores the idea that you can find humanity in technology, and you can find inhumanity in humans,” Anthony Russo interjected. “So, it was very important to us to bring a strong human texture to the robots. I don’t know if we could’ve achieved that through animatronics.

“When we work with mocap actors, we’re capturing all the subtleties of their body language, the way they move, and their emotions,” he continued. “When we record our voice actors, we’re doing a similar thing. We’re capturing their body language and facial expressions, so all of that information goes to our animators as they create the robots. You’re actually getting more human performance within the robots themselves that we couldn’t have achieved with puppetry or animatronics.”

Hey, big spender

Michelle and John hiding in an underground storage facility in Netflix's The Electric State movie

“Wait, our new Netflix movie cost how much!?” (Image credit: Netflix)

Keeping the cost down on a film like The Electric State makes a lot of sense. After all, moviemaking is becoming an increasingly expensive outlay for many studios, including Netflix.

That didn’t stop the Russos and Netflix from reportedly throwing cash at the movie, mind you. According to articles published by Puck News and World of Reel last June, The Electric State cost an eyewatering $320 million to produce.

Per early critical reactions, that titanic expenditure hasn’t paid dividends. Indeed, in my review of The Electric State, I called it “another subpar non-Marvel project to add to the Russo brothers’ library of movie and TV show misfires” and “a pale imitation of nostalgia-fuelled sci-fi flicks with richer human stories at their core”. At the time of publication, its abject 23% Rotten Tomatoes critical score suggests many of my fellow reviewers agree. Don’t expect to see it join our best Netflix movies guide, then.

Such terribly-received Netflix Movie Originals aren’t a cause for concern for the world’s best streaming service, though. Per Variety, Netflix’s chief financial officer Spencer Neuman says the streaming giant is set to spend an astronomical $18 billion on content in 2025. That’s an 11% jump up from last year’s spending.

The long and short of it, then, is that Netflix will continue to churn out movies and shows no matter how they perform critically and commercially. So, don’t be surprised if (and it’s a big if!), despite its rubbish reviews, The Electric State becomes one of Netflix’s most-watched original films ever and a sequel is quickly greenlit.

‘We could not achieve that with puppetry or animatronics’: Joe and Anthony Russo didn’t want to build real-life robots for The Electric State for two big reasons

Angelina SB

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