As long as fans still have questions about Po and his friends, the directors of "Kung Fu Panda" will continue making movies about them.
Directors Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni spoke with Collider recently about old and new characters alike, as well as how they came up with the idea for "Kung Fu Panda 3."
"Whenever we come up with an idea, it's always based on what the characters ask us. The characters are like real people to us. We've been working on these movies for 10 years. It's always based on what Po has to find out, and that guides us on how we start creating the idea for a movie," shared Nelson.
Before making the third film, fans kept asking, "Is Po going to meet his father?" So Nelson and Carloni decided to answer that question.
"It's always based on a question that's circling around Po. If there's a strong enough question that we want to know the answer to, that's when we start pursuing the movie," she continued.
One of the highlights of the third film is that Kate Hudson will be playing a new panda named Mei Mei. Both Nelson and Carloni have nothing but praises for the actress, who brought "a little Broadway diva" to the character.
"No matter what she does, she is still so charming and likeable," gushed Carloni. "The character could be off-putting, but she's cute and charming, and you want to snuggle her and give her a big hug, even though she's this diva. The animators truly embraced this amazing diva that still makes you want to be friends with her."
As effortless as it was to cast Hudson, Nelson and Carloni did encounter quite a bit of a challenge when they were deciding on their new villain.
"That's a very, very big consideration. We want to make a villain that's fun for a 'Kung Fu Panda' movie," said Nelson.
They chose J.K. Simmons in the end to portray the supernatural baddie Kai, and it was the perfect fit because the actor has "great comedy sense, but he also can scare you."
"You need to have a villain raise the stakes. He just plays in the recording booth. There's a vulnerability in him, and he gets all upset and cranky. He's really funny and, at the same time, he's this big, scary guy with huge horns on his head," explained Nelson.
"Kung Fu Panda 3" will be released on January 29, 2016.
