Bringing ‘Sunny’ to life: The magic behind AppleTV+’s robotic star
The journey of creating a lifelike robot
Creating a believable robot character for a TV series is no small feat. For AppleTV+‘s new series, “Sunny,” it took a team of 13 puppeteers to bring the titular robot to life. The American performer, Joanna Sotomura, who plays the helpful yet ominous bot, traveled to Tokyo to meet the robotics team two weeks before filming began.
“We had our robot dojo space,” Sotomura recalls. “I would do the rehearsals and scenes as Joanna, and they would put tape on my stomach for Sunny’s eye line. I’d be rigged in a helmet with a ring light. A monitor and camera tracked my facial expressions and projected them to the robot in real-time.”
A unique buddy mystery
“Sunny” follows Rashida Jones as Suzie Sakamoto, an American housewife living in Kyoto. The series pairs Suzie with Sunny, an intelligent “homebot” left to her by her missing husband, Masa (Hidetoshi Nishijima). This intriguing buddy mystery explores the dynamics between a human and a robot in a domestic setting.
The intricate process of animating Sunny
Sotomura spent much of her initial two weeks “trying to practice the head and coordinate it with the arms and the driving of the bot.” She adds, “It took a little bit of trial and error, but by the end of the shoot, we got a pretty well-oiled little Sunny bot.”
WETA’s robotics engineer Craig Hobern and robotics supervisor Tyler Page worked on over 100 prototype sketches and concept art ideas, collaborating with showrunner Katie Robbins to perfect Sunny’s look. “We talked about this idea that Sunny would be inspired by architecture, plants, and ceramics,” Page explains. “We aimed for a Japanese-inspired look, imagining how the bot would function in a domestic environment.”
The challenge of making Sunny believable
From an aesthetic perspective, Sunny’s technology was designed to be hidden, giving her a clean and seamless appearance. Page’s next challenge was working with the animatronics department to ensure the puppetry was convincing. “The problem we needed to solve was to make Sunny believable,” Page says.
In addition to Sotomura working the head and face, Sunny required a puppeteer to operate the arms and move the bot through the space. “Craig was in there doing micro adjustments on the animation,” says Hobern.
Hobern and Page spent three months in pre-production figuring out these logistics. A month of that time was dedicated to extensive training with all the puppeteers in what Hobern calls “puppet boot camp.” “We spent time getting them to perform actions like picking up a pen. It looks simple on screen, but it’s a lot of work to get to that place where you get the feel of how far you have to move your hand to reach out and touch something.”
The evolving process of perfecting Sunny
The puppeteers spent time in blocking and rehearsals, closely observing Sotomura. “They would watch her, and when it came time to bring the puppet onto set, it would be with Joanna’s dialog, her head movements, and the hands would move organically with her,” adds Hobern.
The six-month shoot also served as a training ground for working with Sunny. “Every day they improved and learned new things, figuring out better ways to operate the bot. Joanna also figured out how to adjust her rig to make it more comfortable and responsive. It was an ever-evolving process.”
Final thoughts
The creation of Sunny is a testament to the dedication and innovation of the team behind the scenes. From the initial concept to the final product, every detail was meticulously crafted to bring this unique character to life. For fans of cinema and TV series, “Sunny” offers a fascinating glimpse into the future of robotics and the potential for human-robot relationships. The series not only entertains but also provokes thought about the evolving role of technology in our lives.