One of the most anticipated sequels ever, Walt Disney Animation’s RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET is a relentlessly funny comedy, but also a poignant dissection of Internet culture. It was very fitting then to have both a hilarious and an insightful global press conference.

Read some of the most interesting things that the talent in attendance had to share, including co-directors Rich Moore and Phil Johnston; producer Clark Spencer; co-writer (and voice of Snow White) Pamela Ribon; and voice cast members John C. Reilly (Ralph), Sarah Silverman (Vanellope), Taraji P. Henson (Yesss), and Jack McBrayer (Fix-It Felix Jr.).

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On the main characters’ journey, from their video games to the Internet:

Reilly: “Wreck-It Ralph was initially even conceived as fish-out-of-water kind of character. And that was a lot of what we played with in the first film—how does Ralph behave, or how does any video-game character behave in a game that’s not his own? And then [in this film] the Internet is this literally infinite landscape… So there’s a lot of really fun metaphors that we were also playing with in the film. And this idea that the arcade is like a ‘childhood’ area for their friendship, and the Internet represents this larger world beyond that—as they grow and mature… Ralph really works so hard to get a friend in that first movie. He’s like, ‘Got it! Rest of life, solved!’ And then Vanellope starts to grow and mature and realize that she wants to feel like she belongs somewhere that is not her candy game. So, I think a lot of kids and adults are finding a lot of stuff in the film that they can really connect] to, in terms of the way relationships evolve.”

On recording the dialogue together:

Silverman: “We do get to record together, and we get to improvise. The directors give us a lot of freedom—we collaborate a lot, and the script itself is so fantastic. It’s really fun. And I think they always book about an extra hour of time because we get real chatty!”

Reilly: “It was a real treat to get into the studio again with Sarah. In a way, our friendship has aged five years since the last film, so it tracks in a way with Ralph and Vanellope. Sarah’s not my only friend, but it was a real treat to be able to start at a place of intimacy with [her]—and with [directors] Phil and Rich and [co-writer] Pam… We learned how to work together in the first film. We built these characters and this story together so that when it came time to start this one, we could start from a very advanced place in terms of the kind of conversations we would have about the relationships and all that. And you can really see that in the film. I think I was one of the first people to insist that we try to be in the room together as much as possible, because I know the way improv works—it works best in ‘real time.’ So yeah, there’s a ton of improvised stuff which Phil and Rich were very kind to just let us explore things every day. And one of the great joys of doing audio work is that there’s never the pressure of the sun going down.”

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Silverman on how this story comments on what is socially expected of young women.

“To get to be this kid who becomes like a princess with an attainable waist line, and wearing comfortable clothes… this is really going a different direction […] We end up in diners late at night after shows and who also ends up at diners late at night are young girls, young people coming out of the clubs, dance clubs and stuff like that. I would see young women in half shirts and sky high heels. And they’re freezing cold. They’re shivering. And their feet hurt. I just think, ‘I just wish I could tell them that they don’t have to be uncomfortable to deserve love. Boys are not raised to think that they ever have to sacrifice comfort to be loved, and it just always struck me. I would go, ‘Oh.’ I would be in like my hoodie and jeans and just think, ‘These girls don’t think that they can get love without this insane amount of physical discomfort.’ And I love that Vanellope kind of sheds light on these grown up princesses that are uncomfortable hanging out.”

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Taraji P. Henson on her character ‘Yesss’:

“First of all, voicing a character in a Disney animated film…check! Thank you! I just thought Yesss was incredible. When Rich and Phil brought her to me and explained her, I was like ‘This is a no-brainer.’ I mean, she’s a go-getter, she’s the head of a company. She’s no-nonsense, she has heart. My favorite scene is when Ralph finds himself in the comment section, in the comment room, and she comes in and she tells him, ‘That’s not you, that’s them. They’re mean. They’re hurt, so they’re hurting you.’ It grounded the film for me, and it grounded the character for me—made her multi-dimensional… And then getting to [record my scenes] with these amazing other actors? I mean, it was just a no-brainer for me.”

Silverman on singing a song created by the great Alan Menken:

“It’s a thrill! The idea of Disney princesses, what makes them good is that they’ve grown and changed—that Disney has taken on progress and inclusivity and has grown and changed in positive ways… [And having a song in the film] was a dream come true. I couldn’t believe it. When Phil and Rich told me—we had already been recording for a while, and I couldn’t believe it. The music was written by Alan Menken and I got to meet him and work with him and rehearse with him… He wrote Little Shop of Horrors, one of my favorite musicals—and of course he’s this Disney icon… It was incredible. We recorded with a whole orchestra, like you see in old-timey movies. It was crazy! It was really a thrill of a lifetime.”

On what they hope audiences will take away from the film:

Rich: “I always liked, when I was a kid, films that made me realize ‘I’m not the only one that does these kinds of things, or feels this way, because… with a lot of these issues, even bullying, there’s a component of—it’s shameful, that we shouldn’t talk about it, that I’ve got to keep it to myself. And as a kid, when I would see a movie where a character was going through the same things that I was, it made me feel like ‘OK, I’m not alone. I’m not crazy, I’m not a freak—or the only person on Earth feeling these things.”

Reilly: “I hope kids are entertained, [but that] they also feel like this story relates to them—and that they recognize themselves in these characters.”

RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET will be released in theaters on November 21.

Taking place six years after saving the arcade from Turbo’s vengeance, the Sugar Rush arcade cabinet has broken, forcing Ralph and Vanellope to travel to the Internet via the newly-installed Wi-Fi router in Litwak’s Arcade to retrieve the piece capable of saving the game.