'Incredibles 2' team wants film's sequel pushed for gender equality

The team of "Incredibles 2" is batting more for gender equality as it features a very relevant plot line at a time of female empowerment in Hollywood, with the character of Elastigirl called to save the world while the character Mr. Incredible stays home to take care of the children.

The sequel is being made after 14 years and will show the adventures of Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl and their three super-powered children - Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack, picking up exactly where the original left off.

The writer and director of the films, Brad Bird, who also voices the character Edna Mode, said it was an essential choice to not jump the story forward into the future, reports variety.com.

"I'm not interested in making that story because I chose the powers around the roles that the characters had in the family," Bird told Variety.

"Fathers are always expected to be strong so I made him super strong. Mothers are pulled in 10 different directions at once so I had her stretch. Teenagers are insecure and defensive so I made her have force fields and invisibility. Ten year olds are energy balls and babies are unknown, so maybe he has no powers, maybe he has all the powers. That works if they are the ages that they are," Bird added.

Producer Nicole Paradis Grindle said that the first movie had a lot of really strong female characters.

"Brad had the idea that he wanted Helen (aka Elastigirl) to be the one to get the mission 14 years ago. There was that and the idea that the family did not that know Jack-Jack had powers, that informed the story that he wanted to tell. It turned out that it was a very timely issue, but I like to say that this is not a message film at all, this is just the way people live," said Grindle.

--IANS

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