Joanna Sotomura found beauty in the different sides of ‘Sunny’
Joanna Sotomura brings to life the vibrant robot known as Sunny in the new Apple TV+ series of the same name. A seemingly eternally bubbly being, we got to see a beautiful journey as Sunny figured out her place in the world.
After the series aired, I spoke with Sotomura about it and talked about my favorite episode of Sunny. In episode 5, she fights a baby crow who needs her help, and we get to watch this sweet robot trying her best to make sure this baby bird survives. Ultimately, it does not, but it shows us how much Sunny actually cares outside of just being programed to do so.
“Episode five is one of my favorites, and I think it was just so endearing to see this sweet part of Sunny trying to take care of the crow, but then also the reason why she’s doing it is really sad and dark and depressing,” Sotomura said about the episode, going on to talk about all the different sides of Sunny we see in the series.
“What was exciting for me about just like tackling all the different emotional colors of Sunny, it started during the audition process. I got the first few scripts and was like, ‘Oh my God, I need to be a part of the series. I know how to play this energy. I really think I can do it. Please gimme a shot.'”
Changing the robot narrative
There is no shortage of stories about robots in pop culture. We have the bad robots turning good in stories like The Terminator, and we have robots lost in a world that doesn’t want them like The Wild Robot and WALL-E. Sunny is sort of stuck between two of those ideas.
Suzie (Rashida Jones) does not want Sunny around at the start, but she slowly learns to trust her and opens up to Sunny. It gives them a strange bond as the show goes on, but viewers, for the most part, trust it because Sunny cares so deeply.
When I asked Sotomura about playing a character who is, at her core, just a robot with programing but making her feel like she has these human emotions, she talked about how her full-body performance of Sunny helped her since Sunny isn’t exactly a performance where we see Sotomura’s face.
“It was definitely challenging because like you said, she’s got a very limited face,” Sotomura said. “A lot of just relying on her eyes, to be honest. Her eyes, her voice, which is challenging because the way that the suit tracked or the helmet tracked me, I had to be overly expressive to convey some very minor Sunny facial movements. So as a performer it was tricky because I’m trying to be tapped in and grounded with my voice, but my face is doing something that’s just totally ridiculous and I hope no one ever sees.
“But I was really lucky that they let me play with different tones as well with her. So in the beginning, it’s a little higher pitched like a child and more naive and curious. And then as the show progresses, as the tone of the show progresses too, it’s a little bit more dropped in and grounded. So, being able to express with her eyes and her tone were just absolutely key to just getting the Sunny that you see now.”
The moment that shocked Sotomura
Spoilers ahead!
Everything about this series is a journey. You never quite know where the show is taking you, so when you finally do see Sunny’s choice by the end, it’s moving and emotional. For Sotomura, that was the most shocking part of the series.
“The most surprising thing was the ending,” Sotomura said. “I didn’t expect her to make that decision to wipe herself. I thought surely she’d do anything possible to just keep her memories of Suzie and stay with Suzie.”
You can watch all of Sunny on Apple TV+
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