Detective Pikachu had a Pokemon expert on set every day, Ken Sugimori was involved
As the first original live-action Pokemon movie, Detective Pikachu is a big deal. Everyone involved wanted to get things right, which meant having a Pokemon expert on set every day.
Kathryn Newton, who plays Lucy in the film, told Kotaku:
“Every day on set, there was a Pokemon expert. Every day, making sure we didn’t mess up.”
“One time, I called Bulbasaur ‘he’ in a scene, and he [the Pokemon expert] said, ‘Actually, you can’t call him a ‘he.’ He’s ‘it.’ Genderless. Psyduck is a he. So, there are these really specific things that we cared about, and we hoped that Pokémon experts and just fans [care, too].”
Throughout Detective Pikachu, Newton carries her Psyduck around in a backpack. The thing is, that Pokemon would weigh forty pounds or so. Because of this, Newton said “they actually weighed it down… it was very heavy when I was doing my stunts when we were running through the Highlands of Scotland.”
Having the Pokemon expert on set wasn’t the only way in which the movie was attempting to be authentic. According to director Rob Letterman, the team “worked closely with The Pokemon Company, and the original creators and original designers.” That included sending concept art to series illustrator Ken Sugimori, who provided “very detailed notes.” Letterman said all of this was done to “get it right.”
