Elijah Kelley, who has appeared in “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” “Red Tails” and “Hairspray,” is the voice of Sunny in the new animated musical “Strange Magic.”
“Strange Magic,” an animated film from Lucasfilm Ltd., is a madcap fairy tale musical inspired by “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Popular songs from the past six decades help tell the tale of a colorful cast of goblins, elves, fairies and imps, and their hilarious misadventures sparked by the battle over a powerful potion. Lucasfilm Animation Singapore and Industrial Light & Magic bring to life the fanciful forest turned upside down with world-class animation and visual effects. The film is Directed by Gary Rydstrom (“Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation,” “Lifted”) from a story by George Lucas. Well-known music producer Marius de Vries (“Moulin Rouge”) serves as both the musical director and composer.
What Kelley enjoyed most about this project is that it’s a musical. He did a lot of singing in the film and what made him even more excited was that it featured music from different time periods like the 2000’s, the 1990’s and it even has some Elvis songs in it. When asked about how he felt about the movie being a kid’s film that talks about love in mature way, he said that the lesson of loving someone for what’s inside and not solely for looks is something that kids need to be taught now and that even some adults need to learn this lesson as well.
Read our exclusive interview below:
Q: How did you get involved with this project?
A: I auditioned. My career with LucasFilms started with a movie I did called “Red Tails.” George and I developed a relationship then and he told me a little bit about the movie and I was gung ho since I heard about it. And so I was persistent and it worked out in my favor.
Q: And in the conference he said that he wanted you there. He pretty much said, ‘I want Elijah.” So did you have to really audition?
A: I did have to audition. George, he is a fair guy but I did have to audition … and I knew that he said that he was writing the character for me the whole time.
Q: And how was it working with LucasFilms again?
A: It’s amazing. I wanted it to be my film home, that’s what I would love.
Q: And how was working on “Strange Magic” compared to “Red Tails”?
A: I mean, with “Red Tails,” that subject matter was just so tough. We were in Prague, in the freezing cold for the first month of filming doing boot camp, sleeping in tents in the middle of nowhere and with this we have great craft services and were going in warm studios. “Red Tails” was much like real life. But both of those movies were very free and liberating.
Q: How was voice acting similar to on screen acting and how is it different?
A: I think that the similarities come in the work, the work that it takes to get it done. I think a lot of people, when you think animation, they think of something that is really, really, really, really, really fun and there is no real work that goes into it, but it’s one of the most difficult things that I’ve ever done because you have to match this goal set in your head of what these other people want to do, want to create in this world. So you just kind of see a dark forest and you see trees and you see limbs and things you have to jump over and jump through and things that you have to be scared of … so you have to create on a consistent basis every time you go into the studio.
Q: Would you say it is more difficult than on screen acting?
A: It’s just different. I don’t think it is more difficult. You can have a really tremendous role that’s very heartbreaking and emotional and thought provoking and you only have to say five or six things in the whole entire movie … but the process you go to to get to that point, nobody can gauge that process.
Q: And since this is the age of animation, have you always wanted to do animation?
A: I was always open to doing animation and I would probably be open to the idea of doing it again.
Q: And the film is a musical, did you enjoy that aspect?
A: I did. It was interesting to see songs from a whole era come together in one whole piece.
When asked his favorite part about the film, he said he loved every moment when Maya Rudolph’s character Griselda was on screen. Elijah said that he loved his character Sunny because his emotions were very realistic and honest. Sunny wants to be more than friends, but struggles to leave the friend zone.
These days, Kelley is doing more producing than singing. He is working with two upcoming singers at the moment. They will be releasing a single soon, so be on the lookout for that. And when asked about any future TV or film projects, he said that he is sworn to secrecy, but we are sure it will be great!
George Lucas who conceived the film’s story and served as an executive producer participated in a press conference for the film. When asked about the music, he said that he loves American rock music and wanted that to be shown in his movie. He actually wanted to make the film entirely in song, like an opera, but his colleagues involved in the film dissuaded him. 70% of the film is a musical.
The movie is about love and what it means to truly love someone. The idea that someone should love you for what is on the inside is something Lucas really wanted to focus on and teach kids a lesson about. He said that this was a lesson that should be taught at a young age and that this movie was somewhat similar to his own life in the sense that he found his wife [Mellody Hobson] at an older age and that although they are very different when it comes to looks, the bond that they share is on the inside. With this movie, he wanted to drive that point home as hard as he could. He sought out to do this by making the Bog King as disgusting as he possibly could, but at the same time still make him lovable, which is something that the film very much accomplishes.
Up next, the actors had their own conference. Evan Rachel Wood who played Marianne, Alan Cumming who played the Bog King, Elijah Kelley who played Sunny, Sam Palladio who played Roland, Meredith Anne Bull who played the role of Dawn, Gary Rydstrom who was the director and screenwriter, and lastly Marius De Vries, who was the musical director, participated. The actors discussed the challenges of voice acting. They couldn’t feed off the actions and emotions of the other actors because they were never in the same room when recording. What they all thought was a cool thing about this film, is that the characters that they played had some of their physical features. Sunny has Elijah’s nose. Also, when asked what song was their favorite from the movie, they all agreed that “Strange Magic” was by far the best song. On the film’s message, Evan Rachel Wood said that everyone has unique qualities to them and that those unique qualities are what makes them the most beautiful. Eventually, someone who can really appreciate that uniqueness will come and love you for all that you have to offer.
George Lucas, Alan Cumming, Evan Rachel Wood, Elijah Kelley, Meredith Anne Bull, Sam Palladio and Kristin Chenoweth attended the New York special screening of Lucasfilm’s “Strange Magic” at the Tribeca Grand Hotel hosted by The Cinema Society. Touchstone Pictures releases the animated adventure Friday, Jan. 23.
-Vinesh Vora
