By: Lynn Barker
Opening April 7th, Smurfs: The Lost Village is a fully-animated, new take on the little blue Smurfs you’ve seen for years. Smurfette (voice of Demi Lovato) ends up with a weird map that sets her and besties Brainy, Clumsy and Hefty (hunky Magic Mike and TV.’s “True Blood” actor Joe Manganiello) on an adventure through the Forbidden Forest, avoiding evil wizard Gargamel and other freaky creatures to find a lost village where they will discover the biggest secret in all of Smurf history!
Demi Lovato (Smurfette) and Joe Manganiello (Hefty) at the eventCourtesy of Sony Pictures
In a preview interview at Sony Pictures in Hollywood, Demi and Joe talked personal history with Smurfs, how they are like their characters and the fun of recording their voices.
Q: Joe were you into Smurfs as a kid?
- Joe: I was, yeah. Every Saturday morning my brother and I watched “The Smurfs”. I remember I had some of those vinyl stickers that looked like a Smurf village and you could pull them off, stick them on and re-stick them. I remember having that. Yeah, I remember seeing every single episode growing up.
Do we have a clue?
Q: Demi, you weren’t as familiar with the Smurfs. How did you learn about them in order to play Smurfette, one of the most famous of all?
- Demi: I think by just asking my parents (everybody laughs) and looking up Smurfs videos on YouTube. That’s how I did my new age homework.
Q: What shared connection do you and Smurfette have?
- Demi: I think we’re both brave and we’re both curious when it comes to going after things that we want to figure out. We’re both driven.
Demi with her character SmurfetteCourtesy of Sony Pictures
Q: Demi you’ve done many things in your career from acting to performing on stage to judging on a music competition show. Now, for the first time, you’re doing an animated voice. How does that compare?
- Demi: There’s an element of consciousness when you are on stage or in front of a camera. You want to make sure you’ve got good angles and what not but when you’re doing a voice-over, you can be extra animated and show up in your sweat pants if you want to. So, that was a plus for me. I loved not having to go through hair and make-up. But being extra animated kind of reminded me of my Disney days when I played such an over-the-top character on the sitcom I was on (“Sonny with a Chance”). It was similar but also had its differences.
Q: Joe, I’m sure it’s weird playing a character named Hefty but do you have to make a face to get that voice like if you have to say a line like “I’m punching us outa here!”, that’s not just Joe. There’s some extra oomph there isn’t there?
- Joe: Yeah but you’re not really conscious of it. You’re just going for it. He’s really fun because he’s this big (indicates tiny) but he’s this strong (indicates a lot) so I think it was fun kind of packing all of this tall (big) strength into this little guy which is where the comedy and the heart comes from.
Clumsy, Brainy, Hefty and Smurfette in the Forbidden ForestCourtesy of Sony Pictures
Q: (To Director Kelly Asbury) Will Demi have a song in the film?
- Kelly: Uh, no. Chris Lennertz did our score and Meghan Trainor has done a song for the end credits. The movie is stitched together emotionally with song moments but not characters visually singing.
Smurfette, Hefty and pals get a surprise in the forest.
Q: Demi, how does Smurfette feel about meeting other female Smurfs?
- Demi: I think Smurfette is definitely excited and she’s curious at meeting other characters who are similar to herself after being in a world where everyone has their own identity. It is really exciting.
Smurfs: The Lost Village PosterCourtesy of Sony Pictures
Also introduced at the Sony Animation presentation was The Emoji Movie due for an August, 2017 release. The voice cast so far is Jennifer Coolidge (Gene’s mother, Mary Meh), Maya Rudolph (Smiler), Jake T. Austin (Alex), Sir Patrick Stewart (Poop). T.J. Miller (Gene), James Corden (Hi-5), Ilana Glazer (Jailbreak) and Steven Wright (Gene’s father, Mel Meh).
Emoji movie characters Jailbreak, Gene and Hi-5Courtesy of Sony Pictures
Story goes: We are inside our smartphones in Textopolis, a bustling city where all your favorite emojis live, hoping to be selected by the phone’s user. In this world, each emoji has only one facial expression except for Gene, an exuberant emoji who was born without a filter and is bursting with multiple expressions. Determined to become “normal” like the other emojis, Gene enlists the help of his handy best friend Hi-5 and the notorious code breaker emoji Jailbreak. Together, they embark on an epic “app-venture” through the apps on the phone, each its own wild and fun world, to find the Code that will fix Gene. But when a greater danger threatens the phone, the fate of all emojis depends on these three unlikely friends who must save their world before it’s deleted forever.
These animated features are coming this Spring and Summer!
Have Your Say
Do you have fun with the Smurf characters? Did your parents before you? How fun do you think a movie about the silly emojis on your phone would be? Leave a comment
