Exclusive Tom & Jerry Interview: Chloë Grace Moretz Takes on the Funny

 

You’ve probably seen pretty, popular young actress Chloë Grace Moretz in any number of movies (The 5th Wave, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, the 2019 Addams Family film in which she voiced daughter Wednesday and many more).

Chloë is big on supporting equality and democracy world-wide while developing her career. A feminist, the actress, who just turned 24, doesn’t like roles in which women are sexualized and avoids them.

Starting February 26^th in theaters and on HBO Max you can catch Chloë starring in Tom & Jerry as Kayla, a street-smart con artist who lies, not maliciously but basically to prove and improve herself. She talks and maneuvers her way into a job as an event planner/supervisor at a posh New York hotel, overseeing the wedding of the century. When there is a “rodent problem” (mouse Jerry sets up house in the hotel), she hires kitty Tom to help her get him out. Her new job depends on it. Of course crazy cat and mouse antics ensue.

Chloë, who watched Tom & Jerry cartoons all the time as a kid, loved the setting of the film; an alternate universe in which all animals are animated while humans are live-action “real”. She loved the chance to interact with her fave cartoon characters (even if they weren’t really on set of course).

This busy actress has a ton of projects coming out soon and more on her schedule. Check out the fun interview:

Kidzworld: You just had a birthday on the 10^th. Were you able to go do anything or was it a Zoom birthday?  

• Chloë: I had my (24^th) birthday on February 10^th. We just Zoomed. I signed up for a Harvard extension class a couple of months ago so my mom decided to throw an Ellwood-themed birthday because she goes to Harvard. It was a very silly, fun night. (Note: David T. Ellwood is an American economist and university administrator. He served as the Dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government and as the Scott M. Black Professor of Political Economy at Harvard University.)  

Kidzworld: What are you studying there?

• Chloë: I’m just taking one class and it falls under their Government label, their fancy word for Political Science. It’s a class called “Race and a Polarized America”.

Kidzworld: Wonderful. Great that you are doing that. So, do you have young nieces or nephews? Did you partially do this movie for them?

• Chloë: Bigtime! I have four little young cousins. None of my brothers have any kids yet but my cousins have a bunch of babies. They’re the youngest people in our family so I decided to make a movie that they can actually watch and enjoy and that the parents will enjoy too. It’s got a lot for everyone.

Kidzworld: I can’t remember. Have you played a comedy role before? Is that part of what drew you to this? Any advice from funny guys Colin Jost or Ken Jeong (who costar with her in the film)?

• Chloë: I wanted to take a whack at and try my hand at physical, broad comedy. I grew up watching Lucille Ball (“I Love Lucy” on TV). I was absolutely obsessed with her and Bob Hoskins in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Those are movies (and TV) that I grew up on and gleaned so much from. I’m honestly pretty goofy and kind of a ham at home so this was not a far stretch from my personality.

• It was just awesome having the energy of Colin Jost and Ken Jeong on set. They really brought their A game and whenever you have people like that surrounding you, you show up even more and learn just by being privy to them.

Kidzworld: Is this the first time you have had to act with something not there on set? Was anything on set for you to interact with to represent the animated animals; a tennis ball on a stick, stuffed toys or better?

• Chloë: Sometimes there were statue type models of Tom and Jerry. Sometimes, it was a puppet. Sometimes it was just pieces of them like the head or the body. Sometimes it was nothing. It depended on the scene.

Kidzworld: I guess you can get used to that after a while. Your character Kayla is crafty and street-smart. She thinks on her feet. Do you have that in common with her? How are you different?

• Chloë: Yeah. I think everyone has got a little street-smart in them. Everyone has a way of polishing up their armor a little too shiny to get through a little bit so I definitely see that part of her, telling a couple of white lies maybe in a job interview now and then. But I think the way that we differ is I wouldn’t go as far as she went with her lies. That will always end up blowing up in your face.  

Kidzworld: Do you wish there might have been a little romance between Kayla and cute bartender Cameron (Jordan Bolger)? There was a flirty thing going on. Not much time to develop that, I guess.

• Chloë: Yeah! You never know what might happen in a second movie. Jordan is a friend of mine and he’s so sweet and it was a pleasure working with him.

Kidzworld: Who was the jokester or prankster on set and what did they pull?

• Chloë: Tom and Jerry were definitely the pranksters, even off set, they were always doing things. No, we all played funny pranks on each other. I remember our costume department. They were always super silly. They would play pranks on me and Jordan by hiding our props or the ties we had to wear. We were always pulling pranks on each other on set.

Kidzworld: You shot this in England. Did you and the cast go out to get to know each other and bond before shooting or too hard during the pandemic? 

• Chloë: We shot this in 2019 so we were so lucky to be pre-quarantine. We were able to do lots of things. Living in London at that time, we were working fringe hours, 11 hour days so I actually would have time sometimes to go to the theater and catch a West End (London equivalent of Broadway) show. We worked like 6 AM to 4 PM.

Kidzworld: What is the message of the film? Teamwork makes the dream work?

• Chloë: I think unity, that we are stronger together, stronger as a team and friendship. It’s similar to growing up with siblings. You might pull each other’s hair but, at the end of the day, you have to sit down, eat dinner together and love one another no matter what. I think we really see that on screen.   

Kidzworld: What will everyone see you in next?  The Mother/Android Sci Fi movie?  You have a lot coming out.

• Chloë: Mother/Android will be coming out then Shadow in the Cloud (a World War II thriller) will be hitting Hulu here in March. It’s already out pay for view. Then I start filming my Amazon Prime show “The Peripheral” (a set-in-future Sci Fi series) coming here in May.

Kidzworld: Wow, you are busy! Can’t wait to see these.

Catch Chloë in Tom & Jerry in theaters and on HBO Max starting February 26^th

 

By: Lynn Barker