Why Pixar’s Soul could be the perfect film for Jamie Foxx
Jamie Foxx joins Tina Fey and Questlove for Pixar’s upcoming animation, Soul, from the writers of Inside Out.
While the creators of Pixar’s Soul didn’t pen the animated lead specifically with Jamie Foxx in mind, from the moment he opened his mouth, there was no clearer choice.
The Oscar-winner will voice Joe Gardner in the 2020 release, an aspiring jazz musician whose soul is separated from his body following a freak fatal accident, then thrust into the pits of existential reflection in a world where souls are given personalities before being linked to the bodies of unborn children.
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If it sounds like Soul strikes similar notes to Inside Out and Monsters Inc, or maybe even Up, it’s because it’s directed by a team comprising Pete Docter – the man behind all three films, Pixar’s chief creative officer and an Oscar winner himself.
In the same token, if Soul sounds like a film that will plunge you into your own existential crisis, it might, but it will do so while making you laugh.
Given it’s seemingly heavy subject matter, Pete Docter (director), Kemp Powers (co-director, co-screenwriter) and producer Dana Murray describe Soul as an animated feature with a complex balance, but one that – in the Pixar way – errs of the side of comedy from start to finish.
This is partly thanks to the inclusion of Tina Fey in the all-star cast, who offered her writing skills to some of the script.
“It is full of a lot of laughter as well as meaningful thoughts,” producer Dana Murray said, while Powers explained: “The deepness is just a set up for the comedy because we extend it and it becomes, ‘What are we meant to do? What’s our purpose?’, so the idea of a character (Joe) that is just certain that the universe meant for him to do a very specific thing, kinda stumbling into this environment where he gets to find out how the sausage is made, makes it ripe for comedy.”
Joining Foxx as Joe, Tina Fey plays 22, a soul who avoids drifting to Earth out of pure disdain for humans.
“They both bring so much great stuff in their own very unique ways,” Docter said of the casting decisions.
“Tina is such an amazing writer, she brings so much wit, and of course Jamie is fantastic, but he also knows music and is a talented pianist himself.”
Powers adds; “You would think that we created the character of Joe for Jamie Foxx, because it’s like all of the things that Jamie does – he can play piano and he’s an actor who’s world class at both comedy and dramatic acting, which are the two aspects we’ve combined for this film.”
He continued: “The first scene that you see with Joe’s lips moving and Jamie’s voice coming out, you forget that it’s Jamie Foxx immediately. It just works, he is Joe.”
Away from the celestial space which souls inhabit on their way in or out of world, much of the animation is set in New York City – the city that bred Powers, a former journalist, screenwriter and playwright, who joined the Pixar team last year.
“For me it was a dream come true,” he says of being able to celebrate his home town.
“This is my first Pixar film, and the idea of working on the first Pixar film set in my home town and really being a part of what that meant was huge for me,” he said.
“New York is such an iconic city because of its monuments, but I always tell people that the biggest monument of New York, the thing that makes New York what it is, is people. We’ve worked really hard to represent that so you’ll see a populated city – probably the most populated environments we’ve ever had in a Pixar film.”
It’s not only the intrigue of the bustling animated setting, the all-star voice cast, the thoughtful premise and the lasting memory of Inside Out’s utter brilliance that will surely drive kids and adults alike to the ticket booth – Soul – with music central to the plot – is scored by an exciting trio of talent.
Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (who landed an Oscar for The Social Network back in 2011) will join jazz musician Jon Batiste, the musical director on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, to complement the storyline.
It’s an unlikely combination to say the least.
Batiste has written the music played by Joe, his “long, pianist fingers” behind the movement of Joe’s hands, while Reznor and Ross are behind the sound of the “soul world”.
It’s a contrast that encapsulates the message of the film perfectly.
“I don’t think you could have more two distinct fan bases than fans of jazz and fans of Nine Inch Nails,” Powers jokes of the bold choice.
“We’re hoping that Batiste and the two of them collaborate for when the two worlds collide,” Murray added, while Docter explained that Soul’s focus on music, in many ways, turned the usual process on its head.
“Usually, we do the music at the end when the animation and the imagery is blocked, but in this case Joe is a pianist so we need to record the music that Batiste is playing first, so we can match the right fingering for all the animations to the music.”
Just Announced: @iamjamiefoxx and Tina Fey will lead the cast of #PixarSoul, coming to theaters June 19, 2020. Here’s a first look at their characters, Joe Gardner and 22, and a new piece of concept art. #D23Expo pic.twitter.com/Ls8JDvOsCe
— Walt Disney Studios (@DisneyStudios) August 24, 2019
Docter won an Oscar for Inside Out with co-creator Jonas Rivera in 2016 – a film which similarly delved deep into the unknown.
Specifically inside the mind of a child, exploring the emotions that made her tick.
He said in a similar vein, Soul will force us to think about why we are the way we are, and what shaped us.
“It started very light,” he said of its inspiration.
“It was sparked by thinking about my son. He just got married a couple of weeks ago, he’s 23 now but when he was a baby, I could see aspects of his personality coming out and I thought where did that come from? He’s part me, part his mum, and just starting to explore where did we get our personalities from and what makes us who we are and what we like.”
As was so successfully achieved in Inside Out, such philosophical explorations into our very being will be executed in “a really fun way” in Soul, the creators say.
But who is it written for?
“People often ask ‘Who do you write these films for?’ and I always say ‘You’re looking at him’,” Docter jokes.
“We write for ourselves to make sure that it resonates and that it’s something really meaningful to us,” he says, adding: “But for kids, the idea of contemplating what makes them who they are and where they came from, I think kids are always curious about that. I remember my son and daughter when they were as young as 3 asking questions like that.
“I’m hoping when families come out of the theatre, they’ll say ‘kids, come on, let’s go get some ice cream, we’ve got to talk about some stuff.’”
Soul will be released in Australias cinemas on June 18th, 2020
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