Strange Magic Interview With Elijah Kelley #StrangeMagicEvent

Disclosure – I received an invite to the #StrangeMagicEvent. All expenses were paid for and covered by Disney. This post is not a paid post and the opinions stated herein are 100% my own.

Last week on my visit to Skywalker Ranch there was somebody at the ranch that made the trip really FUN. Not even being inside the building 15 minutes, Elijah Kelley who plays the voice of Sunny in “Strange Magic” greeted our group with hugs and offered to take selfies with us before we screened the movie.

After we screened the movie Elijah did a performance for us which everyone really enjoyed. He even got our blogger group singing with him. I was even dancing a little. Take a peek at Elijah’s performance below:

After the performance came the interviews. Although I enjoyed all three of our interviews that took place last week, the one with Elijah Kelley was really FUN, made me smile and even laugh at least a few times.

Below you will find some questions that took place during the Strange Magic Interview with Elijah Kelley:

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about what it was like to voice him?

Well first of all, I’ve never done a voiceover before in my life, so it was a little bit of a challenge because you see he’s like hyper and super into everything that he always does.  So I thought that it was gonna be so easy; I thought it was gonna be a piece of cake, but I would go in there and guarantee you, I would leave lightheaded and sweaty from all the running, uh, ev- everything. It was like P90X. It was like, you know, but bringing it to life and understanding the world that Sunny lives in, and understanding that he’s kind of like, you know, I see him sort of the nucleus of trying to get everything together, and pulling everybody together, and trying to save the day, and messing up the day, it’s, you know, it’s a lot like me.

Q: Are there any themes in the movie that you relate to or think people will connect with?

I think that people will connect for fighting for what you love because as you can see that it’s- everybody goes through a lot of trouble to be able to grasp the love of their life, and I think that love is so complicated. I think that it’s so- uh, the wiring of love is just so weird, you know, and the fact that people can go to the ends of the Earth to capture something like that is, you know, that’s very, very inspirational. And I think in a time like this where we are in the world, you know, it’s an animation, but the subject matter is universal and it’s timeless, you know?

Whether we’re talking about a divide, you know, in America or we’re talking about what’s going on over, you know, in Paris, not to be so serious but, you know, love eradicates a lot of those issues.

Q: Because we have these two kingdoms that have this division and this kind of beef between them, so to speak, and because two of the characters are able to fall in love, everyone’s able to come together.

Understanding and conversation. It’s like when the Bog King finally had a conversation with his mom, set up the whole place, and they went in and, you know, they went in and were like we hate all the same things. So now we can love all the same things so, you know, so our common interest in what we don’t like. You know, love can be spawned from so many different things.

Q: Right, that was one of the best scenes for us to work on and with Gary, its that scene because they really let their guards down, and then they’re able to connect and heal, essentially, after what they’ve both been through which is heartbreak, and then bring everybody else together. So it’s just so great seeing what Sunny and Dawn go through obviously.

Yeah, that was the most, I think that was the most human characteristic of the movie. Like, I know probably everybody in this room has been, you know, around somebody that you just look up and you find yourself attracted to; you don’t even know how to say it or what to say, or you know…

Q:  So you’re a quadruple threat, Elijah. You’re not only a great actor, dancer, and philanthropist, but today we experienced your amazing singing, and can you tell us a little bit about your background as a singer, and what was your favorite song to perform in Strange Magic?

Well, my favorite song, actually my favorite song in Strange Magic isn’t there anymore. It was a song called “Hold On, I’m Coming”. But my favorite song in the movie is not even a full song. It’s when the little, the little birdies, they sing, Gotcha Looking So Crazy Right Now. That’s like seriously my favorite part.

Q: What’s the difference between doing a voice for an animated feature versus like what you did in Hairspray or even singing?

The difference between doing a voiceover in a movie and  a real movie is you can literally look horrible. You can look like crap. You can just go in the studio and just- be just the most disgusting looking person ever, but nobody will ever see you. But Hairspray, you know, you’ve gotta do hair and makeup, you know, Red Tails; we had to, you know, I wore a big, thick mustache for Red Tails, and it was, it’s, it- that’s pretty much the difference.

The aesthetic of the work that goes into it, I really feel like voiceover is a bit more difficult because you’re creating a universe, and you’re reacting to a universe that you don’t get to see, you know, and that’s, that’s really, really, really difficult.

These were just some of the questions that were asked. I was able to capture some of this fun interview with Elijah Kelley on video. Take a peek below:

For more interview coverage on Elijah Kelley be sure to follow the #StrangeMagicEvent hashtag on Twitter.

STRANGE MAGIC opens TOMORROW in theaters everywhere!

• Like STRANGE MAGIC on Facebook: https://facebook.com/StrangeMagicMovie
• Follow STRANGE MAGIC on Twitter: https://twitter.com/StrangeMagic