If you’ve watched the film, then you’ll be familiar with characters such as Joe Gardner, voiced by Jamie Foxx and 22, a soul with a dim view of life trapped in the Great Before, voiced by Tina Fey.
And now, it’s time to shine the spotlight on the character 22 via the short film ’22 Vs Earth’.
Before ‘Soul’, there was 22…
Set before the events of Disney and Pixar’s ‘Soul’, 22 defies the rules of The Great Before and refuses to go to Earth, enlisting a gang of five other new souls in her attempt at rebellion. However, as her cohorts'activities lead to unexpected results, 22’s subversive plot may actually lead to a surprising revelation about the meaning of life.
We managed to sit down with the short film’s director, Kevin Nolting, who worked on other Disney/Pixar classics such as ‘Finding Nemo’, ‘Cars’, ‘Up’, and ‘WALL-E’ to find out who his favourite character is and the challenges of making a film during the pandemic.
Rojak Daily (RD): Hi Kevin, do you mind telling us how ’22 Vs Earth’ relates to ‘Soul’ for those of us who haven’t watched the film?
Kevin Nolting (KN): As we were making ‘Soul’, we always talked about what made 22 who she is in the past but we didn’t need it in the feature because it wasn’t the main part of the story. So this short film is to fill in the gap a little bit and answering who and why she was before becoming a soul.
RD: Can you tell us about the other characters in ‘Soul’ besides 22?
KN: Some of my favourite characters in ‘Soul’ are the counselors and they’re there for a reason. And then there are the little souls who all look the same but I feel like they have their own individual personalities. My favourite character is 22, will always be.
RD: Did you face any challenges producing the short film especially with the pandemic going on?
KN: We had done one or two storyboard versions of the movie until all of us had to go home (due to the lockdown). Basically the movie was made immediately after we went home. The crew was just amazing and everyone’s dealing with “how do we work from home” and “is our internet even fast enough”.
Most of them have kids, and they’re suddenly dealing with school and childcare issues. Communicating via Zoom was a challenge at first and it still is. But to everyone’s credit we stayed on schedule and finished on time, it was amazing. The Pixar’s systems team is amazing as far as getting everybody up and running.
If you're dying to watch '22 Vs Earth’, it is now available on Disney+.
And worry not Malaysians, as the wait for Disney+ is finally over. The streaming platform will be available starting 1 June via the Disney+ Hotstar app and also Astro. You can get more information here:
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