Director Chris Jenkins, Mo Gilligan and Simone Ashley stopped by The Hollywood Reporter's Park City studio during the Sundance film festival to chat about how '10 Lives' pays homage to older Disney movies, their favorite animated films and best voice impressions.
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00:00 - Well, Kermit the Frog sounds a little bit like this.
00:03 (laughing)
00:04 And Kermit might be talking to Stitch.
00:06 And Stutch sounds a little bit like this.
00:08 And Stutch is a little bit, or Hanuman's family.
00:10 (upbeat music)
00:13 - Chris, let's start with you.
00:16 You have worked on so many animated movies,
00:18 and I'm wondering if you could explain 10 Lives
00:23 in like the context of other movies we might know.
00:27 So like a little, is it a little bit Aristocats,
00:29 a little bit, you know what I mean?
00:31 Like what's the formula that we might recognize
00:36 for people who haven't obviously seen 10 Lives?
00:38 - Well, obviously there's no formula, that's whoever.
00:41 - Yeah.
00:42 - And while people have likened it to Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber,
00:46 it's not that either.
00:47 No, it really just pays homage
00:51 to a lot of the older Disney movies.
00:53 I mean, much older Disney movies,
00:56 like the ones I loved, Bambi, Pinocchio, Snow White,
01:00 Peter Pan, it has a gentleness about it
01:03 that is hopefully creating this bubble
01:08 that we put around the audience
01:09 and let them really sit and get immersed
01:13 by the images and the storytelling.
01:16 And then beyond that, setting out to do that,
01:19 then the way that the movie evolved
01:22 with this very emotional story
01:24 was somewhat of a surprise to me,
01:27 although I did cry when I finished the script.
01:29 - Simone and Mo, what are some of your most formative
01:32 animated films from your childhood?
01:34 What, like when you think about
01:35 like what Chris was just explaining, what comes to mind?
01:38 - Well, Chris's resume.
01:41 - Yeah.
01:42 - Like all, every single Disney movie, Bambi.
01:46 Bambi really taught me about life and death, really.
01:51 Like the forest being burnt down
01:54 and then what happens after life,
01:56 but what happens after death
01:58 and it all rises from the ashes.
01:59 Bambi's like very profound, I think,
02:01 for children in that sense.
02:02 But all of the Disney princess movies,
02:05 Thumbelina, do you remember Thumbelina?
02:10 - I did, yeah.
02:12 - With the French bird that sings the songs.
02:16 - I think that was a Dawn Bluth movie, if I remember right.
02:18 - Yeah, yeah, literally every animation.
02:22 The Sword in the Stone, I loved the owl.
02:24 All these birds, the owl from the Sword in the Stone.
02:26 - That's interesting.
02:27 - Yeah, Archimedes.
02:29 And he was hilarious with British accent.
02:31 I went to every single Disneyland.
02:34 I was very, very lucky.
02:35 My parents could see how much animation was instilled in me
02:40 and how much I loved it growing up.
02:42 And I think it's really,
02:44 it's still in me when I'm doing live action work.
02:47 It could be an adult drama or a comedy
02:49 or something completely the opposite
02:51 to a children's animation.
02:53 But I think they're so intertwined.
02:55 I think you have to have your imagination alive
02:57 for whatever you're doing.
02:58 So I think kids' animations,
03:01 I guess that was my door into acting.
03:05 - That's a core.
03:06 - For me it's probably liking.
03:07 - Yeah, yeah.
03:08 - I'm not even trying to name the things you work on.
03:11 - It's okay, you're good.
03:12 - That was one of the first animated films
03:14 I got to see in the cinema as a kid.
03:16 And seeing "Lion King"
03:17 'cause every animal has their personality that matches.
03:21 So the hyenas are quite crafty.
03:24 Timon and Pumbaa are a double act
03:26 who are probably at the most,
03:29 they're like prey, if many think, in the safari.
03:33 So yeah, for me it would be "Lion King."
03:34 Probably "Toy Story" as well
03:35 because I think the difference is a lot,
03:38 "Lion King" was animals,
03:39 but I'd never seen toys have a personality.
03:42 I think as a kid, every kid, you shut the door.
03:44 You're like, "Bleh!"
03:45 - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Nothing means,
03:46 nothing means, so yeah, yeah.
03:49 - Did doing voice work come naturally to you guys
03:52 or did, yeah, like I've been practising for this
03:56 my entire life.
03:57 - Well, actually, playing Rose,
03:59 I felt more vulnerable because Chris, you know,
04:03 was just so amazing at just letting us be ourselves
04:06 and that was your main direction,
04:08 just be you and believe it,
04:11 like live what that character's going through.
04:14 I would love to do a character one day, you know,
04:16 like with all these different kind of tonalities
04:20 and their voice, like Stitch,
04:22 I can do like a Stitch or chipmunk impression
04:24 or like a Kermit the Frog and something really silly.
04:27 - I'm gonna put you on the spot
04:28 and ask if you can do one of those impressions right now.
04:31 - Well, Kermit the Frog,
04:32 he sounds a little bit like this
04:34 and Kermit might be talking to Stitch
04:37 and Stutch sounds a lot like that person,
04:39 Stutch is a lot like, or Hanuman's family.
04:41 - That is a very good Stitch.
04:42 - I was gonna say, you are gonna need another job
04:44 to do this.
04:45 - Wow.
04:46 - But I can, I might go back to Bridgerton.
04:48 Can you just?
04:49 - Well, yeah, I would.
04:52 - I think you should do that voice in Bridgerton.
04:53 - Yeah, I can see it.
04:54 - That would change things up.
04:55 - I can see it works.
04:56 Stitch in Victoria, yeah, right?
04:59 - That was very good.
05:00 Is that you've been waiting your whole life
05:01 for someone to ask you to do that voice?
05:03 - Yes.
05:04 - That's pretty good.
05:04 - Apparently, he was waiting when it was so exciting.
05:06 My dog, we all personify our animals
05:09 and my dog is Cartman from South Park.
05:12 So, she's like, "Ma'am, oh my God,
05:14 "like, it's like 7 a.m. and you haven't fed me yet."
05:17 And like, she talked to me like this,
05:18 she's like, "Ma'am, oh my God, like, I need to work.
05:21 "You haven't taken me for work yet."
05:23 (laughing)
05:24 - After three years, this is a story.
05:25 Brilliant.
05:27 - Wow, okay, I'm gonna stop talking, though.
05:29 You say something.
05:30 What do you really wanna do this year?
05:33 What's a goal of yours?
05:35 - I think for me, I'm really excited
05:37 for my friends and family to see this
05:40 because I've been telling them for about two years
05:43 on that I'm playing this cat
05:44 and everyone's like, "A cat?
05:45 "You're playing a cat?"
05:46 And I'm like, "No, but it's this pampered, crafty cat."
05:49 So, I can't wait to see everyone's reaction to the film,
05:53 the really loving parts, the sad parts.
05:56 When I first watched it and that opening sequence
05:59 where the cat is being cute and it does that,
06:01 you're like, "Ah," and the cat goes like that.
06:03 It's one of those moments, you know when you watch
06:04 a TV program and you smile thinking that you're involved?
06:07 And I sat there, I was like, "Oh."
06:09 And I was like, "That's me."
06:11 (laughing)
06:12 That's me.
06:13 So, yeah, I'm looking forward for everyone to see it,
06:15 to see it in 10 lives.
06:16 I'm really looking forward to that this year.
06:18 [BLANK_AUDIO]