Zachary Levi, Zooey Deschanel and Lil Rel Howery spoke to The Hollywood Reporter's Tiffany Taylor all about their new movie 'Harold and the Purple Crayon.' The stars opened up about how working on the family film encouraged each of them to tap back into their inner child and use their imaginations. Plus, they shared why they think audiences need a feel-good movie like this one right now. 'Harold and the Purple Crayon' is now playing in theaters.
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00:00As people gather in the movie theaters, it's one of the areas where we connect back to the
00:04strangers around us and we recognize as we laugh together in the same moments and cry together in
00:09the same moments, we're really not all that different." Zachary Levi stars in the new movie
00:13Harold and the Purple Crayon, an adaptation of the classic children's book. The film follows a grown
00:18up Harold as he accidentally steps out of the pages of his book and brings the magic of his
00:23purple crayon into the real world. Levi and his co-stars Zooey Deschanel and Lil Rel Howery spoke
00:29to The Hollywood Reporter all about working on the project. This movie is all about the power
00:33of imagination and believing in the magic of Harold's purple crayon. For you, how did working
00:39on this movie inspire you to get back in touch with that childlike sense of wonder within yourself?
00:45Well, I don't know that I've ever let go of it, which is probably why I got the job to begin with
00:51and also jobs like Shazam and things like that. You know, I just always held on to purposefully
00:59those things that keep me connected to that childlike wonder and joy and fun. And so,
01:06this was just a really fun opportunity to turn that up a little bit more, dive into it,
01:12get to portray this character that is just relentless light, that there's no negative
01:17energy in his world that he carries and he's only learning the negative stuff as he comes
01:21into the real world. But then that provided a really great juxtaposition to create the comedy
01:27and also the growth that the character has. And I think that was all a really fun experience.
01:32You have to use your imagination a little differently, right? Especially playing Moose,
01:36I had to really like, I mean, one of my favorite things I did was when Moose lands into the real
01:42world and he looks at himself for the first time, he just yells. It's just to put myself
01:48in the mindset of what that would look like to a Moose who's only seen himself one way.
01:54It's so funny to me, but that's where your imagination got to go. It was constantly like
02:00trying to make sure I found the innocence in my character. And that was fun to do, actually.
02:06It's so beautiful. Look at all the friendly people.
02:09We lost Smurf.
02:10Here's my antlers.
02:12Family films like this one are having a huge summer at the box office. And it makes me feel
02:17like that might be because a lot of people want to get back in touch with their inner child and
02:21remember the joys and magic of life the way that movies like this one inspire you to.
02:26Why do you think people need a movie like Harold and the Purple Crayon right now?
02:30I think it's really nice to have a movie you can go see with your kids and you can
02:33talk about afterwards and it can inspire everybody and feel like something that's
02:38uniting rather than separating. So many things I feel like separate everybody out. You like this,
02:44you like that, everyone's different, separate. It's nice to have something that's for everybody
02:49and brings everybody together and really emphasizes what we all have in common.
02:55Well, I think audiences need a movie like Harold and the Purple Crayon for the same reasons that
03:00we need good entertainment in general, which is it provides a respite to the insanity in the world.
03:09And there's just unfortunately a lot of insanity going on in the world right now.
03:14And to be able to provide people some escapism, some respite, some just like,
03:20hey, let's go on an adventure together as a family and also as a community as people
03:25gather into movie theaters. It's one of the areas where we connect back to the strangers around us
03:30and we recognize as we laugh together in the same moments and cry together in the same moments,
03:34we're really not all that different. And I think those are important moments for us,
03:39as kids and as adults.
03:45Are you okay?
03:46My insides are coming to my outside.
03:48I thought I saw a moose.
03:50I'm a moose.
03:51Harold lives in a world that's of his own design. If you could design your own dream world,
03:55what would it look like?
03:57Well, it would be a lot of fun. It would have elements of it that are amusement park kind of
04:03elements where there's lots of rides and things and activities and just all of the fun that you
04:09can have. But more important than that, it would have a lot of fundamental, just philosophical
04:16tenants that would underpin all of that fun like kindness and peace and unity and forgiveness and
04:24empathy and patience and things that we're sorely lacking in the world today.
04:29Harold and the Purple Crayon is now playing in theaters.
04:32For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Tiffany Taylor.