‘Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken’ team faces challenges of voice acting and playing mermaids like ‘Mean Girls of the Ocean’

The stars of Ruby Gillman: The teenage Krakenincluding Lana Condor, Jane Fonda, Annie Murphy, Liza Koshy and Jaboukie Young-White, reunited Wednesday at the Los Angeles premiere of their DreamWorks film — which, due to the nature of the voice work, was the first time some of the actors had actually met.

Noting that she was new to voice acting and “just got my feet under my feet with this one,” said Fonda The Hollywood Reporter, “The strange thing is that you don’t meet the other actors. … I have not met any of them. You’re all alone and it’s a challenge, but it’s fun. I can’t wait to actually meet these other people tonight.

Ruby Gillmann follows an awkward high school student (voiced by Condor) who learns that she is a direct descendant of the warrior kraken queens and destined to inherit the throne from her ruling grandmother (Fonda). Krakens are sworn to protect the world’s oceans from vain and power-hungry sirens.

“I wanted to do something with DreamWorks, and I’ve never had a chance before. This happened and I loved the idea of ​​playing the kraken matriarch, the leader of the good forces under the deep seas,” Fonda explained of joining the project. “I love the deep seas. In fact, I was just at the United Nations helping to pass the Global Oceans Treaty, so I was kind of a kraken matriarch.

Condor said it was a dream of hers to work with DreamWorks, and she was attracted “by the multi-generational aspect of our film: the grandmother, the mother, the relationship with the daughter, I was so excited about it” and admitted that the first Once she saw it on the big screen, “I started crying when DreamWorks opened.”

Regarding voice acting versus traditional live performance, Condor said, “It’s like night and day; to me, I don’t even think it’s the same thing. I think in live-action it’s like give and take, 50-50 between your co-stars; I think in voice acting you have nothing to work with other than a dark booth, so you have to have more confidence in yourself because you’re like, ‘It’s up to me!’”

Koshy, who co-stars in the film, added, “When it comes to screen acting, you’re a lot more subdued, you think a lot more about your blinks, you’re a lot more engaged with a more natural response. And more of a natural reaction. (With) the voice acting, you can sweat it out, lose your mind, frolic, make guttural grunts and whatnot. The chaos you’re in at the booth is like no other.

The film’s focus on mermaids, this time as the story’s villains, comes just weeks after the release of Disney’s live-action The little Mermaid put people of the sea in the spotlight.

“I think the timing is interesting because I think it gives a different perspective; it flips something where we’re used to seeing mermaids in a different light and as beautiful as they are – Halle Bailey, she was amazing – mermaids are always so lauded,” Koshy said. the backstory of a kraken and you get to see the backstory of something that has been evil for so long and been so scary and such a monster and to be feared rather than be friends with.

Executive producer Mike Mitchell took an even tougher stance on this summer’s battle of the mermaids, quipping, “Everyone loves a mermaid, why? Let’s just pause and think about it for a second. I think they are the bad girls of the ocean and I think they are also crushing our coral and they are making hair products with coral and they are destroying the environment.

“I am not joking. These are perilous times, we really need to look before we leap,” she continued. “Just because they’re beautiful, all the more reason to be cautious! You never know what’s beneath the surface.”

Ruby Gillman: The teenage Kraken hits theaters Friday.