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]
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