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.
00:00Well, Kermit the Frog sounds a little bit like this, and Kermit might be talking to Stitch.
00:06And Stitch sounds a little bit like this, and Stitch is a little bit like this, and Stitch is a little bit like this.
00:13Chris, let's start with you.
00:16You have worked on so many animated movies, and I'm wondering if you could explain Ten Lives
00:22in, like, the context of other movies we might know.
00:27So, like, is it a little bit Aristocats, a little bit, you know what I mean?
00:31Like, what's the formula that we might recognize for people who haven't, obviously, seen Ten Lives?
00:38Well, obviously, there's no formula whatsoever.
00:41Yeah.
00:42And while people have likened it to Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber, it's not that either.
00:47No, it really just pays homage to a lot of the older Disney movies.
00:53I mean, much older Disney movies, like the ones I loved, Bambi, Pinocchio, Snow White, Peter Pan.
01:01It has a gentleness about it that is hopefully creating this bubble that we put around the audience
01:09and let them really sit and get immersed by the images and the storytelling.
01:16And then beyond that, setting out to do that, then the way that the movie evolved with this very emotional story
01:24was somewhat of a surprise to me, although I did cry when I finished the script.
01:29Simone and Mo, what are some of your most formative animated films from your childhood?
01:34What, like, when you think about, like, what Chris was just explaining, what comes to mind?
01:38Well, Chris's resume.
01:41Yeah.
01:42Like, all, every single Disney movie, Bambi, Bambi really taught me about life and death, really.
01:50Yeah.
01:51Like, the forest being burnt down and then what happens after life, what happens after death
01:58and, like, all rises from the ashes.
01:59Bambi's, like, very profound, I think, for children in that sense.
02:02But all of the Disney princess movies, Thumbelina, do you remember Thumbelina?
02:10I did.
02:11With the French bird that sings the songs.
02:16I think that was a Don Bluth movie, if I remember it.
02:18Yeah.
02:19Yeah.
02:21Literally every animation.
02:22The Sword in the Stone.
02:23I loved the owl.
02:24All these birds.
02:25The owl from the Sword in the Stone.
02:26That's interesting.
02:27Yeah.
02:28Archimedes.
02:29And he was hilarious with British accent.
02:31And I went to every single Disneyland.
02:34I was very, very lucky.
02:35My parents could see how much, you know, animation was instilled in me and how much I loved it
02:41growing up.
02:42And I think it's really, it's still in me when I'm doing live action work.
02:47It could be an adult drama or a comedy or something completely the opposite to a children's animation.
02:52But I think they're so intertwined.
02:55I think you have to have your imagination alive, whatever you're doing.
02:58So I think kids' animations, I guess that was my door into acting.
03:05That's really cool.
03:06For me, it's probably Lion King.
03:07Yeah.
03:07I know, I'm not even trying to name the things you work on, but that was one of the first animated
03:14films I got to see in the cinema as a kid.
03:16And seeing Lion King, because every animal has their personality that matches.
03:22So, you know, the hyenas are quite crafty.
03:24You know, Tamod and Pumbaa are like a double act to probably at the most, like, they're
03:29like prey, if many think, in the safari.
03:33So, yeah, for me, it would be Lion King.
03:34Probably Toy Story as well, because I think the difference is a lot, like, Lion King was
03:38animals, but I'd never seen toys have a personality.
03:42I think as a kid, like, every kid, you kind of shut the door.
03:44You're like, nothing moved.
03:46Nothing moved.
03:47So, yeah.
03:48Yeah.
03:48Did doing voice work come naturally to you guys, or did, yeah, like, I've been practicing
03:55for this my entire life.
03:56Well, actually, playing Rose, I felt more vulnerable, because Chris, you know, was just so amazing
04:04at just letting us be ourselves, and that was your main direction, just be you, and believe
04:10it, like, live what that character's going through.
04:13I would love to do a character one day, you know, like, with all these different kind
04:18of tonalities, and they're always, like, Stitch, I can do, like, a Stitch or Chipmunk
04:23impression, or, like, a Kermit the Frog, and something really silly.
04:27I'm going to put you on the spot, and ask if you can do one of those impressions right
04:30now.
04:31Well, Kermit the Frog, see, I was a little bit like this, and, uh, Kermit might be talking
04:36to Stitch, and Stitch sounds a little bit like this, and Stitch sounds a little bit like this,
04:39and Stitch sounds a little bit like this, and Stitch sounds a little bit like this, or Hannah
04:40and Spamaloo.
04:41That is a very good Stitch.
04:42You are going to get a job, another job to do this, I think.
04:45Wow.
04:46But I can, do you have to go back to Bridgerton?
04:48Can you just do that?
04:49Well, yeah, um, I, I would, well, I think you should do that voice in Bridgerton.
04:53Yeah, I think, I can see it, I can see it work.
04:56Stitch in Victoria.
04:58Yeah, right?
04:59That was very good.
05:00It's like you've been waiting your whole life for someone to ask you to do that voice.
05:03Yes!
05:03That was pretty good.
05:04Apparently.
05:05Waiting when it was so sorry.
05:06My dog, we all personify our animals.
05:08Yes.
05:09And my dog is Cartman from South Park.
05:12So, she's like, ma'am, oh my God, like, it's like 7am and you haven't fed me yet?
05:17And like, she'll talk to me like this, she's like, ma'am, oh my God, like, I need to work.
05:21You haven't taken me for work yet?
05:22After three years, this is the best time.
05:26Brilliant.
05:27Wow, okay, I'm going to stop talking, but you say something.
05:30What do you really want to do this year?
05:33What's, what's a goal of yours?
05:35I think for me, I'm really excited for my friends and family to see, to see this because I've been telling them for about two years.
05:43I'm like, I'm playing this cat.
05:44And everyone's like, a cat?
05:45I'm playing a cat.
05:46And I'm like, no, but it's this pampered, crafty cat.
05:49So, I can't wait to see everyone's reaction to the film, the really loving parts, the sad parts.
05:56You know, there's, when I first watched it and that opening sequence where the cat is being cute and it does that, you're like that, and the cat goes like that.
06:02It's one of those moments, you know, when you watch a TV program and you smile thinking that you're involved?
06:07And I sat there and I was like, and I was like, that's me.
06:12That's me.
06:13So, yeah, I'm looking forward for everyone to see and to see in 10 lives.
06:16I'm really looking forward to that this year.
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