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In Disney and Pixar’s new animated feature, Soul, Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) is a middle-school band teacher with a passion for jazz, something that Foxx shares with the character he voices.
“Like Joe, I hear music in everything,” said Foxx in a statement. “When you’re a jazz artist, man, you talk a little different: ‘Hey, cat!’ I got a chance to go to a few jazz fests and meet Herbie Hancock, Chick Correa—hang out with those guys. They have a way of talking, a way of dressing—everything funnels toward their music, toward the jazz.”
Director Pete Docter, who shares Foxx’s (and his lead character’s) love of music, conceived of the character even before jazz entered the picture.
“I’ve been so lucky to work with some incredible people and make movies that have been seen around the world,” Docter said, also in a statement. “But I realized that as wonderful as these projects are, there’s more to living than a singular passion—as expressive and fulfilling as that may be. Sometimes the small insignificant things are what it’s really about. This film is about broadening the idea of a singular focus to thinking more widely about what life has to offer and what we have to offer life.”
Likewise, Co-Director Kemp Powers, who initially joined the project as a writer, didn’t have to look far to find inspiration for Joe Gardner.
“We’ve been working on Soul for years, but the film feels timelier now than we ever could have imagined back when we began,” said Powers. “In a year where everything we know has been turned upside down, we’ve all been forced to find new meaning both in the relationships we have and the small moments that truly make life worth living.”
In the film, Joe is on the brink of getting his big break playing for a jazz quartet. But he finds himself on an unexpected detour from the streets of New York City to The Great Before, tasked with helping new soul 22, voiced by Tina Fey, find her spark to earn her way to Earth.
“He’s sure if he can share his life story with her—his passion for jazz—she’ll be inspired and they’ll both get to go to Earth,” said Producer Dana Murray. “They do make it back to Earth, but that’s really the beginning of their adventure. It’s a funny and touching story of friendship and self-discovery, and we can’t wait to show it to the world.”
Graham Norton (The Graham Norton Show) lends his voice to spiritual sign twirler Moonwind. The voice cast also includes Rachel House as the count-obsessed Terry, and Alice Braga, Richard Ayoade, Wes Studi, Fortune Feimster and Zenobia Shroff as the voices of the Counselors. Donnell Rawlings voices Joe’s barber Dez, and June Squibb provides the voice of Gerel. They join Foxx, Fey, Phylicia Rashad, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Angela Bassett and Daveed Diggs.
Soul features jazz compositions and arrangements by Jon Batiste, and an original score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
In a year largely missing movies, Soul will premiere on Disney+ on Christmas Day.
[Images courtesy of Disney+]