Interview with the Creators and Actors of DreamWorks Trolls – out November 4th!

TROLLS – FIND YOUR HAPPY PLACE NOVEMBER 4

From the creators of Shrek comes the most smart, funny, irreverent animated comedy of the year, DreamWorks’ Trolls.  This holiday season, enter a colorful, wondrous world populated by hilariously unforgettable characters and discover the story of the overly optimistic Trolls, with a constant song on their lips, and the comically pessimistic Bergens, who are only happy when they have trolls in their stomach.  Featuring original music from Justin Timberlake, and soon-to-be classic mash-ups of songs from other popular artists, the film stars the voice talents of Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Russell Brand, James Corden, Kunal Nayyar, Ron Funches, Icona Pop, Gwen Stefani, and many more.

 

Last week I had a chance to attend an early screening of Trolls and interview the filmmakers and actors (I was beyond excited to be in the same room as Justin Timberlake!) at DreamWorks Studios.  You could have heard a pin drop when Justin walked in the room, the mom bloggers were all so excited let me tell you! I can’t say much about the movie at this time (review coming up) but I really loved it!  From how well it is written to all the old-school references – from crafts we use to do as kids to the music, there really is something for everyone in this fun and sweet film.

 

 

A group of mom bloggers and other media outlets had a chance to sit down the Filmmakers, Mike Mitchell and Walt Dohrn, Producer Gina Shay, and Voice Actors Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick.

 

Blogger:  What is in this movie for all ages and those people?

Mr. Mike Mitchell:  Well, a couple things, one it’s super irreverent comedy that Walt and I like what we did in Shrek.  It kind of is a joke that where a dad laughs.  Then he looks down at his eight-year-old daughter.  She’s laughing at the same joke.  I think that’s magic.  And then two is just the music.  It seems to span like all age groups, and it does the same thing that like Guitar Hero did.  Anyone play Guitar Hero?

Blogger:  Yes.

Mr. Mike Mitchell:  Right.  So, a lot of dads were like man, I like this song, and now my kids dig it too, man.  And so, I think a lot of our music does that as well.

Mr. Walt Dohrn:  And we talk about also the theme of happiness, and I think that applies to everyone.  There’s a big idea here that we’re all born with happiness.  We just–sometimes we need someone to help us find it, but that we’re all born with this ability to be happy.  And I think that’s important.

Mr. Mike Mitchell:  That does apply to everyone.  Doesn’t it?

Mr. Walt Dohrn:  It sure does.

 

 

 

Blogger:  Hi.  This question’s for Justin.  I’m really fascinated at the whole process with music producing and bringing something to life with film and music.  How does that process work?  Do you start researching songs and have an idea of the story before the film is at all created?  Is that how that process starts?

Mr. Justin Timberlake:  Sure.  Well, I can speak from–this is my first time to do it on this level.  I’ve never sort of been a music producer for–.

Blogger:  –For a film?

Mr. Justin Timberlake:  For a film, no.

Mr. Mike Mitchell:  Executive music producer.

Mr. Walt Dohrn:  Yes, that’s so nice. It fits you.

Mr. Justin Timberlake:  So, you know, for a musical like this–.

Mr. Justin Timberlake:  Which I think to stay with the theme of sort of DreamWorks, what’s made them so I think reverent [sic] and what Mike was alluding to, you know, to take these classic, sort of toys and mythological creatures from so long ago and really modernize them, I think that was sort of that was our MO with the music as well.  And I think it fits with the humor, and like Mike said, some seven-year-old’s going to walk away knowing “The Sound of Silence”, which is very cool.

 

 

Mr. Justin Timberlake:  Which is very cool, and a song like “True Colors”.

Now I came on a little after some of the songs were sought after and cleared, and I don’t know if you know about the clearance process, but that can be, like, mind-numbing.  So, I think that once these songs were cleared and I kind of came in, “True Colors” was definitely already picked out for this moment in the movie.  And was there “The Sound of Silence” clip?

Mr. Mike Mitchell:  Yes.

Mr. Justin Timberlake:  All right.  That was already picked up too.  So, my job for that was hopefully to put our own spin on it, make it sound unique, make it sound like it belonged in the scene, much like a musical theater, musical theater almost. So then I wrote four original songs, one of them that you may or may not have heard, which is in the movie as well, and specifically written for the movie.  I’ve never done anything like that as well.

Mr. Justin Timberlake:  So, to write it specifically for the movie and to have a little bit of a hack code into the fact that some of the music does sound very ’70s–.

Mr. Mike Mitchell:  –Yes–.

Mr. Justin Timberlake:  –If I may–.

Blogger:  –It sounds so unique, such a unique spin to the songs.

Mr. Justin Timberlake:  There is, but I think overall you’ll feel that a lot of the music definitely has like a little bit of like ’70s funk to it.  So, that was definitely an inspiration for “Can’t Stop the Feeling” as well.  So, I think you treat each moment.  You get to see some of the animation and what they’re working on.  You get to see how big a moment is.  Was the Gorillaz on there as well?

Mr. Mike Mitchell:  Yes.

Mr. Justin Timberlake:  So, you’re finally getting to see where the Bergens live.

Mr. Justin Timberlake:  And so, you kind of just want to sonically complement that.

 

Ms. Gina Shay:  You made it a cohesive musical experience too because we’ve chosen music from so many eras.  And to bring that all together, I might feel like a patchwork quilt, but to go through the production process with you guys on it has just been fabulous to bring it all together.

Mr. Justin Timberlake:  Thanks.  It’s been fun, too, to–you know, sorry to talk about you like you’re not here.  It’s been fun too to work specifically with Anna because she’s such a good singer and she doesn’t fancy herself that, but–.

 

 

 

Ms. Anna Kendrick:  It’s a lie.  I’m wonderful.

Mr. Justin Timberlake:  I’m pretty snobby anyway.  It’s been so much fun to work with her.  I mean all the work that we actually did together was just me kind of sitting at the board and us talking about her singing, her vocal performance, because it’s definitely a part of–you know, there’s, you know, like “Get Back Up Again”.  That’s like it’s her singing, but she’s also acting. So, there’s a lot that goes into it.

Ms. Anna Kendrick:  And we wanted something that felt like, you know, that’s one of those Broadway–.

Mr. Justin Timberlake:  –Broadway, Disney–.

Ms. Anna Kendrick:  –Broadway things, like the “I Want” song.  It’s her “I Want” song.  And we had a take that when they were, like, coaching me on Skype and stuff, and we had a take that was good.  And after working with Justin for a while, I was like I feel like we should go back.  And everyone was like why?  It’s fine.  And we went back, and I think I would bet 95 percent of what’s in the movie is from my session with Justin because, as someone who’s a singer, he gives such specific notes that are so helpful that it just tightened it so much.  And I felt like we got so much more kind of heart and mischief and sass from her.

 

Awesome Soundtrack:

One of my favorite thing about this movie is the awesome sound track.  Some of your old-favorites just might be included in the movie!  Here Justin and the filmmakers are asked about how they went about hand-selecting the songs for the movie.

Blogger:  Well, this is kind of partly for Justin and the filmmakers because they mentioned earlier that there were 1,000 songs picked.  How long was the process of narrowing down that 1,000 songs to the four also that you created for the film?

Mr. Justin Timberlake:  I mean it–you guys–I mean we–you know, there were four different versions of “Get Back Up Again”.  I feel like there were–there were songs that we cleared or, you know, tried out for different scenes.

Mr. Justin Timberlake:  Different scenes are still coming up with ideas, yes, to service those moments.

Mr. Mike Mitchell:  But, it’s definitely a big part of the meetings when we first started the movie.  It was like we would spend three hours.  Like, here we go, just list and list of songs, which was cool.  We’re just going to listen to music today.

Ms. Gina Shay:  Right.

Mr. Mike Mitchell:  It had to fit the story.  It had to fit the tone of the movie, and it had to have kind of this everlasting feel.

Mr. Justin Timberlake:  Yes.

Mr. Mike Mitchell:  Something we like to call guilty pleasures. Oh, I know this song.  How silly.  But, by the end of it, you were weeping.

Mr. Justin Timberlake:  There’s a reason this song sticks around.

 

DreamWorks’ TROLLS is a fresh, broad comedy filled with music, heart and hair-raising adventures.  In November of 2016, nothing can prepare you for our new Troll world.

 

Director: Mike Mitchell

Co-Director: Walt Dohrn

Producer: Gina Shay

 

Official Websites #DreamWorksTrolls

https://www.dreamworks.com/trolls

https://www.facebook.com/DreamWorksTrolls

https://twitter.com/trolls

https://www.instagram.com/trolls

 

Credit: All group photos and photos from the preview courtesy of Jason Bush

0