Lea Salonga, Liza Soberano film and ‘In Your Dreams’ boost Asian rise in animation

LOS ANGELES, USA, November 19 ------ As Alex Woo’s In Your Dreams recently began streaming on Netflix, another Asian-American directed animation project was announced. DreamWorks Animation and Universal Pictures’ news of Forgotten Island, to be released in September next year, was impactful because not only is it being directed by Filipino-American Januel Mercado, along with Joel Crawford, the film’s voice cast also stars Filipino icon Lea Salonga and Fil-Ams Liza Soberano, Manny Jacinto, and H.E.R.

It’s the first casting of a mainstream Hollywood movie that has the most Fil-Ams. And there are unconfirmed reports that Forgotten Island’s story, written by Januel and Joel, about how Jo (H.E.R.) and Raissa (Liza) find themselves stranded in the fantastic world of an island named Nakali, is based on Philippine mythology. But as it is, Forgotten Island is an exciting announcement in terms of strides for Filipino and Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) talent. It is the directing debut of Januel, who co-directed Puss in Boots: The Last Wish with Joel.

The action-adventure animated comedy also stars Dave Franco and Jenny Slate. Back to In Your Dreams, which Alex wrote with Erik Benson (who co-directed) and Stanley Moore, it is described by Netflix as “a comedy adventure about Stevie and her brother Elliot, who journey into the absurd landscape of their own dreams. If the siblings can withstand a snarky stuffed giraffe, zombie breakfast foods, and the queen of nightmares, the Sandman will grant them their ultimate dream come true…the perfect family.”

In a press conference with Alex and producer Tim Hahn at the Netflix Animation Studios in Burbank, California, Rappler asked about the casting of Fil-Am Hailey Magpali as the voice of the young Stevie. “Oh my God, you can hear how adorable she is,” Alex gushed about Hailey as the four-year-old lead character. “And we only captured like 10 percent of her adorableness and energy.” “It was our casting agent who found her. She sent us an audition. When you meet Hailey, she is like a ball of energy. She’s so energetic. She’s just incredibly talented. But just unabashedly herself.”

The filmmaker, who previously worked at Pixar Animation Studios and Lucasfilm, added, “And Hailey just brought this really spunky personality to young Stevie. So, yeah, we couldn’t think of a better actress to open our movie with. Hailey was fantastic.”

Source: rappler.com