“Shrek” director Vicky Jenson celebrated the premiere of her new Netflix film “Spellbound,” the second animated feature from John Lasseter-led Skydance Animation, in New York City on Monday November 11. The story stars Rachel Zegler, Javier Bardem, and Nicole Kidman in a fairy tale that takes place in the mythical kingdom of Lumbria as Princess Ellian embarks on “an invigorating quest” to break the spell.
Bardem has had quite a busy last couple of months following the September premiere of Ryan Murphy’s “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” Following the buzz from the show, the famous true crime case got a viral amount of attention nearly 30 years since the brothers were sentenced. On October 24, the Los Angeles district attorney recommended that Lyle and Erik Menendez be resentenced after being convicted of murdering their parents over three decades ago.
“Well, I think the reaction has been big,” Bardem told IndieWire. “There’s lots of people every day that come to tell me how much they like the show and how much they thought about it and follow the real case afterwards [and] by documentaries.”
“The thing is,” he continued, “the fact that the case can be reopened because of how the show has reached the audience and has put the case onto the table, it speaks volumes about the quality of the show and the quality of the research that Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan did as artists and also as very responsible people knowing that they are dealing with very, very sensitive material.”
With “Spellbound,” Bardem takes on quite a different light compared to the incredibly tense roles that we are so often use to seeing him in. For him, he loves the change up. “I mean, I like to go from one place to the other. Being able to sing songs of [composer] Alan Menken, I mean, Jesus, it’s crazy. I loved it. It is my first animated movie and I feel very honored to be in this one, because Vicky Jenson is such a great director and what the movie speaks about is important.”
Lead and star Rachel Zegler was also thrilled to be a part of her first animation feature as well. Though, of course, she has sung onscreen previously, including her Golden Globe-winning performance in “West Side Story,” changing her voice to play a 14-year-old took a different type of preparation.
“[Though] I’m playing a 13-year-old in ‘Romeo + Juliet’ right now, being a 14-year-old in an animated movie is much different than playing one on stage,” Zegler told us. “You only have your voice. So I was really working with my vocal coach to start talking up here and that was like kind of the key into finding it, putting your larynx up here for all the folks at home. And that was really cool. It was a really different process for me and the music is so beautifully written by Alan Menken. It was just wildly different from anything I’ve had to do.”
She currently is leading Sam Gold’s production of William Shakespeare’s iconic love story on Broadway alongside Kit Connor. Zegler, who had been very supportive of voting early and voting blue for the recent presidential election, reflected on having to continue to perform at her best, despite last week’s election results.
“Sam’s original intention with doing ‘Romeo + Juliet’ was that kids broke into Circle in the Square because they needed to get something off their chest,” she said. “So doing any form of art with the week that we just had, feels like catharsis, and getting to be part of an amazing all-star cast that is mostly people of color, different gender identities, sexualities from different countries, creeds, you name it, we’ve got it. We represent what this world looks like despite what the news may have us think.”
“Spellbound” streams on Netflix November 22. Watch the trailer here.
