Blockbuster animated movies frequently employ massive A-lister casts these days – a trend that launched with Robin Williams’ hailed performance in Aladdin – but what you may not realize is that these performers don’t get a lot of opportunities to actually mingle while the film is being made. Recording sessions are usually done independently for scheduling purposes, and dialogue is all synced in post. Group recording sessions do happen, but they’ve become rare.
The Croods: A New Age is a perfect example. The film’s cast is overloaded with talented actors, but it’s now just a few days away from its theatrical release, and Kelly Marie Tran is still “dying” to meet just about everyone in the ensemble – especially Nicolas Cage.
It’s typical that the cast of a blockbuster animated movie may not get together until the press days and/or the premiere, but the pandemic has taken away those opportunities during the run up to the release of The Croods sequel. As such, when I spoke with Kelly Marie Tran on the phone last week and asked about who in the ensemble she has met, the list turned out to be pretty short. Said the actress,
I met Emma Stone. I think it was like a week and a half ago on Zoom doing interviews. I haven't met anyone else and I'm dying to meet everyone, but especially Nic Cage. I grew up watching so many of his movies. I love National Treasure.
As fans will remember, the first Croods movie featured an awesome group of stars – including not only Nicolas Cage and Emma Stone, but also Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman, and Clark Duke – and The Croods: A New Age goes even bigger. Kelly Marie Tran plays a new character named Dawn Betterman, and her parents, Hope and Phil Betterman, are voiced by the great Leslie Mann and Peter Dinkage.
Though she has had the experience of being in not one, but two Star Wars movies, Tran still geeked out about her Croods co-stars, and made it clear that she would love to meet all of them – be it by working together on another project, or just having a post-release cast dinner:
Every single person in this cast is incredible too. Like obviously Emma Stone and Ryan Reynolds and then you have Leslie Mann, who is just such an incredible comedic actor, and I'm obsessed with her. And then there's Peter Dinklage who I'm also obsessed with, and Cloris Leachman, who's like a freaking legend. So everyone in this cast is pretty incredible. I'm really sad I haven't met them. Call DreamWorks, tell them let's have a potluck.
The Croods: A New Age is arriving in theaters just in time for Thanksgiving, and will be available in digital release next month. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more about the film, and more from my interview with Kelly Marie Tran!
