'Soul': Meet Jamie Foxx, Daveed Diggs, Tina Fey, Questlove and the rest of the cast of Disney-Pixar film
‘Soul’ is just the Disney/Pixar animated feature for you if you felt all the feels while watching ‘Inside Out’. Directed by Pete Docter and Kemp Powers, and written by Docter, Powers, and Mike Jones, ‘Soul’ follows Joe Gardner, a middle school music teacher, who has long dreamed of performing jazz music on stage. He finally gets a chance after impressing other jazz musicians during an opening act at the Half Note Club; however, an untimely accident causes Gardner's soul to be separated from his body and begin to proceed to the Great Beyond.
From there, Gardner manages to escape to the Great Before, a world where souls develop personalities, quirks, and traits before being sent off to Earth. But he must work with souls in training at the Great Before, such as 22, a soul with a dim view on the concept of life, in order to return to Earth before his body dies.
Like all Disney/Pixar animated features, this film too features an ensemble of stars voicing the eclectic characters in what promises to be a heartening and funny film. Let’s take a look at the cast!
Jamie Foxx as Joe Gardner
The 52-year-old American actor, singer-songwriter, comedian, television presenter, and record producer is best known for his roles in films like ‘Jarhead’, ‘Dreamgirls’, ‘Miami Vice’, ‘Django Unchained’, ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’, ‘Annie’, ‘Baby Driver’, and ‘Just Mercy’. Foxx won much acclaim for his portrayal of Ray Charles in the 2004 biographical film 'Ray', for which he earned many accolades including an Academy Award.
Phylicia Rashad as Libba Gardner
The 72-year-old American actor, singer, and stage director is known for her role as Clair Huxtable on ‘The Cosby Show’. It was a role that earned her Emmy Award nominations in 1985 and 1986. As a stage actor, she has a number of Broadway roles to her credit, including ‘Into the Woods’, ‘Jelly's Last Jam’, ‘Gem of the Ocean’, and ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’. In films, Rashad’s acting credits include features like ‘For Colored Girls’, ‘Good Deeds’, ‘Loving Jezebel’, and more. More recently on television, she appeared in shows like ‘David Makes Man’, Empire’, and ‘ Do No Harm’.
Daveed Diggs as Paul
The 38-year-old actor, singer, producer, writer, and rapper is the vocalist of the experimental hip hop group Clipping. Diggs originated the role of and won a Grammy and Tony for, the Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson in the 2015 musical ‘Hamilton’. Diggs has played a bunch of critically acclaimed roles in shows and films like ‘Black-ish’, ‘Wonder’, ‘Velvet Buzzsaw’, ‘Blindspotting’, ‘Snowpiercer’, and more.
Tina Fey as 22
The 50-year-old American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and playwright is best known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series ‘Saturday Night Live’, and for creating and performing in the comedy series ‘30 Rock’ and ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’. Fey is also known for her work in film, including ‘Mean Girls’, ‘Baby Mama’, ‘Date Night’, ‘Megamind’, ‘Muppets Most Wanted’, ‘Sisters’, ‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot’, and ‘Wine Country’.
Questlove as Curly
Born Ahmir Khalib Thompson, the 49-year-old American musician and music journalist is the drummer and joint frontman (with Black Thought) for the hip hop band, The Roots, which has been serving as the in-house band for ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’ since February 17, 2014. Questlove is also one of the producers of the cast album of the Broadway musical ‘Hamilton’. His noted film roles include ‘Someone Great’, ‘Vincent N Roxxy’, ‘Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping’, and more.
Graham Norton as Moonwind
The 57-year-old Irish television and radio presenter, comedian, actor, author, and commentator is a five-time BAFTA TV Award winner for his comedy chat show ‘The Graham Norton Show’. From 2010 to 2020, he presented the Saturday morning slot on BBC Radio 2 and since 2009 has been the BBC television commentator of the ‘Eurovision Song Contest’. In 2019, Norton became a judge on ‘RuPaul's Drag Race UK’.
Richard Ayoade as Jerry
The 43-year-old comedian, film director, screenwriter, television presenter, actor, and author is best known for his role as the socially awkward IT technician Maurice Moss in the sitcom ‘The IT Crowd’, for which he won the 2014 BAFTA for Best Male Comedy Performance. Ayoade wrote and directed the comedy-drama film ‘Submarine’. He has provided his voice to a number of animated projects, including the films ‘The Boxtrolls’, ‘Early Man’, ‘The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part’, and the television shows ‘Strange Hill High’, and ‘Apple & Onion’.
The film also stars Angela Bassett as Dorothea Williams, Rachel House as Terry, Alice Braga, Wes Studi, Fortune Feimster, and Zenobia Shroff as soul counselors in the Great Before, Donnell Rawlings as Dez, June Squibb as Gerel, and Esther Chae as Miho.
‘Soul’ premiered at the BFI London Film Festival on October 11. Originally intended to be a theatrical release, it will be digitally released on Disney+ on December 25.