Interviews With "Thelma The Unicorn" Stars Brittany Howard, Will Forte, Directors Jared Hess & Lynn Wang

[00:00:00] Shopify grows your business no matter how far or big you grow.

[00:00:06] Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business.

[00:00:12] Whether you're selling your fans' next favorite shirt or an exclusive piece of podcast

[00:00:17] merch, Shopify helps you sell everywhere.

[00:00:20] Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US.

[00:00:25] Allbirds, Rothies, Brooklinen, and millions of other entrepreneurs of every size across

[00:00:32] 175 countries.

[00:00:34] Plus, Shopify's award-winning help is there to support your success every step of the

[00:00:40] way.

[00:00:42] Because businesses that grow, grow with Shopify.

[00:00:46] Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash income, all lowercase.

[00:00:54] Go to shopify.com slash income now to grow your business no matter what stage you're

[00:01:01] in.

[00:01:02] You are listening to the These are Daniel Howitz interviews with the stars from the

[00:01:13] new animated film Thelma the Unicorn, Brittany Howard and Will Forte, and the film's two

[00:01:19] directors Jared Hess and Lin Wang.

[00:01:22] We need softer hay.

[00:01:34] Ain't nobody want to hear music from a plain old farm pony.

[00:01:38] Hold up.

[00:01:39] Otis, what do I remind you of?

[00:01:40] A pony with a large edible mass growing out of its brain?

[00:01:44] Come on, you can do better than that.

[00:01:48] I think you better go take a look at yourself.

[00:01:51] I'm a unicorn.

[00:01:52] Woohoo!

[00:01:53] Unicorn!

[00:01:54] I told you they were real.

[00:02:00] Do you know how to shoot lasers?

[00:02:02] What color is your blood?

[00:02:03] Can you do anything magical?

[00:02:04] Uh, yeah.

[00:02:05] I can sing.

[00:02:06] Sing forever!

[00:02:07] Hello, this is Daniel Howitz from Next Best Picture.

[00:02:13] Brittany, thank you so much for chatting with me today.

[00:02:15] It's such a joy to talk with you about Thelma the Unicorn.

[00:02:18] Hi, Daniel.

[00:02:19] Good to meet you.

[00:02:20] You as well.

[00:02:21] Well, obviously, you have been a successful singer for years now, but this is your first

[00:02:25] acting gig.

[00:02:26] Had you been looking for an entryway into acting or was it the musical nature of the

[00:02:31] role that drew you in?

[00:02:33] This is something that came across my desk organically.

[00:02:36] I was by desk, I mean stage.

[00:02:38] I was performing and Jared came to the show and he said, you know, I have this role in

[00:02:44] mind for you to voice it and to sing.

[00:02:48] And at first I was like, well, I'm a little nervous.

[00:02:50] I've never done that before.

[00:02:51] I don't know if I have time or the commitment.

[00:02:53] But then he handed me the book, Thelma the Unicorn, and I read it and I did not expect

[00:02:57] to have such an emotional response to it.

[00:03:00] And it was that emotion that made me want to do the project.

[00:03:03] And I just told myself, you know, where there's a will, there's a way.

[00:03:07] And through Lynn and everybody's guidance, I found the confidence to do the role.

[00:03:15] Well, since it is your first role, what was the most helpful piece of direction you received

[00:03:21] that really helped you kind of hone in on your performance of Thelma?

[00:03:24] It's really simple.

[00:03:25] Jared and Lynn just told me, how would you say this?

[00:03:30] Do it how you normally would.

[00:03:33] And that actually helped.

[00:03:34] It was like the quickest acting classes you'd ever go to.

[00:03:37] That's great.

[00:03:38] Straight to the point.

[00:03:39] Straight to the point, yeah.

[00:03:40] It helped.

[00:03:41] That's awesome.

[00:03:42] Well, the songs in Thelma the Unicorn are really wonderful as well.

[00:03:47] And I know it's one thing to sign on to a script that you like or liking the book, but

[00:03:52] I know as a singer, you need to have confidence in the music as well.

[00:03:56] How involved were you in developing the music and what did that process look like for you?

[00:04:00] You know, there were lots of great writers working on this film.

[00:04:04] I also worked with Mike Elizondo.

[00:04:07] It was like super, super fun.

[00:04:08] There were a lot of times when I was helping to write on a song that I wasn't so sure how

[00:04:14] we were going to complete it in that day.

[00:04:17] And the cool thing is getting to work with someone like Mike Elizondo, he's just an incredibly

[00:04:24] positive character that's going to get it done.

[00:04:28] And he just instilled in me this confidence in myself.

[00:04:30] He was just like, oh yeah, here, rewrite these real quick.

[00:04:34] And to me, I'm like, oh no.

[00:04:35] Because normally how I work is I take all the time in the world.

[00:04:40] I really get to select what I want to say, but this is like, we need it done now.

[00:04:43] And I found out that I could do that.

[00:04:45] I didn't know I could do that.

[00:04:46] So there's a lot of that finding out that I can do this that happened on this whole project.

[00:04:52] Well, yeah, Thelma is such a powerful story.

[00:04:55] Her story says so much about fame and desiring stardom and things of that nature, especially

[00:05:01] as someone is rising in their career, as she's rising as a singer.

[00:05:05] Did you see any parallels to your own career in that kind of rise?

[00:05:09] Well, I feel like our stories kind of diverged there.

[00:05:13] I was always able to stay true to myself and what I really wanted to do.

[00:05:18] But I will say in the beginning when Thelma was working, you know, like a job hauling

[00:05:24] manure and I was doing a job delivering the mail.

[00:05:27] And we both wanted the world to hear our music and to hear our voice and to hear what we

[00:05:31] had to say, but we didn't know how it was going to happen.

[00:05:33] I mean, I definitely see myself in that character.

[00:05:35] That's so good.

[00:05:36] Well, I know our time is short, so I'll leave you with one last question.

[00:05:40] Now that you've gotten a taste for acting, is there more in the pipeline?

[00:05:44] Do you think you'll take a live action role anytime in the future?

[00:05:47] You know, I always follow my own creative curiosity.

[00:05:51] And I feel like if I'm moved by something else that I come across, I'll attempt it.

[00:05:55] I'll try it.

[00:05:56] That's awesome.

[00:05:57] Well, whatever's next, can't wait to see it.

[00:05:58] And I appreciate your time.

[00:05:59] Thank you so much.

[00:06:00] Thanks so much.

[00:06:01] Something's moving.

[00:06:02] Something's there.

[00:06:03] Something's blooming in the air.

[00:06:04] I'm screaming.

[00:06:05] Screaming at the top of my lungs.

[00:06:06] Look at you!

[00:06:07] You're like a fluffy piece of cotton candy with legs.

[00:06:19] Okay.

[00:06:20] Sign with me and I could turn you into a star just like Nikki.

[00:06:27] You're just going to let people think you're a real unicorn?

[00:06:33] People are finally giving our music a chance.

[00:06:35] Look out, Nikki, because you're about to get replaced.

[00:06:37] Get out there and find that unicorn's dirty little secret.

[00:06:41] Hello, this is Daniel Howitt for Next Best Picture.

[00:06:44] Jared and Lynn, how are you doing today?

[00:06:46] Good.

[00:06:47] How are you?

[00:06:48] Good to see you.

[00:06:49] Hi, good to see you.

[00:06:50] Yeah, you as well.

[00:06:51] I appreciate your time.

[00:06:52] Jared, we spoke earlier this year for your Oscar nominated short, 95 Cents.

[00:06:56] Yeah, totally.

[00:06:57] I know you started Thelma first.

[00:07:00] What attracted you to start exploring the world of animation?

[00:07:03] I love it, man.

[00:07:04] It was just a long time coming.

[00:07:07] Weirdly, Druche and I had written a number of animated scripts, and this one was just

[00:07:12] the first one to kind of take off and go into development and get made.

[00:07:17] It's a space that I've wanted to work in for such a long time.

[00:07:20] And Aaron Blaby, the author, reached out to us directly to see if we'd want to develop

[00:07:25] his book into a movie, and we just fell in love with it instantly.

[00:07:29] And then we found Lynn to collaborate with, and it's just been an amazing experience.

[00:07:33] So, yeah.

[00:07:35] And the visual style of the movie is so unique.

[00:07:38] So I'd love to hear from both of you.

[00:07:40] There's these big colors and bright sunshine and goofy characters.

[00:07:44] How did you describe what you wanted the film to look like, and what were some inspirations

[00:07:48] you had?

[00:07:49] Yeah, we worked really closely with our production designer, Trevor Dahmer, and our art director,

[00:07:53] Paul Sullivan.

[00:07:54] And they brought a really unique sensibility, I think, to the movie already.

[00:07:58] And with a pink unicorn, with a lot of blue skies, we wanted to make sure that those things,

[00:08:03] the bright colors were shining through, but making sure that it had a level of sophistication

[00:08:08] to it.

[00:08:09] We worked really hard with, and close with them about stage lighting.

[00:08:12] I think that was a really big thing, and making sure it really felt like whenever Thelma

[00:08:15] was on stage to really feel like it was a rock concert.

[00:08:18] So anything like that, we wanted to make sure everything felt, lighting was really grounded,

[00:08:24] the textures and their fur and the teeth felt like you could really feel them through the

[00:08:28] screen.

[00:08:29] And we wanted to, also at the same time, just making sure that all of the unique quirkiness

[00:08:33] of every character really stuck out, and we really celebrated that.

[00:08:36] So there was a lot that we really honed in on that ultimately culminated in the look

[00:08:42] of the film.

[00:09:06] And I know the project has been in the works for quite a while.

[00:09:32] It was first announced back in 2019, and I know especially in animation, projects can

[00:09:37] look wildly different from when they're first started to when they're finished.

[00:09:42] How much did Thelma the Unicorn change throughout your involvement, from when you started to

[00:09:47] now?

[00:09:48] Yeah, I mean, I think we came to the table with a lot of really clear ideas of how we

[00:09:54] wanted things to look and character design.

[00:09:57] We took a lot of our cues from Aaron Blaby's book.

[00:10:00] I mean, his book is just populated with all kind of interesting oddballs that we wanted

[00:10:06] to keep that spirit alive as we made the film.

[00:10:10] But we spent a lot of time figuring out how we were going to make Thelma look.

[00:10:16] I think her design was really critical for us.

[00:10:19] And when we cast Brittany Howard to voice Thelma, just everything changed for us.

[00:10:26] We really took so many cues from her.

[00:10:30] She influenced and affected every aspect of the design.

[00:10:36] And we wanted her personality, her voice to be able to shine through this small pony,

[00:10:41] this farm pony, and make her instantly lovable.

[00:10:46] So that was, I think, the thing that we spent the most time with.

[00:10:50] Yeah, definitely.

[00:10:51] Yeah, I think there's stuff that we carried over from Aaron Blaby's book, like the fact

[00:10:54] that she's short, the fact that she's this really cute little short pony.

[00:10:59] I think that was the biggest thing that we kept from the book.

[00:11:02] Plus those big, big cute eyes.

[00:11:04] Really, really cute.

[00:11:05] But we wanted to make sure she was just as iconic, translating her to the film.

[00:11:09] Well, our time is short.

[00:11:11] I'll leave you with one last question.

[00:11:12] Jared, correct me if I'm wrong.

[00:11:14] I believe this was your first time reuniting with Chandrella Avery since Napoleon Dynamite?

[00:11:19] Yes.

[00:11:20] And of course, John Heeters in the film.

[00:11:22] As up and down as this industry can be, what's it like to continue to work with some of the

[00:11:27] same people over the last 20 years?

[00:11:30] It's so fun to be able to work with friends.

[00:11:33] And Chandrella has been a big, important part of our lives.

[00:11:37] And it was so fun to be able to cast her in the film.

[00:11:40] She just blew us away.

[00:11:42] She steals all of the scenes that she's in.

[00:11:45] And it's so much fun to be able to work with people again that you haven't seen in a long

[00:11:50] time.

[00:11:51] So many of the people in the film are people that I've worked with previously.

[00:11:55] And it was great to be able to reunite.

[00:11:57] Awesome.

[00:11:58] Well, Jared and Lynn, thank you so much for your time.

[00:12:00] And thank you for the film.

[00:12:01] Can't wait for more people to see it.

[00:12:02] Thank you.

[00:12:03] A lot of people told us we'd never make it because we didn't look like stars.

[00:12:07] Time for the world to see what you really are.

[00:12:09] Oh no.

[00:12:10] I don't care what you look like, but you got to say from your heart.

[00:12:15] Get off my back!

[00:12:17] Are you pretending to be someone else?

[00:12:25] I'm finally special.

[00:12:27] You were special before all this, Thelma.

[00:12:29] We're just getting started.

[00:12:32] The fire inside.

[00:12:34] Hello, this is Daniel Howitt for Next Best Picture.

[00:12:38] Will, man, what a pleasure to speak with you.

[00:12:40] You are one of my all-time favorites.

[00:12:41] So I really appreciate you taking the time today.

[00:12:45] Thank you very much.

[00:12:46] Thanks for talking to us about Thelma.

[00:12:48] Absolutely.

[00:12:49] Yeah, I'm excited to hear more about it.

[00:12:50] Thelma the Unicorn is full of glitter and craziness.

[00:12:53] But with your character, Otis, you're playing a bit of the straight man here.

[00:12:58] Keeping a level head as Thelma is getting a little bit out of control.

[00:13:01] And I feel like typically those roles are more for you, right?

[00:13:04] I'm a normal person.

[00:13:06] Right.

[00:13:07] You know, maybe an animal, but still a normal person.

[00:13:10] Yes.

[00:13:11] Do you like that change of pace?

[00:13:13] Kind of switching up from your typical role?

[00:13:15] Oh yeah.

[00:13:16] It is so fun to play a role like this.

[00:13:19] I mean, look, Jared and Sharusha, who wrote the script,

[00:13:23] and Jared directed it with Lynn.

[00:13:27] The second he sent it to me, I just loved the script.

[00:13:29] And you just want to be a part of it however you can help it.

[00:13:33] I mean, Jared is a long-time friend, so I'll do whatever he wants me to do.

[00:13:38] And it's just an honor to be a part of this thing.

[00:13:41] It just is a delightful, sweet, and bonkers movie.

[00:13:46] There are so many little quirky things that make me laugh so much.

[00:13:53] It's just a really good message, too.

[00:13:56] So I just love it.

[00:13:58] I've got these young kids now, so it was really fun to get to watch it with them.

[00:14:04] Yeah, it is so much fun.

[00:14:06] And like you said, it has a great message and has so much to say about

[00:14:10] how people change themselves for fame or desire fame

[00:14:13] and how that fame can change people.

[00:14:16] Did you experience anything like that in your own career

[00:14:18] as you were coming up or getting started?

[00:14:21] How people wanted to change you or how people around you changed?

[00:14:25] I mean, yeah.

[00:14:27] I guess everybody, as you're coming up trying to be an actor,

[00:14:31] it's hard not to think about what image you're putting out there.

[00:14:39] We had this premiere for this vodka show that I got to do a while ago.

[00:14:47] And I thought about, what am I going to wear?

[00:14:50] It's just you're always thinking about it.

[00:14:53] I am not normally worried about my outfit that I'm wearing from day to day.

[00:15:03] But that's kind of a low-level version of that.

[00:15:07] But there are people who are dealing with much larger scale versions of that,

[00:15:13] like changing their whole personalities around

[00:15:16] or trying too hard to portray themselves as something that they're not.

[00:15:23] And for some people, it's worth it.

[00:15:26] But I've just always kind of followed my heart

[00:15:32] and tried to stay true to myself.

[00:15:34] I don't know.

[00:15:36] I was wondering for you, what I've always loved about your career

[00:15:40] is how you've embraced your own style

[00:15:42] instead of trying to conform to a certain type of career

[00:15:46] or something like that, or a certain type of persona.

[00:15:48] I was curious if in your early days at SNL,

[00:15:51] people tried to mold you into,

[00:15:53] you should be like this person or do something like this.

[00:15:55] And how you maybe approached that.

[00:15:57] Because I know that happens in Thelma.

[00:15:59] She's kind of pushed in one way or the other.

[00:16:01] So I was curious if that happened to you.

[00:16:03] Well, certainly you're getting a lot of people giving you advice.

[00:16:07] And a lot of it is to, oh, maybe if you tried to write stuff

[00:16:11] that isn't as weird, audiences might like it more.

[00:16:18] The stuff I really like, the stuff that is closest to my heart

[00:16:22] is just the more weird, absurd stuff.

[00:16:28] A lesson I learned when we made MacGruber,

[00:16:32] we got to make it exactly how we wanted to.

[00:16:36] And it bombed super hard at the box office.

[00:16:41] I'm no stranger to bombing at the box office.

[00:16:44] So I had done it once before and kind of gone off the mark a little bit,

[00:16:51] changed it around a little bit to make it a little more palatable.

[00:16:56] And it didn't do well.

[00:16:57] And that was tough because I always thought like,

[00:16:59] oh, what if we hadn't made this decision and this decision?

[00:17:03] Well, with MacGruber, when it bombed,

[00:17:06] it was so much easier to take because we had made it exactly how we wanted to.

[00:17:12] And so you didn't have any of that, oh, what could have been?

[00:17:16] We gave it our best shot with it.

[00:17:19] And then, of course, it caught on a little bit

[00:17:22] a couple of years after the movie came out.

[00:17:25] So it was kind of nice to see that in the end,

[00:17:28] it felt like people did give it a chance.

[00:17:32] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:17:33] Well, I wish I had more time to chat with you more, but that's my time.

[00:17:37] Thank you so much.

[00:17:38] Sorry, I rambled a bunch, didn't I?

[00:17:40] No, that was great.

[00:17:41] It was great.

[00:17:42] I appreciate your time and thanks for Thelma.

[00:17:43] I can't wait for more people to see it.

[00:17:44] Thank you very much.

[00:17:45] Hey, everyone.

[00:17:46] Thank you so much for listening to Daniel Howitt's interviews

[00:17:48] with the stars from the film Thelma the Unicorn,

[00:17:51] Brittany Howard and Will Forte here on The Next Best Picture Podcast,

[00:17:55] along with the film's two directors, Jared Hess and Lin Wang.

[00:18:00] Thelma the Unicorn is now available to stream on Netflix.

[00:18:04] You have been listening to The Next Best Picture Podcast.

[00:18:06] We are proud to be part of the Evergreen Podcast Network

[00:18:08] and you can subscribe to us anywhere where you subscribe to podcasts.

[00:18:12] Be sure to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts

[00:18:13] and let us know what you think of the show.

[00:18:15] We really appreciate your feedback and your support,

[00:18:18] which you can also lend on over at Patreon.

[00:18:21] For $1 minimum a month,

[00:18:22] you'll get some exclusive podcast content from us.

[00:18:25] Thank you all so much for listening as always

[00:18:27] and we will see you all next time.

[00:19:39] And review them with us.

[00:19:41] Are these movies as bad as critics would have us believe?

[00:19:44] Do we even care if they are?

[00:19:46] We are always unpacking that very question on Sleepover Cinema.

[00:19:50] Check out Sleepover Cinema wherever you get your podcasts

[00:19:53] or at evergreenpodcast.com.

[00:19:56] See you soon.