Jake Gyllenhaal and Gabrielle Union Talk Disney's 'Strange World'
Moviefone speaks with Jake Gyllenhaal and Gabrielle Union about 'Strange World.' "It's an action-adventure movie that is fun for the whole family," Union said.
Opening in theaters on November 23rd is the new Disney Animated movie ‘Strange World,’ which was directed by Don Hall (‘Moana’).
The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Searcher Clade, a former explorer that discovered the rare substance used to power the land of Avalonia. His father, the famous explorer Jaeger Clade (Dennis Quaid) went missing years ago, and Searcher now lives a simple life as a farmer with his wife Meridian (Gabrielle Union) and his son Ethan (Jaboukie Young-White), who desperately wants to be an explorer like his grandfather.
But when Searcher discovers that something is destroying the power source, he and his family join an expedition with Avalonia President Callisto Mai (Lucy Liu) to journey to the Strange World, where they eventually reunite with the missing Jaeger.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Jake Gyllenhaal and Gabrielle Union about their work on ‘Strange World,’ the story, their characters, and why you should see it in a theater!
(L to R) Voices of Lucy Liu, Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jaboukie Young-White, and Gabrielle Union in Disney's 'Strange World.'
You can read the full interview below with Jake Gyllenhaal and Gabrielle Union or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Gyllenhaal, Union, Dennis Quaid, Jaboukie Young-White, co-writers and co-directors Don Hall and Qui Nguyen.
Moviefone: To begin with, what would you both say to moviegoers getting ready to sit down and watch ‘Strange World’ on the big screen?
Jake Gyllenhaal: How is the popcorn? What would I say? That feeling of being in a movie theater, there's nothing like it. You finally got there, and this movie's going to be so fun. That's what I think.
Gabrielle Union: Oh, strap in. This is an action-adventure family movie that is fun for the whole family. It's all about three different generations of the same family, giving themselves permission to take different paths through life, while at the same time each trying to center their own individual passions, hopes, and dreams, and coming to the realization that no matter what route you take, it's perfect for you. We should all celebrate that.
But there is an amazing action adventure and a beautiful, wild, strange world that we are not going to tell you anything more about. Don't forget to validate and get the extra butter.
MF: Jake, can you talk about the father/son themes of the movie and how Searcher comes to terms with both his relationship with his father Jaeger, and his son Ethan?
JG: Yeah, searcher is estranged from his father really, because his father is an adventurer, and he never wanted to be an adventurer, but his father was desperate for him to be that. He became a farmer instead. Searcher hopes that his son is a farmer too and discovers pretty early on that it's not what his son wants to do.
(L to R) Voices of Lucy Liu, Jaboukie Young-White, Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, and Gabrielle Union in Disney's 'Strange World.'
So, he's left in the same position that he was with his father. He's stuck between these two worlds. In a lot of ways, the movie's not just about this strange world that they're actually in, but also the strange world that each one of them separately is in.
They have to come together and join forces to be in the same world, to save the world that they're in. I love that about the movie. That, to me, was also the thing that moved me so much about it. It gets me emotional when I think about it and did from the very first time I was pitched the story.
MF: Finally, Gabrielle, can you talk about how your character’s piloting skills help her husband and her son on their journey?
GU: Well, thank you for asking. A lot of who Meridian is, is how I live my life. How I love my family, how I fight for my family to live exactly as they would like to live, short of unwanted commentary. But I also had a life before I was a mother and a wife. I have skills, and I've got talents.
I don't always get to show those and it's similar with Meridian. She's able to use all of the things that she learned and all of the things that she excelled at, before she was a wife and a mother, to perhaps aid/save her family and her community.
(L to R) Jake Gyllenhaal and Gabrielle Union star in Disney's 'Strange World.'
Strange World
