{"id":81391,"date":"2017-11-15T13:34:15","date_gmt":"2017-11-15T13:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/0de2709a84.nxcli.net\/0-kjasnb\/2017\/11\/15\/interviews-with-the-star-gina-rodriguez-zachary-levi-patricia-heaton\/"},"modified":"2018-12-18T02:20:13","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T02:20:13","slug":"interviews-with-the-star-gina-rodriguez-zachary-levi-patricia-heaton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/interviews-with-the-star-gina-rodriguez-zachary-levi-patricia-heaton\/","title":{"rendered":"Interviews with The Star’s Gina Rodriguez, Zachary Levi & Patricia Heaton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interviews with The Star’s Gina Rodriguez, Zachary Levi & Patricia Heaton<\/strong>Posted by Blackfilm com correspondent Annabel Iwegbue<\/p>\n

November 15, 2017<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Very recently, Blackfilm.com correspondent Annabel Iwegbue<\/strong> spoke with cast members Gina Rodriguz, Zachary Levi & Patricia Heaton<\/strong> of Sony Pictures Animation’s anticipated faith-and-family film The Star.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Premiering Nov. 17th, 2017, THE STAR<\/strong> tells the story of the first Christmas through the eyes of the animals who witnessed it.<\/p>\n

The voice cast already included\u00a0Gina Rodriguez<\/strong> (Mary), Zachary Levi<\/strong> (Joseph) and Oprah Winfrey<\/strong> (Deborah) and Tyler Perry<\/strong> (Cyrus) and Tracy Morgan<\/strong> (Felix) as the three camels,\u00a0Steven Yeun<\/strong> (Bo the donkey), Kelly Clarkson<\/strong> (Leah the horse), Aidy Bryant<\/strong> (Ruth the sheep), Keegan-Michael Key<\/strong> (Dave the dove), Kristin Chenoweth<\/strong> (Mouse), Anthony Anderson<\/strong> (Zach the goat), Gabriel Iglesias<\/strong> (Rufus the dog), Ving Rhames<\/strong> (Thaddeus the dog), national radio personality Delilah Rene<\/strong> (Elizabeth), Patricia Heaton<\/strong>\u00a0(Edith the cow),\u00a0Kris Kristofferson<\/strong> (Old Donkey), and Christopher Plummer<\/strong> (King Herod<\/p>\n

“THE STAR brilliantly tells the story of the first Christmas from the perspective of the adventurous animals who contributed to the journey and bore witness to the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ,”<\/strong> said Executive Producer DeVon Franklin. “The entire family will laugh and be inspired as they experience the power of faith, friends and courage through the eyes of these brave, heroic\u00a0animals.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A small but brave donkey named Bo (The Walking Dead\u2018s Steven Yeun) yearns for a life beyond his daily grind at the village mill.\u00a0One day he finds the courage to break free and finally goes on the adventure of his dreams.\u00a0On his journey, he teams up with Ruth (Aidy Bryant), a lovable sheep who has lost her flock and Dave, a dove with lofty aspirations.\u00a0Along with three wisecracking camels and some eccentric stable animals, Bo and his new friends follow the Star and become accidental heroes in the greatest story ever told \u2013 the first Christmas.<\/p>\n

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Mariah Carey co-wrote and sang a new song for the film.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE STAR is directed by Academy Award\u00ae nominated writer\/director Timothy Reckart<\/strong> (HEAD OVER HEELS); executive-produced by DeVon Franklin<\/strong> (MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN), Lisa Henson<\/strong> and Brian Henson<\/strong> (The Jim Henson Company) Ben Waisbren<\/strong>; produced by Jennifer Magee-Cook<\/strong>; with a story by Simon Moore<\/strong> and Carlos Kotkin<\/strong>; and screenplay by Carlos Kotkin.\u00a0 Digital animation by Cinesite Studios. COLUMBIA PICTURES and AFFIRM Films present in association with Walden Films\/LStar Capital in association with Franklin Entertainment\/The Jim Henson Company. A SONY PICTURES ANIMATION Film.<\/p>\n

GINA RODRIGUEZ<\/strong><\/p>\n

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What was it like taking on a character that\u2019s so well known? Was it intimidating?<\/strong><\/p>\n

You know what’s really interesting? As well-known as Mary is, what do you know about her? I\u2019ve thought about that because everybody’s asked me how intimidating it is. The truth is it is intimidating to play a biographical character; if you\u2019re playing Abraham Lincoln, if you\u2019re playing Mother Teresa that’s terrifying obviously, especially with people that we know, we have a grasp on who they are. Then you\u2019re constantly comparing. But for the Virgin Mary, no, because I don\u2019t ever talk about her. Why doesn\u2019t the Virgin Mary get any love? She\u2019s the one that threw down!<\/p>\n

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So that\u2019s what I love about The Star <\/em>is that they show her as this pillar of strength, and this woman that is steadfast and is going to go after what she wants, and has a mission, and has a service, and she\u2019s going to do it. I think that that’s pretty kickass. At the same time, I feel like its every woman that’s around me. My mom, my grandmother, my siblings. Those women are incredible, they\u2019re super women. I see them with their kids and I\u2019m like \u2018I hope one day I could be like that\u2019 So that’s who Mary is. Mary is my sister Rebecca.<\/p>\n

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So that’s how you made the character your own?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah! I made her my own because I know these women, I know my Marys, and we\u2019re all Mary.<\/p>\n

You haven\u2019t done much voice acting before?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have! But everything is kind of rolling out now, because animation takes forever<\/em>.<\/p>\n

When you did start what about it surprised you the most versus acting on screen?<\/strong><\/p>\n

How conscientos you have to be of your emotions, of everything! You can\u2019t tap anything, heavy breathing, the work with microphone entirely, popping of \u2018Ps.\u2019 You have to be so much more crafted, and your imagination to the hundredth degree, because you\u2019re by yourself! There is nothing, it’s just you and your mind, so it is a challenge. A really dope challenge.<\/p>\n

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What are you most looking forward to this holiday season?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I get to direct my first episode of Jane the Virgin <\/em>right after the holidays, I\u2019m going to be preparing the entire holidays to just be a badass female director.<\/p>\n

ZACHARY LEVI<\/strong><\/p>\n

With this project, when you first got the script, what stood out and made you think \u2018I have to get involved\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Well, you know working is always a good motivator, so you can pay the bills. But I got a call that said, \u2018 Hey you got an offer to play Joseph in this Sony animated movie called The Star<\/em>\u2019 and I read just the logline and I was like \u2018oh, the star like the nativity!\u2019 Then I read the script and I thought it was just so good. It was so clever, it had so much heart, and it was a brilliant way to retell a story that we all know to death. We\u2019ve heard it, we\u2019ve seen, its been done. And it’s a very important story, so how do you do that justice while reskinning it, and that its done through the perspective of the animals I think is just so clever.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It really does break down some barriers for younger audiences to understand and digest what the story is in a very entertaining and new way, also entertain the parents along with them and all the adults. And I love the idea that, as a person of faith, that I got to bring Joseph to life. I know as much about Joseph as anybody else does, which is very little, but it also gave me a lot of leeway to kind of create the character. And being apart of a holiday movie that could theoretically play every Christmas, thats fun! All my friend\u2019s kids will be like \u2018oh thats uncle Zach!\u2019 so it was just gangbusters all the way around.<\/p>\n

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Was it intimidating? How do you prepare playing Joseph?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lots of prayer! No, it was a great script and I just tried to do justice to the script and the authenticity of the character. As an actor you\u2019re just always trying to be honest, for whatever the character is you\u2019re bringing to life. For Joseph, I can\u2019t even imagine what that\u2019s gotta be like. No one else as far as I know in the history of mankind has ever had their significant other come up to them and say \u2018I have a baby, its not yours, but it’s also not another dudes! It\u2019s God\u2019s\u2019 So that\u2019s super weird and whatever that must\u2019ve been like for him. And I love that we had the levity of the movie because otherwise you could go real dark and heavy with it, and instead he\u2019s gobsmacked but he\u2019s still trusting because he loves Mary. Just the journey and the struggle of the journey, getting to where they are in the manger, and the struggle of his own faith, crying out to God and saying what is this? I think that’s all of our lives everyday when we\u2019re in the good and in the bad. Faith is ultimately all about trust, so I just try to make that as honest as I could.<\/p>\n

PATRICIA HEATON<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So first I wanted to ask you how did you get involved in this project?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fortunately my representation brought me this offer to do the part of Edith the cow and when I saw the amazing cast that was involved I was so excited. Also just to be apart of a faith based movie at Christmastime, particular the nativity story, that’s never been told as a Christmas movie and the story\u2019s been around for 2000 years. I think it’s about time we did it, so i was happy to be apart of it!<\/p>\n

Do you do a lot of animation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No I haven\u2019t done a lot of animation so I was really excited to do this and I\u2019d love to do more!<\/p>\n

What was your favorite part about playing a voiceover versus playing a character on screen?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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I can just roll in in my pajamas! But it’s a different kind of skill set, and as an actor you\u2019re always learning, and you\u2019re always trying to improve your craft and enlarge your skill set. So I love working with only your voice, and I think you have to push it a bit more than you would normally when you\u2019re just on camera as yourself. It’s a really interesting sort of trust exercise with your director and with the animator and with the actor.<\/p>\n

You play Edith in the nativity scene, was there any room to play around with that character because she\u2019s so fun.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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You do kind of play around with your voices a little bit! I think at the beginning Edith sounded a little more like me, and I can go into sort of a Midwestern twang, and we found that to be a lot of fun, so we kind of went in that direction.<\/p>\n

What were some of your favorite Christmas movies growing up?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I love Elf<\/em>, and I just recently watched Planes, Trains, and Automobiles <\/em>with John Candy and Steve Martin, and it really hold up well! And of course It’s a Wonderful Life is a terrific movie, it’s a classic, so I\u2019m hoping that The Star <\/em>also becomes a classic.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What are you most looking forward to this holiday season?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I work very very long hours on The Middle <\/em>so I\u2019m looking to get a nice 3 week break over the Christmas holidays. I\u2019m very much looking forward to having all my boys come home, my 4 sons, and doing some skiing with them.<\/p>\n