What You Need To Know Before You Watch Disney’s ‘Strange World’

Animated science-fiction adventure movies are nothing new for Disney. Still, Strange World serves up several firsts for the cast and creators – from career goals to face-to-face meetings to representation.

Inspired by retro sci-fi films and the pulp magazines of the 50s and 60s, the studio’s 61st animated film follows a diverse family of explorers, the Clades, who have their differences but put them aside to explore a mysterious planet named Avalonia. The cast features the voices of Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Jaboukie Young-White, and Gabrielle Union, among others.

A number of the voice actors and crew, including director Don Hall, writer Qui Nguyen, and producer Roy Conli gathered in Los Angeles to talk about the movie. Here are some interesting takeaways you should know before heading to the movie theater to catch Strange World.

How Jake Gyllenhaal brought himself to the role of Searcher Clade

Gyllenhaal: First and foremost, the story is what attracts me to a film, and I could feel from Don, Qui, and Ron that early on, Strange World came from a true place. The initial idea of the movie was based on something that came from his own heart, directly from him and his personal experiences, and that drew me in. It wasn’t a story that came from the ether. Then I got to bring my own experience in a different way, particularly because it was an animation and my voice. My dad said he went to see a movie this weekend, and he heard my voice because he went to go get popcorn, and he heard my voice and then walked in and saw my animated character, which totally tripped him out. Little do you know, but all the animators are starting to watch your face, your movement, your facial expressions, and the character slowly does become you as you become it in this odd, extraordinary transformation. I was bringing myself without even realizing I was bringing myself.

Gabrielle Union on moving up to the Disney animation big leagues

Union: This came about at the same time as The Inspection, and I was like, ‘I need some levity. What kind of mom is she? Oh, a good mom. Okay.’ I jumped at the chance because I needed some chuckles to offset the darkness and wanted to play in a different medium. I’d been in the minor leagues, and I’d done voice acting on a smaller scale with Disney at Disney Junior but to be able to provide a voice for the famed Disney animation department, that’s like a dream come true. That’s something we all hope for, and then to be given freedom too? People say, you know, ‘We got that one in the can. Now just ad-lib. Say what you want,” and they never use it. You’re like, ‘Okay. I’d rather get on the 405. Let’s keep this train on the tracks.’ They meant it, though, and I was like, ‘For real?’ They kept so much of what I ad-libbed, making it fun, easy, and super-efficient. Rarely in this town do people care about efficiency and your time; you walk in, and they’re all truly, legit wonderful people.

The Day After Tomorrow co-stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Dennis Quaid meet for the first time

Quaid: Yes. This is the first time Jake and I have been in the same room, actually. I’ve never seen any of those films, so I didn’t know what he looked like.

Gyllenhaal: I literally never met Dennis until this moment, which is really weird.

Quaid: In The Day After Tomorrow, we (played father and son but) really didn’t have scenes together. The only difference is that I was searching for you, and now you’re searching for me.

The classic adventure stories that influenced Strange World

Don Hall: I did a lot of research at the beginning, which was joyous. I reread many of those early adventure films or novels by Jules Verne and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. We watched Raiders of the Lost Ark. It’s one of my favorite movies of all time. King Kong is a really good example of this particular genre, where a group of explorers finds a hidden world with creatures and monsters.

Qui Nguyen: For me, it was actually more the family stuff that attracted me to the thing, like National Lampoon’s Vacation and Little Miss Sunshine. Ultimately, the adventure’s great, but at the heart of it, you fall in love with this family, these characters, and the relationships with one another. To have something that was so anchored in humor and humanity was really important to give a little bit more depth to the monsters and things like that, which were already amazing.

On Jaeger Clade challenging the classic hero archetype

Quaid: That’s the deal of these heroic people. It’s the hero’s journey in a way, told in three different ways, across generations. I think Jaeger harkens back to maybe even the 50s and 60s when the man was supposed to go out and work, and he’d be gone; you didn’t think twice about it, and he could be heroic. At the same time, what you miss is everything that is really important. I like the way they portray that. They really faced it, owned it, and addressed everything that goes with it.

Disney’s Strange World is exclusively in theaters now.