EXCLUSIVE: Strange World director Don Hall and co-director/writer Qui Nguyen talk about the film's theme, LGBTQ+ representation and more: Bollywood News

Walt Disney’s family adventure Strange world has finally graced the big screens and like every other Disney animated film, it teaches us some lessons in a very subtle way. Directed by Don Hall, the action-packed comedy adventure Strange world features a legendary family of explorers, the Clades, as they attempt to navigate an uncharted, treacherous land alongside a motley crew that includes a mischievous Splat blob, a three-legged Legend dog, and a slew of other voracious creatures. Strange world Co-directed by Qui Nguyen, who also wrote the screenplay.

EXCLUSIVE: Strange World director Don Hall and co-director/writer Qui Nguyen talk about the film’s theme, LGBTQ+ representation and more

As the film navigates the relationships between fathers and sons across three generations, it also attempts to speak from the perspective of the environment and address the concept of ‘living in harmony with nature’. Don previously directed an award-winning 2016 film Moana which also had a similar theme regarding environmental concerns. In an exclusive chat with Bollywood Hungamathe director shared his main reason behind such feature selection.

“I think environmental concerns to me are — they’re just the biggest question that we’re wrestling with in our lives,” Don said. “I don’t think there is a bigger question facing humanity right now. So, it’s very much on the mind. When this movie started, my kids were young, they’re a little older now, but again that’s exactly what it was – as a parent, it’s very much on my mind what kind of world my kids are going to inherit.”

“What a world I inherited and what responsibility I have as a parent to be a good ancestor, not only for my children but for generations to come,” he added. “For me, it’s just the biggest [concern] that we are facing right now.” While the film touched on environmental concerns, it also subtly addressed LGBTQ+ representation while telling a generational story.

Talking about how important it was to seamlessly but incredibly fit a forward-queer conversation between Jaeger (Dennis Quaid) and Ethan (Jaboukie Young-White) into the theme of this coming-of-age story, Don shared, “It’s very important to us as filmmakers and, you know, telling stories that are as diverse and inclusive as possible. Our audience is everyone.”

“They are [the people] We want, to watch these movies and we want our stories to be relatable to everyone and we were so grateful to be able to tell the story. And we love Ethan so much and can’t wait to share him with the world.” While Strange world touches on some mature, progressive themes, it is indeed true to its name with such weird, quirky and eye-catching visuals that it is definitely a feast for our eyes.

Speaking about the reason behind such a choice of vibrant, trippy colors in the film, co-director Qui Nguyen commented: “Well, I think a big reason was that we wanted to make sure that the leading world felt different from our alien world. “Below Avalonia had to have a very unique feel… When you went underground, you lost some of the colors of it that you’re used to seeing in the top world.”

“Blues, greens… the things that have been labeled as beauty, suddenly you had to find a new relationship to color below,” he added. “Well, that’s why the colors were chosen [the way] it was. It also gets creative with these incredible color schemes and each environment had its own main color theme which also evolved as you entered the darker depths of the film.”

Produced by Roy Conley, Strange world It features a star-studded voice cast of Jake Gyllenhaal as Searcher Clade. Dennis Quaid as Jaeger; Jaboukie Young-White as Ethan? Gabrielle Union as Meridian Clade and Lucy Liu as Callisto Mal. The action-packed adventure from Walt Disney Animation Studios is now playing in theaters.

Read also: Strange World: Jake Gyllenhaal and Gabrielle Union discuss how their characters were shaped in the Disney family adventure

Labels : Dennis Quaid, Don Hall, Characteristics, Gabrielle Union, Hollywood, International, Jaboukie Young-White, Jake Gyllenhaal, Lucy Liu, Moana, Qui Nguyen, Strange world, Strange World (English)

“Typical alcohol specialist. Music evangelist. Total travel scholar. Internet buff. Passionate entrepreneur.”