Disney debuted a first look at upcoming Pixar film “Soul” at the D23 expo in Anaheim, Calif. and announced its star-studded voice cast.
“Soul” imagines that every person on earth comes pre-installed with a soul formed and perfected in a cosmic realm. Jamie Foxx will play a middle-school music teacher on earth who dreams of playing at legendary New York jazz club The Blue Note. After the wrong step into an open sewer grate, Joe slips back into his soul form back in the other realm — with some existential work to do before he might land his big gig.
“Soul” also stars Tina Fey, Daveed Diggs, Questlove, and Phylicia Rashad. “The Social Network” Academy Award winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails were also revealed to be composing the score at D23.
Tina Fey joked that she took the job in “Soul” because “its the only way I could get passes to D23.”
Dana Murray, who garnered an Oscar nomination for Pixar short “Lou,” will produce alongside Academy Award winner Pete Docter (“Up,” “Inside Out”), who serves as its director.
Docter has also stepped up as Pixar’s chief creative officer following John Lasseter’s departure from the production company amid sexual harassment accusations.
Aside from “Toy Story 4” and the other names on the list of movie remakes Disney has pushed out recently (“Lion King,” “Aladdin,” and forthcoming “Mulan” and “The Little Mermaid”), the film stands as the second original movie to be released after Pixar’s “Onward” starring Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Octavia Spencer.
“Soul” is set to premiere June 19, 2020.
