Get ready for Disney & Pixar’s second film to hit theaters in 2020, “Soul.”
Directed by two-time Academy Award-winner Pete Docter, co-directed by Kemp Powers, Disney and Pixar’s “Soul” introduces Joe Gardner, a middle-school band teacher whose true passion is playing jazz. According to Docter, the idea for the story is 23 years in the making. “Where did that come from? I thought your personality developed through your interaction with the world. And yet, it was pretty clear that we’re all born with a very unique, specific sense of who we are.”
The film is set in New York City—inviting filmmakers to capture everything they love about the city of dreams. “I was born and raised in New York,” says Powers. “This is the first time Pixar has gone to my hometown and I’ve been so impressed by the amount of energy that goes into making sure that everything is right. When the character’s in Queens, it looks like he’s in Queens. When he’s in Manhattan, it looks like he’s in Manhattan. It’s pretty incredible.”
The big-city backdrop proves the perfect place to set a story interwoven with jazz music. Globally renowned musician Jon Batiste is writing original jazz music for the film, and Oscar winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, from Nine Inch Nails, are creating an original score that will drift between the real and soul worlds.
In the film, just when Joe thinks his dream might be in reach, a single unexpected step sends him to a fantastical place where he’s is forced to think again about what it truly means to have soul. That’s where he meets and ultimately teams up with 22, a soul who doesn’t think life on Earth is all it’s cracked up to be. Jamie Foxx lends his voice to Joe, while Tina Fey voices 22.
CHECK OUT THE FIRST TRAILER NOW:
Disney and Pixar’s “Soul” opens in theaters on June 19, 2020.
