- Title: LeBron James makes animated appearance at 'Smallfoot' premiere
- Date: 22nd September 2018
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 22, 2018) (REUTERS) ACTOR CHANNING TATUM SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS ACTRESS GINA RODRIGUEZ POSING WITH LITTLE GIRL SIGN READING 'MARRY ME ZENDAYA' VARIOUS OF ACTRESS ZENDAYA (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTORS, COMMON AND CHANNING TATUM, SAYING: Channing Tatum: "Have you been able to watch it yet without hearing your voice and thinking it's weird?' Common: "No, I haven't. I haven't been able to... When I hear it, I still hear my voice but then I see that character moving and it's weird for me right now. I'm looking forward to seeing it again and hopefully I'll be able to separate myself. How about you?" Channing Tatum: "Same, same. I just see my dumb face making all those stupid voices that Migo is making so yeah I haven't been able to disassociate myself from it just yet." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS, GINA RODRIGUEZ, SAYING: "It's wild. It's like when you listen to your voicemail. Have you ever listened to your voicemail? You're like 'That's not what I sound like'. Every time I'm like 'That's not me.' My little nieces and nephews are like 'I don't hear you. That's not you.' Well, I did change my voice a little. Jeez." TATUM AND COMMON ZENDAYA (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS, ZENDAYA, SAYING: "Well I'm a huge animated movie fan. I watch way too many as an adult, so that was my first yes that it was an animated movie and my second yes was just there's so many great... Personally to me there's so many great messages in the movie and there's so many things that you can pull from and be inspired by so I love that it's not only a lot of fun but also has some great messages in there too." BASKETBALL PLAYER LONZO BALL VARIOUS OF BASKETBALL PLAYER AND ACTOR LEBRON JAMES GOING INTO VENUE ACTOR DAVID HASSELHOFF WITH WIFE HAYLEY ROBERTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS, ZENDAYA, SAYING: "I'm very excited. It's going to be really cool. I'm definitely inspired by everything he's doing and everything he continues to do so I can't wait to meet him." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTORS, COMMON AND CHANNING TATUM, SAYING: Channing Tatum: "I worked with him every day. Basically, I held his water for him, I held his towel. I was like 'Are you ok, Mister Lebron? Ok, cool. Mister James, King... (laughs)" Common: "I'm excited and because he is one of the greatest, if not the greatest... People in Chicago will be mad if I say he's the greatest but he's up there and to have him be a part of it is incredible and I'm glad he showed up. We've got a lot of the Lakers here so it's cool." COMMON AND TATUM ACTRESS STORM REID ACTOR ELY HENRY AND DIRECTOR KAREY KIRKPATRICK (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR, KAREY KIRKPATRICK, SAYING: "You know, we looked at the character and because he's a big character, we wanted a big voice and a big presence in the character and someone recommended LeBron and I'd seen him in 'Trainwreck' and it's like 'Yeah, he was pretty naturally great in that,' and we met with him. He actually FaceTimed me. My first meeting he FaceTimed me and I was with my son and my cool factor just went way up." VARIOUS OF SMALLFOOT SIGNAGE
- Embargoed: 6th October 2018 22:03
- Keywords: Channing Tatum yeti Small Foot premiere animation Lebron James Common Los Angeles Zendaya Gina Rodriguez
- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES; UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS;
- City: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES; UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS;
- Country: USA
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Film
- Reuters ID: LVA0028YPIGCT
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: 'Smallfoot', a story about a yeti living in snowy mountains who encounters a human for the first time, had its premiere in the blazing midday heat in Los Angeles on Saturday (September 22).
The film stars Channing Tatum in the lead as Migo who discovers the human Percy (James Corden) but none of this fellow yetis believe that they exist.
Common, Gina Rodriguez and Zendaya also lend their voices but the main draw of the premiere was basketball player, LeBron James who voices Gwangi in the film.
He only made a fleeting appearance on the red carpet but many of the voice talent, who, as is usual, record their segments separately, were keen to meet him for the first time.
"I'm very excited. It's going to be really cool," said Zendaya, adding "I'm definitely inspired by everything he's doing and everything he continues to do so I can't wait to meet him."
Common also shared the same view saying "I'm excited and because he is one of the greatest, if not the greatest."
'Smallfoot' which is directed, written and composed by Karey Kirkpatrick, goes on release on September 28. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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