The first official trailer for Disney‘s live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch hits some familiar sweet spots from the 2002 original. Stitch still makes a crash-landing with the promise of chaos, Ohana still means family, and that one guy still can’t keep his ice cream from falling to the ground. In theaters May 23, the revamped version of the classic stars Maia Kealoha as Lilo with Chris Sanders, who wrote and directed the animated film, reprising his role as the voice of Stitch.
“After Lilo & Stitch was finished, they came to me and said, ‘We want to play some voices for you.’ And they played people trying to sound like me, and I was confused. I’m like, ‘Why am I listening to these?’ They said, ‘Oh, well, we’re going to replace you because going forward, there will be many, many needs for Stitch voice recordings,’” Sanders told Vulture last year. “And I immediately said, ‘Oh, no, no, no, no! This is my guy! I will be the voice.’ That was one of the best decisions I think I’ve ever made in my career because it’s kept me close to a character that I created in a way that means I get to check in and see him in these different things.”
Lilo & Stitch also stars Sydney Agudong as Nani, Billy Magnussen as Agent Pleakley, Tia Carrere (originally the voice of Nani in animated iterations) as Mrs. Kekoa, Hannah Waddingham as the Grand Councilwoman, Courtney B. Vance as Cobra Bubbles, and Zach Galifianakis as Dr. Jumba Jookiba.
Dean Fleischer Camp, who previously helmed Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, served as director on the film. “I would say that I had a lovely conversation with director Dean Fleischer Camp very early, before they began shooting,” Sanders said. “He gave me a call and asked if I wanted to return as the voice. I had yet to meet him in person, but we spoke until the battery on my phone gave out. He seemed to have a great enthusiasm for the project and seemed like a thoughtful guy.”
From Rolling Stone US
