Video Interviews

The Wendell & Wild Cast on Shared Sensibilities and Perfect Casting

Director Henry Selick and stars Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, and Lyric Ross talk about being big fans of each other from way back and finding authenticity in their characters.

by | October 25, 2022 | Comments

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Writer-director Henry Selick and the comedic duo of Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele may not, at first, seem like they share especially compatible sensibilities, but to hear them speak about their partnership on Selick’s latest film, Wendell & Wild, they’ve been fans of each other for a very long time. Key and Peele lend their voices to the title characters of the new film, a pair of demons who scheme to enter the Land of the Living with the help of a 13-year-old girl named Kat (voiced by Lyric Ross), and they were the only people Selick had in mind to take on the roles.

RT editor Jacqueline Coley sat down with Selick, Key, Peele, and Ross ahead of the film’s Netflix premiere to talk about the winding road they took to get the film made, seven years after it was first announced in 2015. That predates Peele’s critically acclaimed directorial debut, Get Out, and his subsequent career as a modern horror maestro, as well as Key’s rise to stardom in various film and TV projects. They talk about how much they enjoyed each other’s work before they met, how much they discovered they had in common, and how they found authenticity in their characters. Check out the full interview.

Wendell & Wild premieres on Netflix on October 28, 2022.


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