GOING APE

“Monkey is a guardian figure. She becomes a stand-in for Kubo’s mother and she’s stern and tough love and no-nonsense, so there’s a family dynamic with these very strange characters. We started working with Charlize three years ago; she gives an extraordinary performance. She’s really tough, she’s funny, she’s also really vulnerable and gives this beautiful, soulful performance. That becomes the foundation for all the physical acting, which our animators do; there’s basically two sides to a performance – what you see, and what you hear.”