Timberlake, Kendrick show their True Colors in DreamWorks stunt
Cannes audience treated to a song and a sneak peek of Trolls at film fest
DreamWorks Animation has long used the Cannes Film Festival as a springboard to promote its features, never less than that time in 2007 when Jerry Seinfeld ziplined from the roof of the Carlton Hotel to the beach — in full bee costume, no less — to promote the animated film Bee Movie.
This year’s stunt was a little less dangerous — Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake took to the stage at the festival’s Debussy theatre to perform the 1986 hit True Colors — though the presence of several hundred young girls screaming “I love you!” did lend the event a slight tinge of peril, if only of being mobbed.
The duet was in support of DreamWorks’ Trolls, featuring the voices of Kendrick, Timberlake and others, and due to open Nov. 4. The Cannes audience was treated to several just-completed scenes from the film, which tells of a community of Troll dolls whose peaceful forest existence is threatened by the appearance of giant beasts called Bergen, who regard the trolls as a delicacy.
Kendrick provides the voice of Poppy, who vows to save her people from the Bergen. The former ’N Sync member is a grumpy troll who, ironically, does not sing and dance as the other trolls do — though clearly he can be coaxed into a chorus of True Colors if the situation warrants.
What else did we learn from the sneak preview? Trolls poop cupcakes — uncontrollably so when frightened — and their long hair is prehensile and capable of transforming into staircases, whips and other tools. They are also virtually indestructible — Poppy survives numerous mishaps while singing a song titled Get Back Up Again. And they do love to sing.
“I don’t think we’ve ever made a film where the music drives the story as much as it does in Trolls,” said DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg.