In Oscar favorite ‘Coco,’ life and art intertwine
MEXICO CITY: Thirteen-year-old Luis Angel has a lot in common with the character he plays in the hit movie “Coco,” the favorite to win this year’s Oscar for best animated film.
The movie, set against the backdrop of Mexico’s colorful Day of the Dead festival, tells the story of a boy named Miguel who fights against all odds to realize his dream of being a musician.
With his twinkling eyes and beaming smile, Luis Angel Gomez Jaramillo, who voiced Miguel in the Spanish-language version of the film, looks a little like his character.
“I identified a lot with the character, which may be one reason I did the movie,” he told AFP. Luis Angel, who comes from the sleepy colonial town of San Francisco del Rincon in central Mexico, had taken some voice lessons, but had little experience singing for an audience.
Luis Angel’s first break finally came when he landed a spot on the Mexican version of the reality show “The Voice Kids.”
He didn’t make it to the final round of the show, which aired last year. But several videos of him went viral online, and that is where Pixar producers found him.
They invited Luis Angel to audition, and he landed the part with his soaring voice, impressing director Lee Unkrich and the production team with his rendition of the movie’s theme song, “Recuerdame” — whose Englishlanguage version, “Remember Me,” is up for Best Original Song at the Oscars.
“Coco” is Mexico’s highestgrossing film of all time, bringing in $57.8 million there, out of a total of more than $730 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.