Teen Titans go Hollywood
And Kristen Bell is their intrepid guide.
With the exception of “Wonder Woman” filmmaker Patty Jenkins, the superhero game in Hollywood is dominated by men.
In the irreverent animated world of “Teen Titans GO! to the Movies” (in theaters Friday), representation is in a far better place. Voiced by “The Good Place” star Kristen Bell, ultraconfident Jade Wilson is the powerful go-to director when the Titans pals hit up Tinseltown, yearning to be on the big screen.
“What I loved about Jade is she could have been a man,” says Bell, 38. “It wasn’t written with a gender in mind, and actually she has more stereotypical male characteristics, but they didn’t choose to write her that way. They gave her boobs, so that was very cool.”
Brandishing a self-obsessed, melodramatic personality, Jade couldn’t be more different than Bell’s most famous animated role, that of Princess Anna of Arendelle in “Frozen.” Bell reprises her spunky heroine in the Disney sequel “Ralph Breaks the Internet” (Nov. 21) and the hotly anticipated “Frozen 2” (Nov. 27, 2019).
Bell, who’s the mom of cartoon-loving daughters Lincoln, 5, and Delta, 3 – and wife of actor Dax Shepard – talks with USA TODAY:
Question: Jade seems to have patience when it comes to the big-time superheroes – Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman – but she’s awfully dismissive of Robin and the gang.
Kristen Bell: She’s a woman who understands “no” is a complete sentence. It’s someone you don’t want to cross very often.
Q: When your household watches superhero movies, what are the favorites?
Bell: We tend to watch a lot of documentaries or cartoons. The last superhero movie I saw was “Deadpool.” I just really like it when people take their own uniqueness – their mark that makes them them – and bring it.
Q: Was voicing Jade very different than voicing Anna?
Bell: With Anna, we had decided from the very beginning that I was going to infuse myself into that character. I was desperate to make a girl that I wanted to look up to when I was 10 years old – the girl that trips, that talks too much, that constantly put her foot in her mouth but led with heart and loved everyone in the world before she’s ever met them.
Jade and I share nothing in common (laughs). It required more thought to make it authentic and real, because there were parts of her that were not supposed to be authentic and real.
Q: What’s it like coming back to Anna after the super-success of “Frozen”?
Bell: Well, she never leaves me. I have a lot of similarities to Veronica Mars when I’m feeling snarky, but what I feel like inside was what we created with Anna. Getting her back is very, very easy for me – there’s no thought behind it because I know who she is at her core because it’s who I felt I was all growing up. I certainly think the (sequel) will be as impactful as the first.
Q: Are your daughters really into Anna and Elsa?
Bell: Yes and no. They’ve seen the movie, they pretend to be the characters, but they do not like acknowledging my association with the film. They’ve seen me record some of the songs, they’ve seen me sing them live. If I open my mouth at home, they both roll their eyes and go, “Mom, ugh!” They put their hands on my mouth and hate when I sing. They don’t like to feel like I’m closer to the project than they are, which is fine.