Credit: PixarAccording to Pixar actress Leah Lewis, contrary to popular belief, Walt Disney Studios can be a harsh critic, especially when casting for projects like Peter Sohn’s Elemental (2023).
Related: ‘Elemental’ Set To Replace Classic ‘Toy Story’ at Pixar
Every actor almost certainly has an audition horror story or two, as even the most prominent celebrities aren’t immune from getting a little flustered here or there. The process of reading for a film, TV show, or stage show can be incredibly daunting and oftentimes requires several rounds of script reads, especially when trying out for a company as big as Disney and Pixar.
Pixar’s latest animated flick, Elemental, likely auditioned hundreds of talented performers while searching for their leads, the fiery Ember Lumen and the go-with-the-flow Wade Ripple. The film, which premiered in June, indeed asked a lot from its voice actors, with overlapping storylines of family drama, young love, insecurity, and guilt, making it a stark departure from most family-friendly blockbusters.
The leading parts ultimately went to Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie, who played Ember and Wade, respectively. And even though Elemental had “a disappointing opening weekend,” according to a Disney press release, its box office numbers went from a spark to a flame in a matter of weeks, mainly thanks to international moviegoers and revitalized interest in Pixar’s charming romantic romp in the wake of overwhelmingly positive reviews.
Even though things ultimately worked out for Elemental, it wasn’t always a walk in the park for Leah Lewis, who, in an interview with VRPO Cinema during the Cannes Film Festival in May, initially thought she blew her audition early on in development due to a crying issue.
Lewis explained that since she “was in [her] family house” during her Elemental audition, she “couldn’t cry” during an emotional scene in the script, causing her to think she “didn’t book [the] job:”
There was a point in my audition that I had to cry, but because I was in my family house, I couldn’t cry. I was just too—it was like too much. I was like, ‘Oh my God I blew. Like I didn’t book this job.’ And then, I got the call back later on but I was like apologizing to him, I’m like, ‘I’m so sorry for whatever reason I’m in my family’s house right now and It’s all too much and I can’t cry.’ It was pretty funny though.
Thankfully, Lewis can laugh about the whole incident in retrospect and admitted she did eventually “watch [Elemental] with [her family] and they did cry. And [she] cried too, ’cause they were crying.”
Lewis might’ve had trouble getting the waterworks flowing for the audition, but it’s safe to say that she nailed it when voicing Ember for Elemental. And even more so, Pixar clearly saw something in her because rumors of an Elemental 2 and even a Disney+ spinoff series set in Element City have run rampant ever since the film premiered earlier this year.
The world created by Elemental certainly opens doors for a sequel somewhere down the line, with writer Kat Likkel revealing in June that there was an early idea for a sequel tease involving Ember and Wade’s “steam baby.”
While this exact concept may never come to fruition, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Pixar go all-in on building an Elemental franchise, given audiences’ warm reception to the original film. Hopefully, Lewis can avoid the audition process if Disney chooses to greenlight a sequel and save her tears for her next big project.
What do you think of Leah Lewis thinking she’d tanked her Elemental audition? Do you want to see more projects set in this colorful world? Let us know in the comments below.