You can now check out Elio on Disney+, but you’ll certainly want to invest in the Digital or DVD release. There are so many more bonus features when you buy the movie, and Yonas Kibreab teased some of them when we chatted with him and Remy Edgerly about the movie.
Elio follows the titular boy, who is an orphan struggling to find his place. He doesn’t feel like he fits in on Earth, so when he makes contact with aliens and is pulled into the Communiverse, he feels like he has a chance to belong.
Well, maybe the Communiverse isn’t his place. Maybe it is on Earth, but what does that mean for his relationship with the friends he makes along the way? We chatted about that, the topic of acceptance, and so much more in our exclusive interview.
FlickSided: Elio has so many great themes throughout. What’s your favorite theme in the movie?
Remy Edgerly: I like the space theme.
Yonas Kibreab: Same. I was going to say the space theme, the aliens. Basically, the whole theme of the movie.
FS: Space is awesome. There’s so much out there. How can you not love seeing all the aliens and different species of said aliens? One of the themes that stands out to me is that of acceptance. What was that like for you to show that it doesn’t matter what even species look like?
YK: I think that’s a great thing, and not even just for the movie, but in real life. It’s great to get along with everybody that you can, and make as many friends as you can like Elio and Glordon in the movie. Although Elio is human and Glordon is an alien, they got along. They had a lot in common. They just had to get talking to get to know each other a little more.
RE: I was gonna say the same thing as Yonas.
FS: I can see the two of them having so many wild adventures. What sort of antics do you see them getting up to?
YK: They get into a lot of crazy things. I think if Elio and Glordon were to come to Earth, let’s say to Pixar Studios, I think they would get into a lot of crazy activities. Hopefully, they don’t mess up everybody’s office, but I think they would do some damage.
RE: If they went to Disney World or something.
YK: Oh, that’s a good one. They go on all the rides, right?
RE: Probably, but I don’t think a rollercoaster could be the same as going on a light-speed spaceship.
FS: That’s very true. Maybe Glordon won’t throw up as much, though! What have you taken from your characters that you can use in real life?
YK: For me, I think, as you know, Elio has a hard time trying to figure out who he’s meant to be throughout. So, I think, finding who you truly are, and just staying true to yourself. Never change who you are is a very important thing in life I learned from playing this character.
RE: Yeah, I think it’s important that, because of how near the end, Glordon tells Elio how he doesn’t really want to be in his carapace, that it’s okay to be vulnerable.
FS: it’s so true! So many say vulnerability is a weakness, but it’s a great strength to have. Let’s talk about the friendship of Elio and Glordon and what it was like bringing that to life in the studio.
YK: We didn’t work together in the studio that much. For the PR stuff, we did actually hang out a lot together. We got to do to Disneyland and Disney World, all the parks, and it was great hanging out. I’m glad we got ot meet in person finally and get to know each other more.
We also got to go to the Space Center in Houston. If you want to see some of those clips, they’re in the Digital release of Elio. You can see it at the end if you’re interestedin the special deleted scenes and behind the scenes.
FS: It’s such a shame that you didn’t get to work together in the studio! It felt like the two of you were hanging out together in there.
YK: I’m glad that we could communicate that. We did get to record once, and it was a really fun time. I wish we could have done it more.
FS: There needs to be a sequel to make that happen. What’s it been like now you’ve had the chance to see the footage with your voices interacting with the animation?
RE: It kind of felt weird, like it was a weird dubbed version that was never meant to be released. It kind of feels weird seeing your voice on the big screen.
FS: It never stops getting weirder hearing your own voice!
YK: I don’t know about you, Remy, but I didn’t see that much of the animation during recording for the four years. I wasn’t able to see too much, but when I did get the final cut for the first time, it was so rewarding to finally see what you’ve been working on for so long. It was crazy. I hope everybody can experience that.
FS: Four years?
YK: Four years, yep.
FS: Wow! Yonas, let’s talk about the topic of grief. Elio is dealing with the loss of his parents. Where did you look for inspiration to show this so authentically?
YK: The story made me tear up just a little, because I can’t imagine losing your parents. I luckily haven’t lost my parents, which is great, and they’ve been here to support me along the way. But just reading his story, and stepping into his shoes, and just be like ‘wow, what would it be like if this happened to me?’
FS: Remy, we get to see this beautiful father-son storyline, which is rarely shown on screen. There’s plenty of mother-son, father-daughter, mother-daughter, but not father-son, so what was that like for you to bring to life?
RE: Me and my dad hang out a lot. We play games together, and we have a lot of fun, so I took inspiration from that for some of those scenes.
FS: How cool is it to show it on screen?
RE: Honestly, it feels nice!
FS: I love that for you! To wrap up, Yonas, I want to touch on how you voiced Elio and Other Elio. You made it clear in voice work that they weren’t the same person, so how did you go about that?
YK: It was really cool. I had an idea when they introduced Other Elio for the first time, to instead of doing it line-by-line to do what I’d seen other voice actors do on YouTube. They’re really similar, right, but I think Other Elio has creepy features to him, so I had the idea to record them both at the same time to see what it would be like. I kept the same voice, but I just added a bit of alien-like, I don’t know how to describe it, something a little bit creepier than regular Elio to show that it’s not really him.
FS: It was such a great way to do it. He was polite, but he wasn’t Elio.
Elio is now available to buy on DVD, Blu-Ray, and Digital, and is also available to stream on Disney+.
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