Summary

Brittany Howard shines as Thelma in this hilarious animated musical, bringing her unique voice and personality to the character.
The film tackles serious themes like toxicity on social media, self-acceptance, and fame, striking a balance between humor and depth.
Directors Jared Hess and Lynn Wang infuse the movie with fun supporting characters and great music, making
Thelma the Unicorn
a must-watch on Netflix.

Directors Jared Hess and Lynn Wang strike comedy gold with their hilarious Netflix animated musical, Thelma the Unicorn. Hess and his wife Jerusha, known for the early 2000s classics Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, adapted the script from Aaron Blabey’s bestselling children’s novel. The story follows Thelma, voiced by former Alabama Shakes lead singer Brittany Howard, as a mini farm pony who dreams of musical stardom with her band, the Rusty Buckets.

A fateful accident involving pink paint, glitter, and a carrot has Thelma pretending to be a unicorn to get attention. She achieves social media stardom and fame by going viral but learns a tough lesson about being true to herself. Will Forte co-stars as Otis the donkey, her bandmate and best friend. Please watch above and read below our interview with Jared Hess and Lynn Wang.

Hitting the Jackpot With Brittany Howard

MovieWeb: I absolutely loved this movie. It made me laugh a lot. You can’t have the film without Brittany. She’s fantastic. Talk about finding Brittany and casting her in the first place.

Jared Hess: Man, we were just such huge fans of all her work ever since Alabama Shakes and her solo material. She’s just larger than life for their voice and personality. When we reached out, and she said yes to playing the part, we felt like we’d hit the jackpot. When we recorded with her, we were always like, Brittany, how would you say this line? How would you do it? She would, and it was always way better than what we wrote. So we were just constantly looking for ways to bring her personality and her own story to the film.

Jared Hess: Weirdly enough, when we were initially talking to her about the role, she was like, “Did you know that I actually worked on a farm growing up? I hauled manure, and I was told by people that I didn’t have the right look to be a lead singer.” Which is totally outrageous and insane. So yeah, it was just kind of an amazing miracle that she connected with the character on such an emotional level.

Lynn Wang: I think the moment we got her, and she agreed to be the part, I think so many pieces fell into place. We could really design Thelma and think about Thelma in the Brittany lens. I think that really helped flesh her out.

Netflix

MW: You have a lot of fun supporting characters in the film. Some of them are absolute scene stealers. I laughed my butt off at the pool boys. They are some of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Where did those characters come from? Were they native to the book? Or did you guys create those characters?

Jared Hess: Yeah, they weren’t in the book. We just felt that Nikki Narwhal [Ally Dixon] should have this entourage of backup dancers that are always with her. And we consulted; Lynn found all these amazing ’80s exercise videos on YouTube of competitive aerobics…

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Lynn Wang: Hunky dudes and ladies…

Jared Hess: Yes, we were actively collecting photos and videos of hunks for our character designers.

Lynn Wang: They are one of our favorites. Also, they’re always so much fun.

The Scene-Stealing Pool Boys
Netflix

MW: Jemaine Clement [voices Vic Diamond] blew my mind. They were all so funny. Alright, so let’s talk about the serious themes of the movie. You guys brilliantly address what’s going on with this social media poisoning. The targeting of children to not be themselves, to go viral, and become famous. Was there ever a moment where you guys wanted to be more edgy and less humorous? Because I think you really do strike a good sweet spot.

Jared Hess: I think we weren’t attempting to be edgy for edgy’s sake in any part of the film. The themes just kind of naturally came from Thelma’s experience and her trying to chase this dream. The idea that she had to change herself and her mind that she wrongly believed. Gosh, I got to become something that I’m not in order to be seen and heard. In the end, she realizes I didn’t need that. There were amazing people in her life, like Otis (Will Forte) and Peggy (Maliaka Mitchell), that loved her for who she was, right from the outset. I think those themes are very universal now with social media and being a father. My kids, I want them to know that. It’s fun to see how Thelma experiences it in a very wacky and wild way.

Lynn Wang: I think a lot of what we do always comes from comedy. I know my work. I’m always looking for comedy. First, I think your work is definitely that way. I think it’s a great way to tackle these harder themes and more serious tones while also being really entertaining.

Finding Different Musical Options in Thelma the Unicorn

MW: The film rocks. I really enjoyed the music. As filmmakers, there are always issues about getting musical rights. Are we seeing what you originally planned when the script was written? Or did you have to go out and get alternative songs?

Jared Hess: Oh, yeah, you’ve always got budget restraints. So we definitely have a lot of needle-drop existing music in the film, which is so fun. There were a few places where we had to swap stuff.

Lynn Wang: We did, yeah.

Jared Hess: Just for budget reasons. I can’t even remember what they were now.

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Lynn Wang: But we worked with our music supervisor, Morgan Rhodes, who was so great at finding us a lot of different options that fit if a song dropped out because of whatever reason. She would find another one that would fit the same tone and idea and energy. It was really fun to dive in.

Thelma the Unicorn is available exclusively on Netflix. Check out the trailer for the film below.