STACK #158 Dec 2017

CINEMA FEATURE

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SEQUEL BLOCKBUSTERS Another round of these Pixar & Disney faves are coming soon...

DO YOU WANT TO BUILD A SNOWMAN? As arguably the world’s most famous snowman, Olaf – or rather the voice of said snowman – Josh Gad longs to melt in the heat of an Australian summer. Words Gill Pringle

THE INCREDIBLES 2 (June 15, 2018) At the Disney fan event D23 this year, writer and director Brad Bird confirmed the whole family will reunite, with additional superheroes introduced. He also revealed a chain of events will put the focus on Elastigirl, in this highly anticipated follow-up.

"I can’t wait to get back to Sydney,” says the Gad, coming soon to a beach near you. He's set to star in Olaf’s Frozen Adventure , a Christmas-themed 21-minute short which will run prior to the new Disney/ Pixar film, Coco . Tony-nominated for his performance as Elder Cunningham in Broadway smash The Book of Mormon , Gad has carved a respectable career with roles in Jobs , The Internship and Love & Other Drugs , although his work threatens to be eclipsed by the behemoth known as Frozen . The animated Disney movie

me how I’d spent 15 years dreaming of doing this and only three years trying to live out that dream,” he says. “My mother is an exceptional human being; a single mother raising three kids, working endless hours. I will never, ever, be able to thank her enough for the gift she gave me.” His mother’s conviction paid off in unexpected ways, and months later Gad booked a David Ives' play where he would meet his future wife, actress Ida Darvish.

RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET: Wreck it ralph 2 (November 21, 2018) A fair bit of detail came out about this one at D23; star Sarah Silverman (Princess Vanellope) told

fans Ralph and Venellope will venture into the internet for a fix to her game Sugar Rush . Expect cameos from fellow Disney characters such as Moana, Mulan, Elsa and many more, when the duo stumbles upon the studio's portal. TOY STORY 4 (June 21, 2019) The release date for the latest in this much-loved and enduring franchise has been moved forward a year to 2019. While details are scant, it appears the main thread will be a love story between Woody and Bo Peep (who was sadly missing from Toy Story 3 ). FROZEN 2 (November 27, 2019) Disney has set a release date of late November, but remains tight-lipped on the storyline. In the meantime, they've given us Olaf's Frozen Adventure so we won't be entirely left out in the cold.

“We were playing a married couple, and I fell head-over-heels for her," says Gad, whose wife and two daughters will join him in Sydney. "At the time she was 29 and I was 23, and we were both shocked when we learned the other person’s age. It was one of those things where it was just kismet, and we’ve been together ever since.” The Gads have become a well-oiled

took home two Oscars and USD1.27 billion at the global box office, although it was Gad’s characterisation of Olaf, Frozen ’s lovably naïve snowman, that melted the hearts of millions of moviegoers. Yes, the little girls went crazy for the Anna and Elsa princess

‘My daddy is Olaf!’... Naturally I was mortified

costumes, but Olaf was the goofy favourite, to which end he’s now the eponymous star of his own mini-movie, Olaf’s Frozen Adventure . The youngest of three brothers, Gad was raised by a single mum in Florida – ironically, he wouldn’t see his first snow, let alone build a snowman, until he was 15 years old. “I felt robbed of winter, so by the time I was making college choices, I was desperate to be surrounded by snow,” he says during our talk at Disney HQ in Burbank. Majoring in drama at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, he got his wish. However, three years after graduation, he had barely worked and was about to quit and join his brothers, both successful lawyers by then. “I felt like I was running in circles and doing nothing with my life, so I thought I should go into law. I called my mom expecting her to be happy and instead she was angry, telling

travel machine as Josh's career continues apace, this year alone starring in four movies including his stand-out performance as a campy LeFou in Disney’s live action version of Beauty and the Beast , an out-of-his-depth lawyer in civil rights biopic Marshall , and as a suspect in Kenneth Branagh’s all-star Murder on the Orient Express . With Frozen 2 looming in December 2019, Gad continues to nurture other projects including a spec script he wrote for Triplets , a riff on the 1988 comedy Twins starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. “I was a huge fan of that movie and a big fan of Arnold and Danny, so it would be great if Eddie Murphy came on board,” he says. If most public figures can reliably return home to their blissfully unaware offspring, then Gad’s own daughters can’t get enough of his Olaf alter-ego.

“I was at a school parents’ night with my youngest daughter Isabella, where one of the kids was like, ‘My daddy is a doctor’ and another one says, ‘My daddy is a lawyer’. And Isabella goes: ‘My daddy is Olaf!’ All the other kids were like, ‘Wow, that’s so cool’. Naturally I was mortified.”

Olaf's Frozen Adventure is a Christmas-themed 21 minute short which will screen prior to the new Disney/ Pixar film, Coco (in cinemas Boxing Day – see page 28).

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DECEMBER 2017

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