SOUL is set to release on Disney+ on December 25th! Check out all of the movie details, trailer, images, featurette and soundtrack details here!
This family friendly movie is set to release on Christmas. Every year we find a movie that we can watch as a family and enjoy it after all the hustle and bustle of Christmas Day is over.
This year, we will be watching SOUL on Disney+. Disney+ is becoming our favorite streaming service that we have with their large selection and special releases like SOUL, Safety and Godmothered.
About Soul
Available exclusively on Disney+ beginning Dec. 25, 2020, Disney and Pixar’s feature film “Soul” introduces Joe Gardner, a middle-school band teacher with a serious passion for jazz music.
The story is particularly relatable to the artists behind it. For Jamie Foxx, who lends his voice to Joe, it begins with jazz. “Like Joe, I hear music in everything,” said Foxx. “When you’re a jazz artist, man, you talk a little different: ‘Hey, cat!’ I got a chance to go to a few jazz fests and meet Herbie Hancock, Chick Correa—hang out with those guys.
They have a way of talking, a way of dressing—everything funnels toward their music, toward the jazz.”
But director Pete Docter, who shares Foxx’s love of music, conceived of the character before jazz entered the picture.
“I’ve been so lucky to work with some incredible people and make movies that have been seen around the world,” he said. “But I realized that as wonderful as these projects are, there’s more to living than a singular passion—as expressive and fulfilling as that may be. Sometimes the small insignificant things are what it’s really about. This film is about broadening the idea of a singular focus to thinking more widely about what life has to offer and what we have to offer life.”
Pete Docter, Director
Likewise, co-director Kemp Powers, who initially joined the project as a writer, didn’t have to look far to find inspiration for Joe Gardner.
“We’ve been working on ‘Soul’ for years, but the film feels timelier now than we ever could have imagined back when we began,” said Powers. “In a year where everything we know has been turned upside down, we’ve all been forced to find new meaning both in the relationships we have and the small moments that truly make life worth living.”
Kemp Powers, Co-Director
In the film, Joe is on the brink of getting his big break playing for a jazz quartet. But he finds himself on an unexpected detour from the streets of New York City to The Great Before, tasked with helping new soul 22, voiced by Tina Fey, find her spark to earn her way to Earth.
“He’s sure if he can share his life story with her—his passion for jazz—she’ll be inspired and they’ll both get to go to Earth,” said producer Dana Murray. “They do make it back to Earth, but that’s really the beginning of their adventure. It’s a funny and touching story of friendship and self-discovery, and we can’t wait to show it to the world.”
Dana Murray, Producer
Voice Cast
Five-time BAFTA winner Graham Norton (“The Graham Norton Show”) revealed last weekend that he lends his voice to spiritual sign twirler Moonwind.
The voice cast also includes:
- Rachel House (“Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” “Thor: Ragnaraok”) as the count-obsessed Terry, and Alice Braga (“Elysium”)
- Richard Ayoade (“The Mandalorian”)
- Wes Studi (“Woke,” “The Last of the Mohicans”)
- Fortune Feimster (“Bless the Harts”)
- Zenobia Shroff (“The Affair”) as the voices of the Counselors.
- Comedian Donnell Rawlings voices Joe’s barber Dez, and June Squibb (“Nebraska”) provides the voice of Gerel.
- Foxx, Fey
- Phylicia Rashad
- Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
- Angela Bassett
- Daveed Diggs.
Rated PG, “Soul” features jazz compositions & arrangements by globally renowned musician and GRAMMY® nominee Jon Batiste, and an original score by Oscar®-winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (“The Social Network”).
Extended Sneak Peek
As Disney and Pixar’s “Soul” nears its debut on Disney+ on December 25, a new sneak peek of the critically acclaimed feature film is now available.
In the movie, Joe Gardner (voice of Jamie Foxx) is a middle-school band teacher who dreams of playing in the best jazz club in town. Filmmakers found they could relate to the character’s passion for music.
Director Pete Docter grew up in a musical family and plays the double bass.
“My folks are both teachers and both musicians,” says Docter. “There are three kids and we all became musicians. I think my mom enjoyed having the Von Trapp family; when people would come over, we’d have to perform. My two sisters stuck with it—one is a cellist with the Metropolitan Opera, and the other one is violist and a teacher.”
Pete Docter, Director
Co-director Kemp Powers, who used to be a music writer, played the alto saxophone in a jazz band during high school. His affinity for jazz plays a big role in his personal life.
“My son’s name is Mingus,” says Powers. “He’s named after Charles Mingus. A lot of us Gen Xers, particularly Black Gen Xers, fell in love with the bebop-era jazz artists—John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, of course Herbie Hancock. These guys were musical icons that—specifically in New York City—inform so much of the other big musical genre in the city, which is hip hop. The background tunes of my life are jazz and hip hop.”
Kemp Powers, Co-Director
“Life has so much to offer,” says Joe in the sneak peek. “We only have a short time on this planet. Don’t miss out on the joys of life. Remember to enjoy every minute of it.”
Disney and Pixar’s “Soul” also features the voices of:
- Tina Fey
- Phylicia Rashad
- Donnell Rawlings
- Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
- Angela Bassett
- Daveed Diggs.
Director, Co-Director, Producer and Music Director
The film is directed by Docter, co-directed by Powers and produced by Dana Murray. Jazz compositions & arrangements are by globally renowned musician and GRAMMY® nominee Jon Batiste, while Oscar® winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (“The Social Network”) composed an original score.
SOUL Featurette & Soundtrack Details
Walt Disney Records is set to release Disney and Pixar’s Soul Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Soul Original Score vinyl album and Music From and Inspired by Soul vinyl album. The digital soundtrack and both vinyl albums will be available on Dec. 18.
“Soul” is directed by Academy Award® winner Pete Docter (“Inside Out,” “Up”), co-directed by Kemp Powers (“One Night in Miami”) and produced by Academy Award nominee Dana Murray, p.g.a. (Pixar short “Lou”). Disney and Pixar’s “Soul” will be available exclusively on Disney+ (where Disney+ is available) beginning Dec. 25, 2020.
“Soul” is set in two distinct worlds, gritty New York City and the ethereal cosmic realms of The Great Before, which called for two styles of music that help shape and define each world. Globally renowned musician and GRAMMY® nominee Jon Batiste provided the original jazz compositions and arrangements for the film, and Oscar® winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (“The Social Network”), from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Nine Inch Nails, created an original score that will drift between the real and soul worlds.
The soundtrack also includes the songs “Rappin Ced” performed by Daveed Diggs, “Parting Ways” performed by Cody ChesnuTT, and Batiste’s cover of the Curtis Mayfield classic “It’s All Right.”
“Jon Batiste is a fantastic musician—he’s a historian yet is able to push the music forward, bringing all these different influences to the work. I sincerely hope that the jazz music in ‘Soul’ will inspire a whole new generation.”
Pete Docter, Director
“All the compositions are influenced by a large swath of the hundred-plus years of jazz music, which gives the listener a lot of reference points. It’s a subtle way to pay homage while also introducing a whole new audience to these types of sounds.”
Jon Batiste
On creating the score Reznor said, “Our first step is always to listen and really try to understand where the filmmakers are coming from—what they’re seeing, what they’re imagining. We spent a lot of time discussing how you’re supposed to feel when you’re first exposed to the ‘Soul’ world. Then we went back to our studio, which is filled with a variety of real, imagined and synthetic instruments, and spent the first chunk of time experimenting with different arrangements and different instruments and seeing what felt emotionally right to create the fabric of this world.”
According to Ross, they wanted to help differentiate the areas of that world. “There’s The Great Before, The Great Beyond, The Astral Plane, The You Seminar,” he says. “Every place needed its own identity.”
“We wanted the score for this film to be different from any other Pixar film. We were excited to work with Trent and Atticus because we knew they would bring us places we’d never gone before. Their unique approach to sound and creative thinking made them really inspiring to work with.”
Pete Docter, Director
The digital Soul Original Motion Picture Soundtrack features 42 score and jazz tracks; the Soul Original Score vinyl album by Reznor and Ross features 23 tracks (Side A 12 tracks / Side B 11 tracks); and Music From and Inspired By Soul vinyl album by Jon Batiste features 22 tracks (Side A 15 tracks / Side B 7 tracks), including his cover of “It’s All Right.”
