Kid Cudi privately devised a different voice for his “Trolls Band Together” character between being hired and recording his part.
In the third “Trolls” animated movie, Branch reunites with his estranged brothers and BroZone bandmates after one of them is kidnapped and held captive.
While the actors generally stick to their own voices in the “Trolls” franchise, Kid Cudi decided to try something new after being cast as Branch’s brother Clay.
“He came up with this whole voice,” director Walt Dohrn revealed in an interview. “We hire him, we talk with him, he’s excited to be a part of the Trolls universe, and then six months later, I think it was, he came in to record for the first time, and he’s like, ‘I’ve been trying this voice.’ He developed the voice on his own, and we said, ‘Absolutely, that’s great.'”
Dohrn explained that he usually discourages his actors from putting on a voice, but Kid Cudi’s decision worked perfectly for his character.
“A lot of time, we encourage the actors to use their own voice to add some realism because the characters are so wild and the world is weird and so fantastic, but in this case, it just fit this character,” he shared. “We are all about collaboration and when he came in with that voice, we said, ‘Absolutely, this is perfect.'”
Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake lead the “Trolls” movies as the voices of Poppy and Branch. Eric André, Troye Sivan and Daveed Diggs make up the rest of BroZone in the latest edition.
“Trolls Band Together” was released in U.K. cinemas on Friday, October 20. It will be released in the United States on November 17.