Spirit Untamed, the DreamWorks Animation film that follows in the hoof steps of 2002’s Oscar-nominated Spirit: Stallion of Cimarron, arrives in theaters on June 4. Based on the Emmy-winning Netflix series Series Riding Free, the movie takes place on the wide open frontier of Miradero.
After the death of his wife Milagro (Eiza Gonzalez, Godzilla Vs. Kong), Jim retires from life – including from the task of caring for his daughter Lucky (Isabela Merced, Dora and the Lost City of Gold). But when they are reunited years later, Jim must accept Lucky’s love of horseback riding despite the circumstances of Milagro’s demise.
Gonzalez spoke to Screen Rant about the joys of taking on her first original voice acting work, the process of recording an original song for the movie, and where she’d like to go next in the world of animation.
I’ve loved watching you grow in Hollywood after watching your telenovelas before, and now you’ve expanded even further into voice acting. What is it like for you to act only with your voice?
Eiza Gonzalez: It’s an interesting process, for sure. I had never done it before. I had done dubbing, which is very different, because you’re honoring the other actor’s performance – and I’ve done that in Spanish with The Croods, and I had done it with a couple of other movies.
But this was very special because, first of all, the director just wanted the authentic-ness of my culture in the role and really bringing that to life. We played around a lot, so it’s like being a child again. You’re also devoid of your own body, and you sort of let go. No matter what, your body and your insecurities and stuff put like a limit to certain performances. When you’re allowing your voice to take over, you take on a whole new world.
That’s an animation is so exhilarating as an actor, because it really opens a vault of a whole different sort of work. And as an actor, it really allows you to grow. So I was very, very excited to do it – in a very small capacity, but hopefully I’ll get to do much more in the future.
The duet that you sand with Isabela Merced, “Valiente,” is such a lovely mother-daughter bonding song. What was that like for you to record?
Eiza Gonzalez: It was so special. That song has a lot of heart, and he moment I heard it, it moved me to the core. I heard it first when I had to sing it for the film, and it honors everything about my culture. It has the Spanish guitars, and it has this big opening in Spanish, and she’s singing “Oye el viento cantar.”
It’s just so beautiful, and the message within the the song is uplifting. It’s about believing in yourself, and about going for your dreams and being fearless; trusting yourself. And also being able to sing in my native language, and obviously sharing it with Isabela, who I think is incredibly talented. I just loved the outcome. I felt like our voices harmonize very well, and they worked really beautifully together.
So, I’m really proud of the song. Being able to sing the song for the movie and being able to be part of animation is a dream.
You said you’d like to do more animation, which I would love to see you do. Is there any kind of story you see yourself in?
Eiza Gonzalez: Yeah, that’s the beauty of animation: you could be anything. You could be a door, you could be a sock, you can be a vegetable. Animation is just fun, and it allows people’s imagination to run wild. So, I’d love to do it.
I’d also love to see more of my culture represented on screen in that way. Because I feel like the way that they made this movie really embraces the roots and origin of who she is and allows people to feel confident and strong about who you are and where you come from. So, that was something that was a no-brainer for me in the moment that they brought up this project, because it’s always exciting to be able to be part of a project that honors my culture and raises it. It’s an uplifting story, and it’s so positive. It’s a beautiful reflection of what I believe my culture is.
Spirit Untamed will be in theaters on June 4.
