SOUL is directed by Pete Docter (Up, Inside Out), who also co-wrote the screenplay with Mike Jones and Kemp Powers.
The animated film follows middle school music teacher Joe Gardner, voiced by Jamie Foxx (Django Unchained, Ray), who dreams of being a professional jazz musician, but ends up at the ethereal You Seminar, helping souls in training.
The trailer opens with Joe asking, “What would you want to be known for on Earth?” over shots of people in their everyday lives and jobs. “We only have a short time on this planet. You wanna become the person that you were born to be? Don’t waste your time on all the junk of life. Spend your precious hours doing what will bring out the real you,” he says.
Clips of people enjoying their passions like sewing and playing instruments, including Joe playing the piano onstage at the Half Note Club, follow.
Just as Joe learns he finally booked a gig, he falls into a pothole. The life-threatening accident causes Joe’s soul to be separated from his body and transported to the You Seminar, where souls develop and gain passions before being sent to a newborn child.
Now Joe must help the souls in training – and discover his own passioante soul –so that he can get back to Earth before it’s too late.
As a blue blob, he asks 22 (Tina Fey), a soul who doesn’t think life on Earth is all that great, what she’d like to be remembered for. “Probably for doing this funny cowboy dance,“ 22 says, showing off her moves.
The voice cast is rounded out by Questlove as Curly, the drummer in Joe’s band, Phylicia Rashad as Joe’s mother and Daveed Diggs as Paul, Joe’s neighbourhood nemesis.
Oscar winners Atticus Ross and Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor composed the original score, while Jon Batiste wrote several original jazz songs for the film, one of which scores this first teaser.
The fantasy comedy will be the second Pixar film releasing in 2020, with Onward arriving in March 2020.
Soul opens in theaters on June 19, 2020. - AFP
