Brittany Howard didn't expect to be so moved by a script about a pony who dreams of music stardom

The Grammy-winning artist, best known as the frontwoman of Alabama Shakes, speaks to EW about her acting debut in "Thelma the Unicorn."

Brittany Howard was playing a show at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Palladium in early 2020 when she was approached by Jared and Jerusha Hess, the married filmmaking duo behind zany titles such as Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, about a character they had written with her in mind.

The role was an ambitious small-town pony with dreams of music superstardom in Thelma the Unicorn (out May 17), Netflix’s endearing animated musical comedy adapted from Aaron Blabey’s children’s books of the same name. Howard did not expect to be so moved by the story, which is all about learning to love yourself.

“I read the book, and I found myself getting teary-eyed,” Howard, 35, tells Entertainment Weekly. 

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At a farm surrounded by her best pals and bandmates, donkeys Otis (voiced by Will Forte) and Reggie (Jon Heder), Thelma dreams of becoming a unicorn superstar. A moment of fate (well, a passing truck transporting bins of pink paint and glitter) grants her that wish, transforming her into a sparkling global sensation. Despite the fame and adoration, it doesn’t take long for Thelma to realize she was happier as her ordinary, glitter-free self.

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Co-director Jared Hess knew that Howard, the five-time Grammy winner best known as the frontwoman of the celebrated rock band Alabama Shakes, was their gal. But he and co-director Lynn Wang could not have foreseen all the parallels between the singer and her four-legged character.

"I’ve been a massive fan of Brittany ever since her debut album with Alabama Shakes," Hess tells EW. "Her voice is larger than life, and so is her music. It was exactly what we needed for Thelma. When we first began talking to her about the role, we were shocked to learn how similar her life was to Thelma’s. As a teenager, Brittany worked on a farm in Alabama with dreams of becoming a musician and was once told that she didn’t 'look the part' of a lead singer."

"We knew we wanted a powerful voice to come out of that tiny pony that would knock people off their feet," Wang adds. "The moment Brittany's name was mentioned, it felt as if Thelma's character really clicked into place. And as we worked closely with Brittany, she influenced so much of Thelma as well, from her personality to her hair to her songs. Brittany was able to bring so much of her personal history into Thelma, and that authenticity made Thelma into the believable, grounded, and lovable character that she became onscreen."

"Even though this is about a pony," Howard says of her connection to the story, "as human beings, we go out in the world, and we try to find ways to basically just get back to ourselves."

Though Howard's music has soundtracked many films and shows (Silver Linings Playbook, Ted Lasso, the Mr. & Mrs. Smith series), Thelma marks her acting debut. The collaborative process with composer John Powell and songwriters Taura Stinson, Theo Katzman, and Louis Cato, among others, was a welcome change from her usual process of making an album. “The most fun part about it was this is music I wouldn't normally write for myself,” she says. “It was a fun challenge.”

Songs include the catchy pop rock ballads “Fire Inside” and “Hurricane" (watch an exclusive clip below), as well as “Here Comes the Cud,” the latter of which is performed as a rap duet with a horse voiced by Fred Armisen. It remains a favorite of Howard’s because it allowed her to flex a different musical muscle. “I got to rap, and I've never done that publicly,” she says. “I had autotune in my voice, so the opposite of what I do. I had a ball.”

Could a rap album follow in the wake of her second solo album, the soulful What Now, released earlier this year? “Why not?” Howard says. 

“I feel like I gained a lot of confidence just from saying yes to a project like this,” Howard explains. “I think it's going to inform what I do [in the future] because there's a looseness and silliness that I allowed myself to experience. I'm excited to see what kind of work I make after this.” 

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That includes more film and TV work. “If something interesting came across and made sense for me that I connected to, yeah, I would try it. I always follow my curiosity,” Howard says, citing Poor Things’ Yorgos Lanthimos as a filmmaker she’d love to collaborate with. “I think that would be an unusual place for me to find myself in, so I'd like to do that.”

Next, Howard will embark on a North American tour with Michael Kiwanuka in the fall. (Kiwanuka previously toured with Alabama Shakes, on hiatus since 2018, in 2012.) When pestered about the future of the band — and whether she’s fatigued by the constant questions about the group — Howard is gracious.

“I’m not tired of being asked about it. It is a beautiful part of my history as a musician. I love the music we made together," she says. "It's one of those things I said earlier in this interview: I follow the curiosity. If there's a beat there and the creativity's calling me there, then that's something we'll have a conversation about. I wouldn’t say the door’s completely closed.”

Thelma the Unicorn debuts May 17 on Netflix.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.