Karina Manashil (‘Entergalactic’) explains how Kid Cudi came up with the animated program [Exclusive video interview]
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Karina Manashil, the executive producer of Netflix’s animated film “Entergalactic,” says that the project was not initially intended by Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi to be animated. “In terms of creating a holistic visual interpretation of his music, there wasn’t really an opportunity to do that. So ‘Entergalactic’ was really birthed out of this idea of how do we create a holistic experience,” Mahashil tells Gold Derby during our recent Meet the Experts: TV Animation panel (watch the exclusive video interview above).
When brainstorming with Kenya Barris, the idea of doing an animated anthological sequence with each segment being inspired by a song started moving the needle. “Music tethered to animation doesn’t have the lifecycle of just an, an album, but really can live in perpetuity and be something that people continue to come back to and one of the anthological episodes we had was this animated love story and decided, ‘Well, why don’t we make that Entergalactic?’”
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“Entergalactic” centers on Jabari (Kid Cudi), a street artist who has been hired by a major comic distributor to develop his iconic graffiti character into a full-fledged comic book. When he moves into his new apartment in Manhattan, he meets Meadow (Jessica Williams), a photographer. The two begin a relationship filled with art and music that will test whether they can balance their success with their mutual attraction. The film also stars Timothée Chalamet, Vanessa Hudgens, Christopher Abbott, Ty Dolla Sign and Laura Harrier.
Having worked as an actor for a number of years, Cudi trusted his own voice and in the process of this series got to have others be trusted with theirs. This specifically came about with the suggestion of casting of Ty Dolla Sign as Ky. “Ty had not done something like this before and I remember our conversation with Carmen Cuba, our casting director, where she was like, ‘Let me talk to him. I’ll give you a sense if I know he can do this.’ They had one conversation and Carmen said, ‘You’re dead right!’” Manashil was very struck with how deliberate Cudi was about the participation of his peers. “It extended to different parties throughout the project. He has a relationship with KAWS and through conversations with [him], he allowed us to use his artwork. For that to be part of the fabric of New York meant a lot to Scott.”
Manashil has been working with Cudi for several years now. Their working relationship dates back to her days working at WME as a talent agent. “Scott was already a client of the agency and somebody that I identified that I would love, love, love, love, love to work with.” They started working together in October of 2016, shortly before Cudi sought treatment for depression. When he completed his treatment, Cudi and Manashil were ready to hit the ground running as a creative team. “Scott came out of that happy and creative and trusting his instincts, and I was at the point where I was looking for my work soulmate, and we just found each other and were tethered.”
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