Meet Your New Smurfette: Rihanna
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The artist behind beloved smash hits like “Don’t Smurf the Music,” “Rude Smurf,” “Smurf Better Have My Money,” and “Only Smurf (in the World)” will finally step into the role she was destined to play: Smurfette. The producers of what’s still being called Untitled Smurfs Animated Film (officially italicized as such, so maybe that will be the title) announced Thursday that Rihanna will step into the role.
“This is a delight,” Rihanna said of playing the “blue badass” at CinemaCon, where she was on hand for the announcement (via The Hollywood Reporter). “Getting to do animation is a fun journey for me. I get to show up in my PJs in my third trimester. I hope this gives me cool points with my kids one day.”
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Rihanna will also create and perform original music for the film, as well as serve as one of its producers. Filmmakers Chris Miller and Matt Landon are co-directing the picture. No release date has been announced (and the title probably will change).
“On behalf of our studio and our creative partners at [Smurfs licensors] LAFIG, we couldn’t be more excited to have found our Smurfette in one of the most beloved stars in the world,” Brian Robbins, President and CEO of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon, and Ramsey Naito, President of Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation, smurfed in a joint statement. “With Rihanna’s singular creative appeal and musical talents, there is an enormous opportunity to elevate the cultural touchstone of the Smurfs universe in a way that’s never been done before.”
Previous Smurfettes of note include Demi Lovato (2017’s The Lost Village) and Katy Perry (2013’s The Smurfs 2 and 2011’s The Smurfs). Lucille Bliss, who voiced characters in Cinderella, The Secret of NIMH and Alice in Wonderland, voiced Smurfette on the 1980s TV series.
But with Rihanna on board, the odds of hearing “Work, work, work, work, work, work” sung as “Smurf, Smurf, Smurf, Smurf, Smurf, Smurf” just went waaaaay up.
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