The Nimona cast on the film's long journey (and learning to make ostrich noises)
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Chloë Grace Moretz technically only plays one role in Nimona. The actress voices the film's titular shape-shifter, a stout agent of chaos who can transform into any animal she wishes. But lending her voice to a shape-shifter meant that Moretz had to do a bit of shape-shifting herself, figuring out how to breathe life into all of Nimona's animal forms. And there are a lot of animal forms: Throughout the film, Nimona morphs into whales, gorillas, sharks, and a whole menagerie of creatures.
"My favorite is when she turns into an ostrich," Moretz tells EW with a laugh. "I had to figure out: What does it sound like when an ostrich has their tongue hanging out and their neck flapping back and forth? I'm sure there's a lot of videos of me doing that in the booth that I don't know that anybody ever needs to see."
Netflix Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz)
Based on the beloved graphic novel by ND Stevenson, Nimona (out June 30 on Netflix) is a candy-colored action-adventure, following Nimona as she teams up with disgraced knight Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed). Together, the two embark on a quest to solve a murder mystery and clear Ballister's name, all while evading the eye of Ballister's romantic interest, the noble knight Ambrosius Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang).
It's also had a long journey to the screen: Originally, Nimona was in the works at animation studio Blue Sky, a subsidiary of Fox. But when Disney bought Fox in 2019, it soon shut down Blue Sky, effectively killing the fledgling Nimona. At that point, Moretz had already sunk several months of work into the film, and she says the shutdown was "devastating."
"It was really heartbreaking," Moretz admits. "We were putting so much effort into a story that I think really deserves to be seen and is so poignant and important right now. Then, we got that call that Big Sky was shutting down, and Disney wasn't going to go any further with the story. We were just at a loss."
Then, a lifeline: Megan Ellison of Annapurna saw early footage and started sharing it around Hollywood. Eventually, Netflix swooped in to save Nimona, finally bringing it to the screen in 2023. "They've really stood behind this project," Moretz adds. "It just makes us all teary-eyed. The story of Nimona really comes through when you think of the story of Nimona the movie surviving as well. There are so many parallels, and it's really beautiful."
It was those themes of heroism and survival that drew Ahmed and Yang to the project, too. Ahmed particularly connected with the disgraced Ballister, a lower-class knight who fights to prove himself amongst his pedigreed peers. When he's framed for a murder he didn't commit, Ballister starts to question whether he really is the villain his kingdom has painted him as.
"So often we think that in order to be a hero, you have to create a villain, and elevating yourself involves putting someone else down or vanquishing someone else," Ahmed explains, calling the long recording process "a marathon." He continues, "But what I loved about Ballister's journey is that real heroism is not about putting down someone else but accepting yourself. It's about being brave to show people who you really are and not trying to fit in. That's heroism."
Yang, known for his work as a member of the Try Guys, says he'd long been a fan of Stevenson's other Netflix project, the animated series She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, so he jumped at the chance to lend his voice to Nimona. The film version of Goldenloin is a bit smarter than he is in the graphic novel, where he's portrayed as more of a preening blond himbo. Yang wanted to bring a bit more depth and nobility to his Goldenloin, particularly in his romantic relationship with Ballister.
"Although he's popular and glorified as this literal descendant of Gloreth, he's also just this sweet, honest guy who wants to figure out what's going wrong with his relationship," Yang explains. "And that's where it gets me right in the gut, you know?"
Ultimately, the cast hopes that audiences connect with Nimona and her motley band of oddballs the same way they did — and that the film was ultimately worth the (very long!) wait. "This is a story for anyone that's ever felt other, for anyone that's ever felt ostracized by society or villainized for the way they look or present," Moretz says. "When I finally saw it recently, I felt so seen. Immediately, my first words were like, 'Man, if I had this when I was younger, I think I would've been able to sort through things a lot sooner.'"
"I don't cry very often, but when I saw it, I actually cried," Yang adds. "And I was shocked because I know the story!"
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