How ‘Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken’ Fulfilled a Childhood Dream For Lana Condor: ‘I’ve Always Wanted to Work With DreamWorks’
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Warning: This post contains plot spoilers from “Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken.”
Lana Condor, who voices the lead in “Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken,” finds Dreamworks’ first female title character very relatable.
Ruby lives in Oceanside with her family, who disguise their secret Kraken identities by claiming they moved from Canada. Unaware of her Kraken lineage, she worries more about typical teenage things like the boy she has a crush on, Connor (Jaboukie Young-White) and the upcoming prom that she wants to attend with her friends.
“I’ve always wanted to work with DreamWorks. I think like so. For so many people in the world, DreamWorks is a major part of their childhood, and growing up, I am and was just such a fan of movies. DreamWorks movies are comfort films,” Condor told TheWrap. “What I loved about it is that it is DreamWorks’ first female title character. I was really excited to portray a very relatable rambly, quirky, kind-of-uncomfortable-in-her-skin-but-gets-there realistic, young woman. The story, in my opinion, is one of coming of age, stepping into your power, deciding not to hide.”
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‘Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken’ Cast and Character Guide: Who Voices Who?
Ruby’s mother Agatha (Toni Collette) won’t allow her children to go in the ocean so that they don’t draw attention to their true nature, but Ruby accidentally knocks Connor into the sea when her promposal goes awry. Jumping in to save him triggers her transformation into a giant kraken, one of the only three in existence — including her mother and her grandmother (voiced by Jane Fonda). Only the women in the family have this capability. Grandmamah eventually finds Ruby and her mother via Uncle Brill (Sam Richardson), and Ruby decides to visit the queen Kraken after her mother omitted the part of their history that involves a throne.
“I love that choice that Dreamworks decided to make [to have the women only be giant Kraken]. I am a huge sucker for a grandmother-mother-daughter storyline. I’m a huge sucker for, obviously strong women, and I think that the women in our lives teach us so much about ourselves and oftentimes very much make us who we are,” Condor said. “I’m just happy to celebrate that and happy to, explore that in kid’s animation.”
Ruby’s Grandmamah currently rules as the Kraken queen, but her mother was also once a warrior princess. Agatha defeated the power-hungry evil mermaid Narissa by hiding a trident away so that the mermaids couldn’t overthrow the Kraken. After this feat, Agatha wanted nothing more than to live a quiet life among humans, but Grandmamah didn’t understand her reasoning. These decision ultimately affect Ruby.
“It feels realistic because there’s a lot of generational trauma that happens growing up. Everyone fights with their mom. Everyone thinks that their moms are crazy,” Condor said. “There comes a point where we all become the parent figure, and then your parent is telling you you’re doing it wrong and all these different things, and so I love the honesty of that. Them all coming together only makes them stronger — I love that, and I’m a sucker for that too.”
Narissa’s daughter Chelsea Van Der Zee (Annie Murphy) befriends Ruby at school with the agenda of getting the trident back. Without her mother’s full story, Ruby doesn’t realize some key “tiny omissions” that Chelsea leaves out, but once Grandmamah realizes what is going on, she and Agatha help Ruby face down the mermaid in view of the prom boat. The three join forces and successfully destroy the trident.
Condor says Ruby stepped into her power in more ways than one, even behind the scenes during production. “Her voice was always pretty obvious. At one point, [the film] had a different name, and the name kind of revolved around the family as a whole,” Condor revealed. “That kind of turned into ‘we’re going to make this really, very dominantly about Ruby.”
“Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken” is now in theaters.
