ParaNorman: Leslie Mann and Kodi Smit-McPhee on Ghosts and Being Yourself
Posted 08.17.12 by BrentJS
This weekend, parents who want to take their children to the movies have two family-friendly options featuring rather misunderstood young boys: Disney's The Odd Life of Timothy Green and Focus Features' 3-D animated movie ParaNorman. In The Odd Life of Timothy Green, C.J. Adams (Dan in Real Life) plays a young boy literally wished into existence who sees life differently from the other boys his age. In ParaNorman, Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In) lends his voice to Norman Babcock, a young boy in a small town who has the ability to see, and speak with, the dead.
We recently got a chance to speak with Jennifer Garner about playing Timothy's mother in The Odd Life, and she said that parents should allow their kids "to be funky" and "to have their eccentricities." Garner's sentiments were echoed by Smit-McPhee regarding his character in ParaNorman, explaining that Norman is "bullied because he's different," but that he stays true to himself and ultimately "becomes a hero." Smit-McPhee's movie mom, Leslie Mann, also revealed to our own Jeremy Parsons that, like her character in the movie, she has had more than her fair share of ghost encounters.
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ParaNorman is the follow-up to animation studio LAIKA's 2009 hit movie Coraline. It was co-directed by Sam Fell (The Tale of Despereaux) and Chris Butler, who also wrote the screenplay. The cast of celebrity voice actors includes John Goodman, Casey Affleck, Anna Kendrick, Tempestt Bledsoe, Jeff Garlin and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.
Next Showing: ParaNorman opens today