Magic dragon

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This article was published 05/03/2021 (1769 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There comes a time when any actor asked by Walt Disney Studios to voice a legendary dragon for a major animated film would hit a creative snag.

For Awkwafina, 32, that moment came when she was asked to growl as Sisu in Raya and the Last Dragon (on Disney Plus premium and in selected theatres Friday). The Crazy Rich Asians star has many skills, but dragon growl was not one of them. She warned directors Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada.

“I was a little bit nervous about that,” Awkwafina says over Zoom from her New York home. “It was like, ‘Guys, I just want you to know before I do the growl, I don’t know what this is going to sound like. I’m just preparing you.’”

After a few game snarls, the filmmakers were impressed. “They were like, ‘It wasn’t that bad,’” she recalls. Not that it was essential. The key to casting Awkwafina (born Nora Lum) for Disney’s animated Southeast Asian adventure alongside princess Raya (Kelly Marie Tran) is that this blue fur-covered dragon turns out to be not so fearsome.

“The idea was to portray the legend that Sisu is this amazing, mythical super-dragon, and Raya finds this to be a little bit of an embellishment through the years,” says Hall. “Instead, Sisu is a funny, self-deprecating dragon who sees herself as the perennial C-student.”

The food-obsessed, clumsy dragon (born Sisudatu) even admits onscreen, “I’m not, like, the best dragon.” That makes the Awkwafina casting pure genius, even if nailing the performance now requires the actress to kick her self-deprecation skills into overdrive.

Awkwafina’s movie success is an ever-expanding universe in the wake of her fan-favourite turn in Crazy Rich Asians and her dramatic breakthrough in 2019’s The Farewell. During the industry work stoppage of the COVID-19 pandemic alone, the Queens, New York-born rapper and actress performed her Raya voice role remotely and completed her unlikely entry into the Marvel Universe with the live-action Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (due out July 9).

The concept blows her mind.

“Being in the Marvel universe and voicing a Disney animated movie, that’s insane,” she stammers. “And that’s been a big part of my life this year.”

Awkwafina felt like a certified big shot when Raya filmmakers sent her a special audio production tent for her home recording acoustics. Some would grumble about a two-metre-tall recording tent dominating their living room. She made it an adventure.

“I put a lamp in there. And I was like, I want to spend the rest of my days here in this tent. I want to retire in here,” Awkwafina says. “I asked Disney afterwards, ‘Hey can I keep it?’ And it was like, “Absolutely not. We need that back immediately.’ “

Her Sisu, meanwhile, has satisfying Raya battle moments requiring those roars. The strong water-dragon swimming moments, however, are strictly a Sisu thing.

“I’m not a good swimmer at all. I can do a little bit of a doggie paddle from one end of the hot tub to the other,” she says, comically plugging up her nose. “When I do go underwater, I actually hold my nose like a child.”

Yet the character perfectly captures her seemingly boundless enthusiasm and affection. Not to mention, a likeness. Awkwafina says it was an out-of-body experience seeing Sisu onscreen with her voice coming out.

“Disney borrows really, really subtle things from you. I saw there were parts of the eyes, and my teeth. It was like, man, I should go to a dentist,” cracks Awkwafina.

Add on her voice role of seagull Scuttle in director Rob Marshall’s live-action remake of The Little Mermaid (due out in November), the voice role made famous by Buddy Hackett in the animated original, and 2021 has the makings of a real-life Awkwafina Disney fantasy.

But the star is forced to stay grounded with constant regular life reminders, such as when her extended family asks her for studio viewing links to see her Sisu role before the Raya release.

“They’re hitting me up going, ‘Can I just get one link?’ “ Awkwafina says. “And I’m like, ‘Do you think Disney just gives me links to give to you guys?’ I don’t even get those kind of links.”

— USA Today