Categories: Audrey Bernard,
From Sony Pictures Animation, the studio behind “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and the artists that made “KPop Demon Hunters,” comes GOAT, an original action-comedy set in an all-animal world produced by Golden State Warriors super-star Stephen Curry who is also a producer of this distinctively creative film that scored one of the strongest debuts for an original animated film in years with a $47 million global weekend!
The story follows Will, a small goat with big dreams who gets a once-in-a-lifetime shot to join the pros and play roarball – a high-intensity, co-ed, full-contact sport dominated by the fastest, fiercest animals in the world. Will’s new teammates aren’t thrilled about having a little goat on their roster, but Will is determined to revolutionize the sport and prove once and for all that “smalls can ball!” It focuses on themes of perseverance, achieving big dreams regardless of limitations, and navigating, with humor, a fast-paced, high-stakes sports world.
The unapologetically talented Caleb McLaughlin (“Stranger Things”) has the starring role as Will Harris (Goat) with Jennifer Hudson who plays his mother. The voice cast also features supporting voices of David Harbour (Rhino), Nicola Coughlan (Ostrich), Nick Kroll (Modo the Komodo Dragon), Aaron Pierre (Mane Attraction), and NBA baller Stephen Curry (playing a Desultory Giraffe); with cameos by various past and present NBA/WNBA stars including Angel Reese and A’ja Wilson.
GOAT is skillfully directed by Sony’s Director of Animation, Tyree Dillihay, and co-directed by Adam Rosette based on a screen story by Nicolas Curcio and Peter Chiarelli from a screenplay by Aaron Buchsbaum & Teddy Riley, and is produced by Michelle Raimo Kouyate, Rodney Rothman, Adam Rosenberg, Stephen Curry and Erick Peyton. Rick Mischel and Fonda Snyder are executive producers. Sony Pictures Animation (in collaboration with Columbia Pictures and Unanimous Media) are the production companies.
GOAT’s all-star team includes Caleb McLaughlin, Gabrielle Union, Stephen Curry, Nicola Coughlan, Nick Kroll, David Harbour, Jenifer Lewis, Aaron Pierre, Patton Oswalt, Andrew Santino, Bobby Lee, Eduardo Franco, Sherry Cola, Jelly Roll, Jennifer Hudson and Dwayne Wade.
When asked what he wants viewers to take away from a film that took him 7 ½ years to bring to fruition, Dillihay said, “Dream big. Your dreams have no ceiling, sky’s the limit. You see Will’s relationship with not only his family, but his friends and the community — they put this battery in his back to say, ‘No, your circumstances and your conditions don’t define you.’ If you work hard enough, you will exceed your goals. Look, I’m proof — I come from Inglewood, California. I’m not supposed to be here. I’m the fourth Black director in cinematic history to direct a major animated film. If that ain’t proof that dreams do come true, I don’t know what is.”
