The Angry Birds Movie‘s Los Angeles premiere reunited Blake Shelton, Jason Sudeikis, Bill Hader, Josh Gad, Tony Hale, Maya Rudolph and more at the Westwood Village Theater on Saturday.
For some, they were even meeting their co-stars for the first time. “My daughter is a huge The Voice fan, so we’re excited about meeting Blake Shelton. Gwen Stefani might be here!” Veep’s Hale told The Hollywood Reporter.
“l just found out Sean Penn was in the movie. I didn’t know Sean was in it, so I’ll meet him. That will be cool,” said Hader. Unfortunately for Hader, who plays the film’s villain, Penn did not make an appearance at the premiere.
As for Rudolph, she seemed to have already met all of the famous faces in attendance: “I knew everyone already. That’s the benefit of Saturday Night Live. It connects everyone.”
Others talked about how much they enjoyed the daytime red-carpet premiere for the animated film. “There’s a little less alcohol,” Gad joked to THR. “I see a couple of kids who are three sheets to the wind already, but for the most part, everyone’s behaving themselves.”
Some of the cast may have found their way to some “Kool-Aid,” as Hader called it, after his friend and co-star Ike Barinholtz snuck behind him and whispered, “Trump 2016,” in his ear. “Someone’s drinking the Kool-Aid, asking me to fundraise for Trump!” Hader joked.
Star power is not the only thing that shined in the Sony Pictures and Rovio Entertainment film. For first-time helmer Fergal Reilly, who co-directed with Clay Kaytis, he noted that many of the actors had writing input throughout. “Because most of them are writers and write their own material, we took advantage of that and shaped the characters that they were voicing,” said Reilly. “We used every recording session as an opportunity.” Even the film lead’s spouse, Sudeikis‘ wife Olivia Wilde, contributed to the creativity. “She came up with this great gag in the movie where Maya’s character is this free-range chicken. That was all Olivia,” said Reilly.
“She’s very good at puns, a very strong punner,” said Sudeikis. “It was me coming home and she said, ‘How was work today?’ and we talked about some of the jokes and some that I thought she would like, and then she chimed in.”
The Angry Birds Movie, which started from an app that became a worldwide phenomenon, is set to hit the big screen May 20. For Sudeikis, he has ideas for his own app: “Getting through an airport as quickly and efficiently as possible. I have to do that a lot, so I’d be good at the game, I hope.” Hale added: “My life? It’d be the opposite of the Kardashians, I’d go super normal and boring. A boring app, but people need boring opposite to the chaos. And by the way, it would make millions!”
