Yes, it’s true. Patrick Stewart is shit. The voice of the shit emoji, to be more specific, in the upcoming Emoji Movie. This casting tidbit was just one of many pieces of news Sony Pictures Animation released at an event today in Los Angeles.
Probably the biggest announcement was that the December 2018 animated Spider-Man movie will, indeed, feature Miles Morales as the main character. “The thing that inspired us the most about Spider-Man is that anyone can wear that mask,” said the film’s producer Phil Lord. “Any race, creed or color, any gender, anybody can project themselves into that hero. That’s the point we’re trying to make.”
But that movie almost two years away. Before that, Sony Animation has three big movies this year: Smurfs: The Lost Village on April 7, The Emoji Movie on August 4, and The Star on November 10.
Starting with The Emoji Movie, the question is, why make Patrick Stewart the voice of the shit emoji? “We’re playing Poop very upper crust,” said director Tony Leondis. “In our movie, he’s the one that makes the [poop] jokes and doesn’t know he’s doing it. And who better to play a posh and classy emoji than Sir Patrick Stewart?”
Other new cast additions announced include Maya Rudolph as the voice of the first, and most powerful emoji, Smiler, as well as Jake T. Austin as the voice of Alex, the film’s human who has all the emojis in the film living on his phone. They’ll join the previously announced TJ Miller, James Corden, Steven Wright, and others.
The biggest announcements, in terms of voice cast, went to The Star, a new, animated retelling of the Nativity Story centered on the animals. Steven Yeun, Kelly Clarkson, Aidy Bryant, Keegan-Michael Key, Kristin Chenoweth, Anthony Anderson, Gabriel Iglesias, Ving Rhames, Delilah Rene, Kris Kristofferson, Gina Rodriguez, Zachary Levi, Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Tracy Morgan, and Christopher Plummer will all provide voices.
Lastly, Smurfs: The Lost Village will have the traditional array of Smurfs finding a new village of Smurfs. In that village, Smurfette will find out she’s not the only female Smurf and the ones she finds are voiced by Michelle Rodriguez, Ellie Kemper, Ariel Winter, and Julia Roberts—the latter as SmurfWillow, the new village’s version of Papa Smurf.
Based on the finished footage shown, I can’t say I was overly excited about any of the films coming (they only showed a very early concept reel of Spider-Man). But it’s impossible to deny those voice casts are impressive. And casting Patrick Stewart as Poop is a stroke of genius.