“Even people who’ve been through adversity might say ‘Well, I wouldn’t change anything because I wouldn’t be who I am'”: Eva Noblezada and Flula Borg on Luck

Luck is the new animated film and first from Skydance Productions, the company behind Mission Impossible and Jack Reacher. As indicated in its title, the movie riffs on the many incarnations of the concept of luck from across generations and cultures – and conversely, bad luck. It follows protagonist Sam Greenfield, an 18-year-old orphaned girl who has grown up with a foster family and who ostensibly has the world’s worst luck.

That all looks set to change when she finds a penny and picks it up…but soon after accidentally flushing it down the loo (classic) she finds herself following a black cat down into the leprechaun-inhabited Land of Luck, where everything conceivable superstition and visual representation of luck is made manifest in a spectacular and imaginative fashion. To further complicate matters, though, she also discovers the bad underside of the Land of Luck and learns that one cannot exist without the other and, moreover, that good and bad luck are not as black and white as they seem.

Bringing the characters to brilliant life alongside musical theatre actress Eva Noblezada as Sam are the inimitable Whoopi Goldberg as Land of Luck’s head of security and Jane Fonda as Babe the Dragon (because, why not?) as well as Simon Pegg as Bob the Scottish black cat and Pitch Perfect‘s Flula Borg as the flamboyant Jeff the Unicorn. It’s a glorious and inventive adventure ride through an explosion of colour and loving realised animated characters which clearly the creators have poured their heart and soul into. The fact that the character of Sam and her background as a foster kid is firmly rooted in and inspired by the stories of those who have lived experience of such upbringings also adds depth to this sweet, original and uplifting movie.

The Upcoming had the pleasure of hearing from the voice actor who plays Sam, Eva Noblezada, who shared why she liked the character, being on the same project as the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Jane Fonda and Simon Pegg and the poignant message of the film about living through adversity ultimately making us who we are.

We also had a hilarious chat with German actor Flula Borg on the fun he had voicing the character of Jeff the Unicorn plus his reflections on being part of the Pitch Perfect franchise and his own YouTube channel.

Sarah Bradbury

Luck is released on Apple TV+ on 5^th August 2022.

Watch the trailer for Luck here: