Disney’s Sneakerella is now streaming on Disney+ and Mama’s Geeky has an exclusive interview with stars Chosen Jacobs and Lexi Underwood!
What happened when you mix the Cinderella story with the sneaker subculture in the streets of New York City? You will get Sneakerella, the new high-energy, music-driven Disney film, which is streaming now on Disney+.
The movie follows El, an aspiring sneaker designer from Queens, who works as a stick boy in the shoe store that once belonged to his late mother. He hides his artistic talent from his overburdened stepfather and two mean-spirited stepbrothers who constantly thwart any opportunity that comes his way.
When El meets Kira King, the fiercely independent daughter of legendary basketball star and sneaker tycoon Darius King, sparks fly as the two bond over their mutual affinity for sneakers. Whit a little nudge from his best friend and a sprinkle of Fairy Godfather magic, El finds the courage to use his talent to pursue his dream of becoming a ‘legit’ sneaker designer in the industry. El Is now ready to lace up and dream big.
Sneakerella stars Chosen Jacobs, Lexi Underwood, Devyn Mekoda, John Salley, Juan Chioran, Bryan Terrell Clark, Kolton Stewart, Robyn Alomar, Yvonne Senat, Jones and Hayward Leach.
For this release, I had the opportunity to chat with Chosen Jacobs and Lexi Underwood, who play El and Kira king, respectively, for this gender-bent story.
Lexi Underwood was most excited about “the gender role reversal” when she first read the script. Also, her character Kira King “isn’t waiting for a man to rescue her”. “She’s smart, she has her own point of view, she’s very driven, passionate and creative”, Underwood added.
As I mentioned, Sneakerella is a music-driven story with high-energy and Underwood loved this aspect of it. “It’s a musical and who doesn’t love musicals like all the dance numbers and songs are so good and I feel really grateful to be part of it”, she said.
Talking about music and dance scenes, Chosen Jacobs was also excited about it and explained the challenges of those scenes: “it was a passion project, it’s something that I really wanted to do, and we wanted to have a lot of fun with it. So, we had a great team around us and we all stuck together and I feel like we really made something fun and something that’s going to get the family moving around and jumping so I’m very happy”.
Aside from the gender-bent, Sneakerella has a wonderful message of second chances and to never give up on your dreams and Jacobs added “reading the script I couldn’t put it down… you know, I fell like it has so many beautiful messages… even though, we made it a modern spin on it, we still stayed true to the heart of the movie, which is ‘a dream is a wish your heart makes and protecting that dream and chasing after it’ and no matter how many times you may fail, there’s always a tomorrow. I’m just so excited for kids to be able to watch this film and see that it’s ok to fail sometimes that just a learning lesson that’s going to lead towards your dream.”
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Chosen Jacobs and Lexi Underwood Sneakerella Interviews
Check out the full interviews with Chosen Jacobs and Lexi Underwood below to get the inside scoop on everything we talked about!
About Sneakerella
Set in the avant-garde street-sneaker subculture of New York City, “Sneakerella” is a high-energy, music-driven movie that puts a contemporary twist on the “Cinderella” fairy tale. El is an aspiring sneaker designer from Queens who works as a stock boy in the shoe store that once belonged to his late mother. He hides his artistic talent from his overburdened stepfather and two mean-spirited stepbrothers who constantly thwart any opportunity that comes his way.
When El meets Kira King, the fiercely independent daughter of legendary basketball star and sneaker tycoon Darius King, sparks fly as the two bond over their mutual affinity for sneakers. With a little nudge from his best friend and a sprinkle of Fairy Godfather magic, El finds the courage to use his talent to pursue his dream of becoming a ‘legit’ sneaker designer in the industry. El is now ready to lace up and dream big.
