Elemental‘s Leah Lewis (Ember) and Mamoudou Athie (Wade) discuss how it feels to be one of Pixar’s great love stories, and more, in this interview.
Elemental is a beautiful film that has a lot of great elements in it (pun intended) but is sure to go down as one of Pixar’s greatest love stories. Ember is a fire element and Wade is a water element, making it impossible for them to be together… right?
In this interview Leah Lewis (Ember) and Mamoudou Athie (Wade) discuss how it feels to be a part of one of Pixar’s great love stories, pretty much the first of its kind if you don’t count some parts of Wall-E.
Elemental’s Leah Lewis & Mamoudou Athie On Being A Part Of Pixar’s Love Story
Elemental is certainly more than a romantic comedy, but it is a romantic comedy. This is a love story at its core. A beautiful, touching, emotional love story. So of course when I sat down with Leah lewis and Mamoudou Athie, I had ask what it feels like to be one of Pixar’s great love stories now.
Leah chimes in immediately with “Gosh, I was actually talking to Peter [Sohn] and Denise [Ream], our director and the producer of the film, and they were saying other than Wall-E, this is one of the first films that makes a huge romantic nod.”
As a big fan of the romantic comedy genre herself, this was exciting for her. She admits that she has also been the biggest fan of Pixar since she was a kid. “So we’re crossing off all these monumental boxes. And even though I’m a part of this project, I would have been a huge fan of this project even if it wasn’t me, too.”
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Mamoudou completely agrees with Leah, admitting that he would have been a fan of Pixar’s Elemental, even if he wasn’t the voice of Wade. He goes on to joke, “I mean, I’m an even bigger fan because I’m a part of it.”
But then continues on saying that in all seriousness he is a huge fan of romantic comedies. “When Harry Met Sally was the gold standard, but now, maybe Elemental is?” Mamoudou admits that he loves this movie so much and hearing how people have been relating to it, and have been loving it too, brings a smile to his face and warms his heart.
Because of a temporary Wade tattoo from the World Premiere of Elemental, the topic of tattoos comes up in the conversation. Leah confesses that she just might get an Elemental tattoo, because of what this movie means to her.
What would she get? “There’s a scene where Ember and Wade dance and they kind of make a yin yang type of situation. I’d maybe get that somewhere on my foot.”
Get ready to fall in love with love again, when Ember and Wade hit the big screen in Pixar’s Elemental on June 16th. You don’t want to miss it.
NEXT: Elemental Movie Review
About Pixar’s Elemental
Disney and Pixar’s “Elemental,” an all-new, original feature film set in Element City, where fire-, water-, land- and air-residents live together. The story introduces Ember, a tough, quick-witted and fiery young woman, whose friendship with a fun, sappy, go-with-the-flow guy named Wade challenges her beliefs about the world they live in.
Elemental will be exclusively in theaters June 16th, 2023.
Tessa Smith is a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved Film and TV Critic. She is also a Freelance Writer. Tessa has been in the Entertainment writing business for ten years and is a member of several Critics Associations including the Critics Choice Association and the Greater Western New York Film Critics Association.