Soul will be the first Pixar film to star a black actor. Jamie Foxx plays Joe Gardner, a middle school music teacher who just secures a potentially life-changing gig, until he steps into a manhole and dies—well, sort of.
Honored to be the first ever African American lead in a Pixar film. 100 days away. I cannot wait for you all to see this beautiful story. Here is the poster for Disney and Pixar’s Soul and stay tuned for the trailer dropping tomorrow! #PixarSoulpic.twitter.com/yGf3LgQYk5
Pixar released the first teaser for Soul back on Nov. 7. The original gave more of an inspirational vibe. There’s a voiceover of Foxx’s character saying, “Don’t waste your time on all the junk of life. Spend your precious hours doing what will bring out the real you,” tuned to sequences of traffic and corporate life. The new trailer updates viewers on the lure of “The Great Before,” where souls develop personality traits before joining with bodies on earth.
In the new trailer, Joe enters this mysterious, pre-Earth world. There, he meets another soul called 22 (a delightfully cynical Tina Fey), and tries to prove that Earth is more than she makes it out to be. Phylicia Rashad, Daveed Diggs and Questlove also have roles in a film that tries to reunite Joe’s soul with his body and answer 22’s existential question: “Is all this living really worth dying for?”
Soul is directed by Pete Docter, scripted by writers Kemp Powers and Mike Jones, and produced by Dana Murray. Disney and Pixar are currently dominating the box office with Onward, another story about mortality, as two young elf brothers use magic to try to bring their deceased father back to life.
