As Netflix looks to expand its library of original animated programming to rival Disney, one major addition to the premium streaming service's growing library this year is the animated film Arlo the Alligator Boy and its animated continuation series I Heart Arlo. Produced, directed and co-written by Ryan Crego, the film stars Michael J. Woodard as the titular half-human/half-alligator who leaves his home on the bayou to search for his long-lost father in New York City. Along the way, Arlo finds a group of misfit friends, including a woman named Bertie, portrayed by Mary Lambert, and they discover their hope and self-worth from Arlo's inspirational example.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Woodard and Lambert tease their favorite songs and moments in the upcoming animated film, their own personal connections to their respective characters and elements that informed their performances.
How did the opportunity to star in Arlo the Alligator Boy and I Heart Arlo all first come about?
Mary Lambert: I came into it the normal way, through an agency, and I think they were talking to a bunch of different Berties. I think it was my little audition that sealed the deal. I just found out today that it was from when I sang a cover of a pop song, and I kind of pared it down, like, "This is me and this is what I'm going to bring to the character." That's sort of how I approach everything; take it or leave it. I'm a little mellow and melancholy and it suited Bertie, I think. The dynamic between Michael and I, there's a lot of joy and love there but we are so different in our interpretations of our characters, it really works.
Michael J. Woodard: Mine was very unorthodox. [Laughs] I was on this show called American Idol at the same time Ryan and his songwriting partner Alex [Geringas] were composing music for the movie; I was on American Idol when they were casting. Months and months ago, I found out the way Ryan cast me was watching a video that Alex had sent him of me accepting my ticket to go audition in front of the judges of American Idol. It was when I raised my ticket up and said, "Yes! Let's go!" I think that's how I got cast for the part, lifting up my ticket in this optimistic way that Arlo is. And then I went in and read for it in-person a couple weeks after the finale of the show and that's when I really solidified that I would be playing the role of Arlo.
Looking at the designs was there anything there, in the script or in the booth that helped you crack your performance?
Woodard: There was one line that I got in my sides for the audition for the movie and it was "I got a daddy!" [Laughs] The way it read off the page, that kind of put it in perspective and told me what this is and definitely let me be myself. Those lines really jumped the paper and this is a story that kind of relates to me in some way; some factors of Arlo's life and factors of mine, which is so weird. But I think that's what made me [realize] this was going to be it, this was going to be fun. And going in, to record for the movie, it just increased, increased and increased, like, this is the right thing to be doing right now.
Lambert: I think for me it was when I realized that the dynamic between Michael. And I was so strong, and I knew what I was supposed to do, and I knew I was the best person for the job. There was a moment where I [understood] why I was picked and how to encompass this joy and real serious, introspective that Bertie has with herself. Bertie is, like, 13-feet tall and that feeling that you're always too much and, if you're not around the right people, it can force you to retreat. And I really recognized that in Bertie and also myself and there's that line when she realizes what she's learned from Arlo, she says "Different is the best thing you can be and you taught me that, Arlo." When I was delivering the line, it felt so true to the lessons that I've learned in my life, I was meant to be here.
I love the variety of songs in this movie; it's show tunes, pop and R&B. Are there any specific songs or set pieces that stand out as your personal favorites?
Woodard: Almost every song, I connect to them in different ways. There are a lot of vulnerable moments, and particularly speaking for Arlo, there is a vulnerable moment that he has that I can't wait for everyone to see. There's a song that he sings that kind of captures that vulnerability and I just can't wait for y'all to see and hear it. And there's a song called "Beyond These Walls" which sets the tone for the movie. I just got chills singing that song and delivering those lyrics; this was his coming-of-age moment, and the fact that I was able to embody that and administer that song's message and emotion was such a big deal to me. In terms of actually giving the titles that I can talk about, "Beyond These Walls" is the one for me.
Lambert: I really fell in love with "Follow Me Home" and I'm interested, Michael, since I know you're a writer too: For so long, I didn't see myself as a recording artist. I saw myself as a singer-songwriter. For the first six or seven years of my career, I was saying that I wasn't going to sing a song that someone else wrote, I was really stubborn and didn't want to do it. And when these songs were presented, I was so impressed and it just felt really natural for my voice and I could really access the emotional space that Bertie was in as she was singing it. If I can totally be honest, the songs that really stood out for me are some of the songs for the series. They're really sticking with me and they're more pop and they're super-modern and stuff you'd hear on the radio. So to be able to express that pop side that used to do and record, it feels really exciting to go back and access that part of my voice that I don't do much anymore.
Woodard: I want to say, too, Mary is doing an amazing job with the songs, like with "Follow Me Home." I don't know if I said this before, Mary, but I just couldn't imagine anybody else singing that song; the parts that you have in that song were just made for you and I really think that it was some kind of fate situation. When [Ryan and Alex] wrote these songs, I'm sure they were written long before we were cast so your ability is what really makes the song fly. Nobody could have delivered that like you, Mary, there is such a deep emotion and vulnerability in your tone. "Follow Me Home" is just spectacular, you kill it!
Lambert: Thank you, Michael! I feel the same way about you! I don't think I've done a duet with anybody before. Obviously, when I was doing "Same Love," I was partnered with Macklemore, but I wasn't singing with anybody, and this has just been such a special experience.
As the first major voiceover role for both of you, how did you find performing in the recording booth?
Woodard: I think what made us really do well was the fact that Ryan was the producer and director of this movie. He allowed us to be ourselves and that made it easy. We didn't have to talk in a weird accent or be a character that wasn't a part of us. Bertie, even though it's not entirely Mary, it's part of who she is. Arlo, while he may not be my entire being -- though people might argue against that -- he's a part of me. I think what made it easy for us as our first animated project was the fact that we were just being ourselves and trying to put in our efforts, with acting, there comes an amount of dramatics that you have to bring to the table but we were genuinely doing what we felt the character should have been. That's what made it easy for me.
Lambert: Yeah, 100%. I think it was just felt effortless and I feel like my first audition, Bertie was written with a Southern accent. So I practiced a ton to nail this sort of Southern accent and, as soon as I got into the booth, they told me "Lose the accent, you've got a cute voice!" So it was sort of a shock to realize they [wanted] me as I am. They didn't want me to project an idea of what I think this character is; that was a real sort of liberation, for sure.
Woodard: I remember when me and Mary did our first read together, you were doing an accent there as well.
Lambert: I couldn't let it go! [Laughs]
Woodard: I remember you would jump into it, ever so often, and they told you didn't have to. [Laughs]
Lambert: It was tricky because some of the lines were written with "y'all." And I say that as who I am but I just had this idea of what it was supposed to sound like. [Laughs]
Woodard: I vaguely remember that and Mary was good at it! But I'm glad they allowed us to do our thing and talk like we normally do.
What are you guys most proud of being able to bring this movie and TV show into millions of households around the world?
Woodard: I think the fact that we get to instill these messages in children from such a young age is such a big deal because these are positively life-altering lessons that we're teaching kids. Mary said in one of our earlier interviews, it was about community and family because we're a group of misfits so the fact that we're leaning on each other and finding our village and [Arlo] found his village along the way because he didn't really have any parents to look at it during the time he's finding these people. I think that's something we're instilling in children and also being yourself unapologetically. I think when they're watching this movie and seeing these characters just live out loud and be themselves is something that's going to help a lot of kids and the fact that they get to watch this so early is good for us to give these messages so fun.
I have always been a huge fan of animation -- I'm a Disney guy, I love Disney -- and the fact that the young generation of today gets to grow up with Arlo like I grew up with The Lion King, Cinderella and The Little Mermaid, we're doing half of the work that's going to be part of their lives and when they get older and start to analyze it, they're going to realize what this meant and they don't have to be ashamed to find their village and be proud of that. That's an amazing thing and I'm so excited it's going to do that and bring positivity and joy to people; I just can't wait for that.
Lambert: I totally agree! For me, there's so much hurt I have to heal from growing a chubby girl and not seeing any representation that I could ever be a princess, not being able to see any real positive role models. I think Lindy West says this in her book Shrill but who did we having growing up? Ms. Trunchbull from Matilda and the teapot from Beauty and the Beast? So you're either matronly teapot or a nightmare villain like Ursula. So to be able to play a character that embodies so many great qualities -- I think something that stood out for me in the entire process was there wasn't a single fat joke. There wasn't anything pointed to her weight.
The only aspects we seem from Bertie and her incredible strength, she's kind of like a superhero and she's a vegan too. So to be able to be a fat person who has these superhero qualities, it feels really cathartic and, like Michael was saying, to have that knowledge that this will have an impression on young kids to show the incredible possibility that there is. The show has so much imagination in it, and I think we lose that as we get older. Imagination and creativity is going to save the world, it creates possibility and new ways of being. And I think this show is hopefully going to be cathartic for adult viewers as well.
Directed and produced by Ryan Crego from a script he co-wrote with Clay Senechal, Arlo the Alligator Boy stars Michael J. Woodard, Mary Lambert, Haley Tju, Jonathan Van Ness, Brett Gelman, Tony Hale, Flea, Annie Potts, Jennifer Coolidge and Vincent Rodriguez III. The film premieres April 16 on Netflix.