By George & Josh Bate
A small goat with big dreams to become the GOAT of the fast and fierce sport he loves more than anything in the world? Sounds like the perfect jumping off point for a wholesome, vibrant, and exhilirating new family animation movie.
From Sony Pictures Animation, the studio between Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, comes GOAT, an original blends of the family animation and sports drama genres. Produced by four-time NBA champion Stephen Curry, the film from director Tyree Dillihay couches a quintessential underdog tale in a rich, lived-in fictional world filled with dynamic animal characters and an intense spin on the sport of basketball.
The HoloFiles recently had the opportunity to attend a press conference for GOAT moderated by ScreenRant‘s Ash Crossan with director Tyree Dillihay, stars Caleb McLaughlin, Gabrielle Union, and Patton Oswalt, and producers Stephen Curry and Erick Peyton in which the team discussed the inspiration behind their new film, how it drew upon Curry’s actual experiences, the rich fictional world in which the film takes place, and more.
GOAT stars Caleb McLaughlin (Stranger Things) as Will Harris, a teenage goat living in an energetic all-animal world. Since he was a kid, Will has had dreams of becoming a professional roarball player and conquer his world’s faster, fiercer, and full-contact equivalent of the sport of basketball. After Will goes viral following a skirmish with the MVP of the league Mane Attraction (Aaron Pierre), he is recruited to play for the Thorns, a roarball team headlined by Will’s idol and all-star black panther roarball player Jett Fillmore (Gabrielle Union). But Will’s dreams don’t go as planned as the Thorns are bottom of their league, Jett is a far cry from the player he idolized, and those around him continue to underestimate him for being too small.
It’s surprising that it’s taken this long for a movie like GOAT to be made. The new animated film plays on the dual meaning of the widely known acronym GOAT, which purportedly originated with Muhammad Ali when he was known as the greatest boxer of all time, by presenting a sports movie about a goat who wishes to become the GOAT. This was initially the brainchild of Kristine Belson, president of Sony Pictures Animation, who then welcomed producers Stephen Curry and Erick Peyton to the project. “We stepped in on this movie about six years ago, and it really started in a tiny little room,” Peyton revealed. “And me and Stephen, we’re visiting Sony, and they presented us the idea for the film, which was the Goat. For us, as soon as we knew it was inspirational, as soon as we knew it was set in a basketball world, we were all the way in.”
The idea of an underdog overcoming adversity to excel at the sport he adores resonated strongly with Stephen Curry. “I grew up in a basketball family, but my journey couldn’t have been further from the NBA kid,” Curry said. “It was right in my face of how much of a late bloomer I was, how much I’d have to earn everything I got. Because all I heard was what I couldn’t do, or I wasn’t big enough, or I wasn’t fast enough. And you start to try to compare yourself to people at your stage. Running your own race, living your own journey, and being ready for when your moment is there is a lot of what I see in myself and Will.”
The parallels between Curry and Caleb McLaughlin’s character Will will stand out for anyone familiar with the NBA champion’s inspiring backstory. But GOAT doesn’t take place in the world of basketball – it takes place in an all-animal world dominated by roarball, a co-ed, high-octane sport that unfolds on oversized courts filled with natural obstacles. The players are encouraged to use all of the attributes their species affords, meaning that anything goes on the court. Paws, tails, horns, snouts, wings, and tongues go flying as the film’s exceedingly entertaining games of roarball unravel.
For director Tyree Dillihay, GOAT served as a love letter to all facets of basketball, not just the sport on the court. “For me, what I love about basketball is basketball is pop culture,” Dillihay remarked. “It’s the sport that sits at the intersection of music, fashion, art, tech…. So to be able to infuse all my loves in a movie where they authentically fit on and off the court was pretty easy.”
Dillihay continued regarding his attempts to have fun with the staples of professional basketball in the film. “What they drive, how they dress, how they perform, how they enter,” the filmmaker said. “How they enter the arena with a kind of gladiatorial pageantry. I love all of those aspects. And then the game itself. The energetic feel. The fan interaction. All of those things are so authentic to the ecosystem of professional basketball. And I just wanted to exaggerate it and turn the volume up to 11. And have audience really invest and feel immersed in this world.”
As Will becomes immersed in the world of professional roarball, he becomes the teammate of his idol – Jett Fillmore (voiced by Gabrielle Union). Union spoke about how important it was for her to play a female athlete who a young boy looks up to. “I mean, it’s huge,” the actress said. “Growing up as an athlete, you’re up to older girls and teens and women, and it feelss like a world away. Like, I’m never going to be that good….Greatness has to look one way. You got to be hard-nosed….And I recognize now as I went from a bull in a China shop type of woman to learning different leadership styles and different ways of communicating to be a better teammate in life and on the court. And Jett has a very similar journey.”
Union, who is married to NBA superstar Dwyane Wade, compared her husband’s relationship to Stephen Curry to Jett’s relationship with Will in the film. “When Steph came on the scene, my husband had a certain kinda game, and their matchups would be so epic,” Union reflected. “But they were both great in very different ways. And when you hear people try to compare? You can’t compare what Steph does. Nobody can do what Steph does. That’s Steph Curry. Nobody can do what my husband, and nobody can do what [Lebron James]. And their greatness should be able to stand as themselves. They are goats, you know, in a large pen. [laugh] of other great people. But they forced each other to play a little differently. To dig a little deeper. To stay in the gym, you know? And that’s what Will does for Jett.”
One of Jett and Will’s teammates on the Vineland Thorns is Lenny Williamson, a giraffe roarball player and aspiring rapper, who just so happens to be voiced by Stephen Curry. “It’s my first time really doing a voice acting role,” Curry candidly discussed. “And so that whole experience, it was challenging. It was something that I knew I was gonna have to be pulled out of me in the sense of finding that true, authentic Lenny voice. But, once I got there, it was an experience I’ll remember for a long time.”
The Vineland Thorns are coached by Dennis, a down-on-his-luck proboscis monkey voiced by Patton Oswalt. “Dennis is one of my favorite kind of characters to play, which is an authority figure with zero authority,” Oswalt remarked. “No one is listening to him…It’s clear that on day one, he lost a battle with Jett that lasted two seconds. Like, she immediately put her foot and he’s like, ‘Okay, I’m just gonna work on this position and operate at this level.’ And then during the movie, he has to kinda re-remind himself, ‘Wait, no, I’m the coach, I need to be helping these players.’ He has to teach these players, you each need to get out of your own way. And I think Will reminds him that, ‘No, everyone doesn’t have to play the same game.’ They have to figure out what is unique and amazing about them. And how do I get these people to work together.”
As the rookie Will joins the struggling team of roarball players, the young goat becomes immersed in a world he always aspired to be in. For Curry, a number of specific moments in Will’s journey in the film resonated with him, but Will’s first trip aboard the team’s private plane stuck with him the most. “I remember my first trip as a young rookie not knowing what to do, walking on eggshells, not trying to get in anybody’s way,” Curry recounted. “But you’re a part of the team too, so you have to kinda act like you belong. It’s a interesting dynamic trying to, come in with the right spirit. But, still be a rookie.”
Despite his superstar status though, Curry approached working on the film with commendable humility, and dedication, says Dillihay. “Stephen came in with such humility,” the director said. “The first thing he said to us was, ‘I’m coachable.’ And he submitted to the process of voice acting. And he went at it wholeheartedly.
Stephen left the booth sweating. It’s almost like a played a good four quarters over the course of that session. So he put in the work. He put in the time. And he allowed me to bring things out of him I don’t even think he knew he could do.”
Dillihay’s ability to bring the most out of his voice actors didn’t stop there. The filmmaker revealed that he took the time to study individual traits and characteristics of his voice actors so that he could incorporate them into the film. “With Patton, with Gabrielle, with Caleb, with all of our cast, I tried to find little things about them that we can authentically infuse in a character that didn’t break anything,” Dillihay stated. “It just seemed natural. It’s these little quirks that make them seem more real, more identifiable, more specific.” The quirk in question for Caleb McLaughlin’s character is being a germaphobe, an attribute that leads to one of the biggest laughs in GOAT.
The cast and crew of GOAT all had their thoughts on what they hope audiences take away from their new film. For Union, she hopes “that young audiences leave that theater realizing that your dreams don’t have to match anyone else’s for them to valid and real and worthwhile.” Curry, meanwhile, said, “I hope this isn’t just about basketball, but I really hope that this is a story for the full family to understand that they’re good enough and their passion, their view on life, whatever they find that makes them unique, is sufficient.” Finally, director Tyree Dillihay confidently stated, “I want this to be a generation-defining underdog story. Like, this is the new classic. This is the film that’s going to form a core memory with the child or a child with a parent or friends and family and support groups and community.”
While it remains to be seen if GOAT will be the “generation-defining underdog story” Dillihay claims, the new film from Sony Pictures Animation seems destined to provide ample inspiration and joy to audiences of all ages when it hits theaters this week.
GOAT is in theaters February 13
