Born to Sparkle! ‘Thelma the Unicorn’ Directors Jared Hess & Lynn Wang Take Us on Tour with Netflix’s New Star

This article was written for the May '24 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 340).

Fans of Aaron Blabey’s Thelma the Unicorn books get a special treat this month when the comedy movie musical inspired by the series lands on Netflix. Just as imagined in the original story, which was first published in 2017, we follow a spirited unicorn with a dream to become a famous — and sparkly — pop star.

The CG-animated feature is directed by Jared Hess (Masterminds, The Last Man on Earth) and Lynn Wang (Unikitty!) and written by Hess and his wife, Jerusha Hess (Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre). Blabey and Patrick Hughes of Foundation Media Partners are executive producers. The film’s produced by animation veteran Pam Coats, whose credits include Mulan and Scoob!

According to the filmmakers, they fell in love with Thelma after reading the books. They thought her struggle to be loved for herself would resonate with kids and parents alike. It also made Hess reflect on his own family.

Style and Substance

When it came time to take the story from Blabey’s book to the screen, they made few changes. “Aaron Blabey’s book is pretty perfect,” says Hess. “The characters and themes are so strong and the visual storytelling is clear and full of personality. We wanted to maintain that same spirit in all of our character designs. But once we cast Brittany Howard as Thelma, her music, personality and style affected every aspect of bringing Thelma to life. Like Aaron’s illustrations, we wanted Thelma’s character design to be instantly lovable but also reflect the style of a true artist and stand out from everyone else in the film. We based Thelma’s hairstyle on one that Brittany has rocked before. We also decided to make her a two-toned painted horse. But even with all those changes her character remained true to the book.”

Hess, Wang and Coats aimed to keep Thelma adorable and engaging while she goes on a quest for her sense of self. They leaned into her playful and unusual qualities to make her relatable to the audience.

“The illustrations from the books are so funny, and the phrase that we kept bringing up over and over again while we were making this movie was ‘funny on sight,’” says Wang. “That really stemmed from Jared’s library of his work and also to Aaron Blabey’s own illustrations. I think anytime you look at them, they’re just so funny. We’ve really tried to keep that alive while translating it to the movie. So we wanted the characters to look diverse and funny and quirky, and you want to laugh at them, but you want to celebrate the quirkiness as well. That was really important to us.”

She adds, “We wanted to keep Thelma’s really short stature. I think Aaron made these drawings and illustrations really tactile, and they’re very contextual. We really wanted it to feel like you wanted to reach out and touch it. So we wanted to bring that over as well and make sure it fit into a 3D space.”

With so much to draw from in the books, the crew was thrilled to begin production when suddenly the pandemic hit and they had to switch gears from in-person meetings to online. During the transition the crew had virtual mixers as well as production gatherings. And their animation partner came on ready to move the production along.

“The animation was done by the wonderful team of artists at Mikros — most of them working out of offices in Montreal, Bengaluru and Paris,” says Hess, who along with his wife was nominated for an Oscar early this year for their short Ninety-five Senses. “The crew was huge. We started production during the pandemic and so this entire movie was basically made over Zoom meetings. I can’t wait to meet some of these talented folks in person someday. Even though we were just thumbnails on a screen, our producer Pam [Coats] always found ways to throw killer Zoom parties and make everyone feel like we were in the same room.”

Thelma the Unicorn also boasts a voice cast full of notable names giving memorable performances. Brittany Howard, Grammy winner and songwriter for the band Alabama Shakes, is Thelma; Jemaine Clement voices Vic Diamond; Zach Galifianakis is Crusty Trucker; and Fred Armisen is Danny Stallion. Will Forte, Jon Heder and Edi Patterson voice Otis, Reggie and Megan, respectively.

‘We wanted Thelma’s character design to be instantly lovable but also reflect the style of a true artist and stand out from everyone else in the film.’

— Director Jared Hess

Since the story is about a character who wants to become famous through her music, it was critical to have someone play Thelma who had a very strong musical background. That decision also influenced the film’s songs.

“Once Brittany Howard came on board, her music became the inspiration for Thelma,” says Hess. “It was critical to have the music feel authentic to Brittany as a performer — so we spent a lot of time coming up with the right songs that really showcased her vocal prowess. Brittany worked closely with our amazing music producer, Mike Elizondo, as well as songwriters Bret McKenzie and Taura Stinson.”

Hess points out that the film features a nice variety of music styles. “We had to establish Thelma’s unique voice early on and then show how it gets corrupted by stardom. Our music supervisor, Morgan Rhodes, was instrumental in helping us create Thelma’s distinct musical journey. Both Mike and Brittany Howard are based in Nashville and were able to record everything at his studio. Bret McKenzie’s comedy sensibility was a perfect match for our film, and John Powell did the beautiful score for the film. I have been a fan of his forever; his heartfelt themes totally changed the emotional journey for Thelma.”

Since many of the songs were recorded during the COVID pandemic, the production had to be extremely cautious to protect everyone. Cast and crew were given test kits before recording. Coats says Howard and Elizondo would create songs in what seemed like no time at all in his Nashville studio because they seemed to know exactly how to put the songs together.

Magical Melodies

Powell recorded the score for the movie in one of the most famous and iconic locations in the world — Abbey Road Studios in London. The studio has hosted such rock and pop luminaries as The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Kate Bush, Radiohead, Oasis, Lady Gaga and Adele, among many others.

“[John Powell] loves Abbey Road,” says Coats. “And there are two main theaters — stages — there and he wanted to record in both because the movie has a cacophony of different sorts of choices. He picked out certain cues to record inside ‘A,’ which is where the Beatles recorded, and then bigger orchestral cues to record out on a bigger stage. That was fun just watching his process about, you know, what he was looking for, including what kind of piano was being played.”

Looking back on the production Hess, Wang and Coats felt fortunate to be able to bring such a talented crew and cast together just as the pandemic was starting. Together they were able to bring Thelma to life in a new way. “We were so lucky that Brittany signed on to play Thelma,” says Hess. “I think it was a big leap of faith on her part. She obviously sings like an angel, but her acting chops floored us again and again.”

Thelma the Unicorn will trot along to Netflix on May 17.