Video: Rachel Zegler Recorded SPELLBOUND Songs Before Being Offered the Part

What are you proposing

Lucky us tonight, the princess comes of age at last, meaning we can set the stage at last for a brand new queen to rain

That's good. And when she has put the palace once again at ease

We bring back the old amenities. And we're toast them with champagne

I like it. Please, you'll love it. You're right? I think I do

With style and with craft, we have choreographed of a benevolent crew. Let's take that step

Step in the new direction Call it across direction Step after step

Until we can pass the button And step by step So excited to talk to you about this movie

I absolutely It felt like it was made just for me I loved it because I mean I'm an animation nerd

A theater nerd I'm a 90s kid so Alan Minkin musicals You know that was my

grew up on those So this feels like it's you know In that tradition That long line of tradition

And it was so fun to watch Thank you Rachel I attended a presentation on the movie about a month ago, and Vicki mentioned that they had their eyes on you from your singing videos before even West Side Story, which I had no idea about

I had no idea about that either. That so funny She said something like I like to say that we found her before Spielberg or something like that Oh sweet Which I thought was really cool Can you share how you got involved with the movie and what those early discussions looked like for you

Yeah, absolutely. I had just wrapped West Side Story October of 2019

And then a few months later in January of 2020, I had gotten the call from my animation agents

that this movie had been interested in me jumping on to just do scratch vocals for Alan Mank

and then I would be working very closely with his very close confidant, Michael Cozarin

And so I kind of had an at-home booth situation set up because the pandemic was starting to rage

And so in my attic, I had like a makeshift ISO booth and worked with Michael and Chris Montan

and everybody at Skydance, including Vicki Jensen. And we all just kind of made what I consider a little EP

of Alan making music for Spellbound. And it wasn't really until mid-2020 that I actually got the offer

to play Elion in the movie. Wow. It must have been so exciting

It was very exciting. Because I really wanted it. It was one of those things like doing the music all the time

And then I would go downstairs because my whole family was obviously home because it was the band And I would go downstairs I be like I hope I get that job that would be really cool but you know being a part of something like that in general with being part of like

Alan Mangan's experimental phase on something is is such an honor well I can't imagine

that's that's incredible and now I know with voiceover work you don't always get to

record in the same room or even at the same time but did the two of you get to talk at

all about your characters or that dynamic because Jennifer your character we met 30 minutes ago

We met 30 minutes ago, and we're best friends now. Yes, it's true

I love that. I love that. There was one more question I wanted to ask you

There's a quote in the movie that I really love from one of the oracles. I think it was we all have dark feelings, but it's what we do with those dark feelings that matter

And I wanted to ask if there's something that each of you do to combat dark feelings

Like, if there's a comfort movie you watch or like a food you like to eat or cook or a place you like to go

Wow. Well, I'm gonna be real honest. I don't have a lot of dark feelings anymore

because I've done a lot of work off camera and off stage

You know what? She's 12 and I'm 93. So, you know, a lot of..

I've a lot to learn. Dark things don come my way anymore When you grow up if you grow up you get an opportunity to really appreciate life And like Spellbound you face the music

Sure. You deal with the real issues and you come to know that you cannot fix people

You can only, you know, deal with how you react to life

And I think Alien is going to grow up and find all of those things because she has

had to face the music. Yeah. The Alan Mankin music. I mean, for me right now

it's just, it's being able to do the play. And, and every time

anything feels any sort of out of sorts, I get on that stage and I let it rip

There you go. It's really, really a wonderful outlet. It's where we live

It's where we live. It's where we live. In front of the camera and in front of the audiences

And that's a big response So you don't get to carry your mess, although you bring it to the moment because you can only bring yourself where you are, but you have to honor the audiences, no matter where they are and give a honest performance