Yet more Smurfs casting news
Mays, Azaria and Perry all feeling blue...
Though we’re finding it difficult to get excited over this cinematic version of The Smurfs (those dreadfully horrid flashbacks to Scooby-Doo are persisting), it’s a slow news week, so here’s more casting chat.
First up, everybody’s favourite TV lovely Jayma Mays – star of Glee , and guest-starrer of everything from Heroes to Ugly Betty – has been cast as the “female human lead” in the flick.
She joins as the pregnant wife of Neil Patick Harris, the film’s sole other human lead thus far, and will no doubt ferry in her usual quirky, big-eyed charm. Casting of other human and nonhuman roles is still taking place.
Meanwhile, Katy Perry has been confirmed as the voice of the adorable skirt-wearing Smurfette, while veteran voice actor Hank Azaria (Moe, Chief Wiggum et al in The Simpsons , below) has been drafted in to voice the villainous Gargamel.
Despite being a human in the cartoon, it looks like Gargamel will also be animated in the movie, which is a bit of a headscrew. Means Azaria escapes getting dressed up in another daft costume like he did in Night At The Museum 2 , though.
What do we deduce from all of this? Well, mostly that The Smurfs obviously have a lot of celebrity fans out there – we’re sure this lot haven’t signed on because of the quality of the script.
So even if the film does turn out to be a gooey, saccharine mess, at least we’ll have lots of slebs to point and laugh at after the matter. And some lovely shots of Jayma Mays looking all big-haired and lovely.
Sign up for the Total Film Newsletter
Bringing all the latest movie news, features, and reviews to your inbox
Sick of hearing about Smurfs, or excited about the movie? Give us a wolf whistle...
Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.