Actresses Lana Condor, Jane Fonda drawn to Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken’s empowering themes

LOS ANGELES – Voiced by actress Lana Condor, the heroine of the animated action-comedy film Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is not too different from your average shy 16-year-old.

She is struggling to fit in at high school, where the boy she likes sees her only as his tutor. And her overprotective mother Agatha (Toni Collette) is making it hard for her to hang out with the cool kids.

But Ruby harbours a secret few other teenagers do: She is a kraken, one of the mythical sea creatures sailors have spoken of for hundreds of years, usually in terror.

And her Grandmamah (Jane Fonda) is the kraken warrior queen from whom she will inherit the throne.

Speaking at the movie’s Los Angeles premiere, Condor – star of the To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before romantic comedy films (2018 to 2021) on Netflix – says this is a coming-of-age story about “a young woman stepping into her power and finding out who she truly is”.

But the film – which was made by DreamWorks, the animation studio behind the Shrek franchise (2001 to 2010), and is showing in Singapore cinemas – is more emotionally gritty than one might expect.

“Often in animation, you see only the good parts of relationships, and in our film, it’s very realistic,” says the 26-year-old Vietnamese-American star.

“We have the drama of when you think your mum is trying to ruin your life, and all that stuff which is so real.

“So I was drawn to the authenticity of our script and the way that (Ruby’s) mother-and-grandmother situation was portrayed, because I wanted to make something truthful.”

The quirky tale also appealed to Oscar-winning veteran actress and Hollywood icon Fonda, 85.

“I never thought in my wildest imagination that I’d be playing a kraken,” says the American actress, who starred in the comedy series Grace And Frankie (2015 to 2022).

But she loved the empowering themes and thought her character was “fun, feisty and had a sense of humour”.

“And most importantly, she wants her granddaughter to realise that she’s not what she thinks she is – that underneath what society has told her she should be, she has the potential for being a leader and a heroine, and that’s always important.”

Condor had to pinch herself when she learnt that Fonda was going to be her co-star, though.

“When I found out that she was voicing Grandmamah, I was just floored. I was fangirling big time,” says the actress, who attended the premiere with her fiance, American actor-singer Anthony De La Torre, 29.

The movie also reimagines krakens not as terrifying sea monsters but as creatures who protect the oceans against the true villains and their sworn enemies: mermaids, who are revealed as vain and power-hungry.

And the most popular girl at Ruby’s school, Chelsea (Annie Murphy), happens to be one of them.

Murphy, 36, thinks “a lot of people are going to be able to see themselves in Ruby, and in not feeling 100 per cent confident in their own skin, but then realising that things that are negative in the moment turn out to be your biggest strength”.

The Canadian actress, who won an Emmy for her role in the sitcom Schitt’s Creek (2015 to 2020), adds: “It’s a universal, feel-good thing, and the underdog comes out on top, which is the best kind of story.”

Murphy, too, fangirled over being in the same film as Fonda.

“Never in a million years did I think I would be ocean-battling Jane Fonda, so it was quite a mind-blowing experience.”

But even though krakens are her nemesis in Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, Murphy was tickled that they are finally getting their own hero’s journey.

“Whether or not they deserve it, it was fun to see a new interpretation. It was time to maybe show the giant kraken some love after so many years.”

• Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is showing in cinemas.