EXCLUSIVE: Liza Koshy and Kimiko Glenn Talk Their New Movie, My Little Pony: A New Generation
My Little Pony: A New Generation is set to gallop onto Netflix tomorrow, September 24, and we got the chance to sit down with two of the stars of the movie, Liza Koshy and Kimiko Glenn, to talk about the new movie.
Liza plays Zipp Storm and Kimiko plays Izzy Moonbeam in the 5th generation in the My Little Pony franchise. During our conversation, we chatted which pony they most relate to, how they created the voices for their characters, their real life friendship, and so much more. Check it out below.
Which pony besides the one you played in the movie, did you relate to the most?
Glenn: “When I watched the movie, I really connected to Pipp and Zipp. I think first of all, your [Koshy’s] voice is so iconic. My friend was watching it with me and she was like, ‘who plays that? Oh my gosh. Amazing!’ And I was like ‘It’s Liza Koshy’. But I loved both of them because they really are reflective of modern day, and who kids are coming up to be in society.
There’s the one hand where it’s the influencer culture, the kind of like pop, stardom type thing with Pipp. And then there is Zipp of it all who is very androgynous and has a masculine feminine side. Zipp is really all about justice and stands up for what’s right. She is sure of herself. And I think that juxtaposition and that combination is what makes the next generation new. I think a lot of girls and a lot of people can relate to.”
How did you guys go about not only creating your own characters, but bringing such a new voice to them?
Koshy: “We had such an incredible creative team. So shout out to our directors and cast and crew and animators who made all of this possible and made it such a different world that still honors the original. It has so many Easter eggs to the older generations too, that you can see and watch and recognize as the older generation. It was awesome to see the animation and like see Zipp Storm before I played her.
I came into the project a little later than Kimiko did. She was on it for at least a year, I think before I joined on. So I got to see the animation of the actual movie itself, like go from sketch to animation and cartoon. So they really allowed us as voice actors to see a lot of the process, which I was grateful for. It helped me apply all the more to my character. It was a really cool, grounding force that Zipp was for me. To lean into this quiet confidence, that’s in a lower register and feel like I don’t have to worry. I’ve got everything covered. She’s kind of a reassuring presence, a reassuring big sister who is fighting for justice. It was lovely to step into that power that is Zipp storm and play her, but I had a lot of help. I had a lot of advice from Kimiko Glenn, who’s been doing this and is an icon in the voice acting community.”
Glenn: “They came in with a super amazing, clear idea. I was able to see it even a year before that. They had this vision for Izzy. And I think what also helped is, they were clear on what they wanted, but they also allowed us so much room to play. They allowed Izzy to become three dimensional if you will. And allowed me to bring my own Izzy to life and it really bred for a wonderful work environment. And I think created nuanced, interesting characters that just popped off the page in a way that was more alive and more real.”
You can read the rest of our interview below the jump. Make sure to check out My Little Pony: A New Generation when it hits Netflix.
Photo source: Netflix
How does it feel knowing that you are now part of My Little Pony family?
Koshy: “It means the most. It’s such an honor to be able to lend a voice and bring this powerful story and influential messages to life that parallel in our real world today. I’m so excited to pop out my own personal ponies and know that they’re [kids] going to digest this message that they need to hear about individuality and diversity and inclusion. And in this new generation, you get to see so many different parts of Equestria, all of these different bubbles of culture in which Earth ponies, Pegasus, and Unicorns come from.
You see this separation in which they’re all living in fear, and then you see this beautiful arch and growth where they lean into the faith, fun, and friendship of it all and trust each other. And trust in each other’s voices, in each other’s stories and listen to each other instead of just talk about each other separately in their bubbles. Some would see those bubbles be popped and know that those kids watching are going to be unafraid. They are going to be curious, are going to be fearless in the sense that we should all love the differences in one another and embrace that. So it’s awesome. The short answer is yes awesome. To be a part of such an iconic piece of pop culture and history and be able to pop my kids in front of this one day.”
Glenn: “As someone who does a lot of cartoons, I could do a lot of voiceover, which I know reaches a ton of children and a younger demographic. It’s super important to me and it always warms my heart when I know that there’s an educational component in it, because I think there’s so much information out there. It’s like the age of information where there’s so many ideas being passed around and knowing there is a beautiful idea out there, a beautiful story we can tell and a story that helps educate people how to not live in fear and to accept one another for our differences and love one another for our differences, it’s super important in our culture today. It’s super important for kids to learn. It’s super important for adults to be reminded of this, because I know that we need to be reminded.
I think I became very apparent last year. I became very comfortable in the bubbles that we were living in too. When we were forced in the pandemic to live in a bubble too, that also shut out our experiences to other people and cultures and not to be leaned into that fear. Like you’re saying, adults need to be reminded just as much. So all our generations should watch.
Its important messages, but knowing it’s with My Little Pony, it’s going to have reach. This beautiful message is going to go out there and people are going to see it and actually take something away from it because you don’t realize you’re learning, you’re laughing. You’re maybe shedding a tear too because you love the characters so much and you feel for them, but you’re getting it in this lovely little colorful ribboned package.”
How similar are you to your characters and what would you like your audience goers to learn from your character?
Koshy: “I think Zipp is a little slice of who I am and it was fun to tap in and let her become every fiber of my being. To be that quiet outspoken fighting for justice, fighting to live my truth, in living my truth setting all others free kind of message and moral. It was amazing to embody that and become that. I’m striving to do that more every day in life and striving to empower others, to do the same thing in their own worlds. I’m the youngest sibling of three. It’s evident. We won’t deny that, but I have two older sisters that I’m lucky to have, and I studied them to kind of understand what’s an older sister like in this world. So I had two guiding lights.”
Glenn: “Izzy is this open-hearted welcoming just genuine. And one willing to accept anyone and curious and creative. And I strive to be that every day of my life. I strive. We are talking about how a lot of times as actors, we choose characters that are kind of going to be therapy to us in a certain way. So for Izzy she doesn’t have her walls up. And I think a lot of times I live with my walls up, but then I slowly let them down. I wish I was a little more like her. So every time I would leave a session, I would just be in Izzy. The ‘Everything went so well today and I just feel so good and I’m having the best day of my life.’ feeling. And I love that she gave that to me, she gave me that vibration and energy while I was playing her.”
Is there anything you two have learned from working with each other?
Glenn: “Well one thing that I’ve learned by being friends with you [Koshy] is you kind of are who you associate with. I think the coolest thing about being friends with Liza is you can witness how she affects others as she’s with them. She brings a smile to everyone’s face. She always says exactly what she’s thinking, which is always something nice. That’s sort of what I’ve started gleaning from you is, if you think something nice, you should say it. Always bring light to someone’s day, always bring a smile to someone’s face and being around you and that energy has really inspired me to live my life in that way. I try and have friends who bring positivity to me and are a good support system and make me laugh and also are a good shoulder to lean on and give good advice and things that I wish they would want from me and stuff like that.”
Koshy: “We don’t wish anything from you because you give it all, honey. You’re an incredible support system. And being in this industry too, that can pull you in so many different directions or tell you that you’re this or you’re that, or you can only be in this box. This one has encouraged me to dance outside the box, always. And to be my whole self, no matter what that may be, I am a more positive person, but there are days that are dark and to have that support system and to have someone see, the light in me in my darkest of times, it’s so important to have someone like Kimiko around, who can reassure and make you feel comfortable in all of the emotions that you feel because there’s a wide range, especially as a woman in this world too, that you can feel.
To have that girl support gang is so important and she just allows for you to be the many different shades and versions of yourself and is welcoming of that. Not everybody is, but that’s where you see it out and you find your core, your main G five , pony gang. That’s what’s so important and I value her friendship so much.”