Garth Jennings Talks ‘Sing 2’ And How U2’s Bono Went That Extra Mile

When Sing landed in theaters in December 2016, it launched a franchise and did something that few movies manage to achieve. On its second week of release, its box office went up.

It eventually grossed $634.2 million against a $75 million budget. Five years later, Sing 2 is here. Among the voice cast reprising their roles from the first film are Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, and Taron Egerton. Joining the cast of characters trying to put on a Vegas-style show for a media mogul is Bono as a heartbroken and reclusive rock star legend lion called Clay Calloway.

I caught up with writer-director Garth Jennings to discuss how he got the U2 frontman involved and the secret of the first film's success.

Simon Thompson: You knew you wanted to do a sequel pretty much straight away when you were working on the first one, right?

Garth Jennings: Yeah. With this stuff, you talk about it as you're going along, sort of informally. You might be having a coffee one day and say, 'Wouldn't it be funny if they did this?' and no one's making notes. You're just thinking about it out loud and tossing it around. By the time we'd finished Sing, we had a plan in mind. I don't think it was until the film came out that we just started to say, 'Okay, let's focus on this sequel.' That movie's success was a great event and really lovely because I'd only just started working in animation with the first one, and I had to learn all this new stuff. It was nice to have one more go and use all these techniques again, take these characters that I loved, and go full Vegas.

Thompson: How many concepts did you throw around for the sequel before settling on this one? Are there ones that you shelved but could be used for a third or fourth Sing movie?

Jennings: Well, there is an idea for a third, but I wouldn't be a part of it. By the way, when I say an idea, it's an idea, but there's no script or anything. It's just one of those 'Wouldn't it be fun if...' and there are some things around that. I wouldn't be writing or directing. I'd be taking a backseat, and I'd let someone else take the cast to the next level.

Thompson: It isn't easy to establish a new IP and a potential franchise, but you managed that with Sing. Everybody's looking for a franchise. Was it a different experience making the second one because you knew it was established?

Jennings: I've never had that conversation, but you're right; it was established. It's really interesting because people are familiar with the original film in many Sing 2 screenings I've been to, and they want to reconnect with these characters. That's lovely. I'm just trying to make something as wonderful as I can. I think this is where one of the many skills of Chris Meledandri, the CEO of Illumination, lies because he has this ability to create things that he knows an audience is going to connect with. Chris is extraordinary. He loves working with artists; whether they're writers or painters, or animators or directors, he loves seeing what people will bring to it. He also has a keen sense of what the audience might experience. It's pretty profound working with Chris. It's taught me immeasurable amounts in terms of storytelling. I mean, it's always hard work to make these things be the best they can be, but, my goodness, when you've got a team like that around you, you've got a good shot at it.

Thompson: A lot of Sing 2 involves pulling off big, creative ideas. You've done that in your movies and the music videos you've directed for the likes of Blur and Supergrass. You've often had big ideas that some people might think are a lot to bite off and chew.

Jennings: It's true, but I've always loved that ambition of my favorite films, my favorite stories, and some of my favorite music. They're going for it. It doesn't mean to say it has to be a spectacle; it could be a small film, but there's a sense of driving towards something that could be the best it could be, and I love that. I love that collective sense of trying to make something amazing. Those videos were the same. I'd say, 'Okay, I'm going to do a thing with a milk carton that's going to go looking for a lost boy.' It's only when they say, 'Great, do it,' that you wonder how you are actually going to make it work. It ends up being a man in a milk carton suit and a puppet and all kinds of things. I love finding solutions to things with creative people. Whether you use puppets, computers, or a mix of everything or sleight of hand, I love the magic tricks you can use in movies.

Thompson: Talking about magic tricks, you managed to get Bono involved in Sing 2. Was that just one of those crazy ideas where you were curious to see if you could actually pull it off?

Jennings: It was never a case for us that it could maybe be him in this role; we knew Bono would be perfect. The character is a lion, so he has to have a distinct voice. It's such a tragic story, so the songs have to have an emotional resonance, and “I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For” as this pinnacle moment. We reached out to him and were waiting for the call to tell us he's too busy doing other stuff or a 'No thank you,' but they said he'd call us in 45 minutes. We had a chat on the phone, and it turned out he loved the first film. He'd been struck by how much we all loved music; we didn't just drop it in. It was loved and used in a precise way. Bono also loved the idea of this character and how it would express something that he feels strongly about in music. Somehow all these things connected, and the next thing you know, not only was he in it and was amazing, but then he wrote a song as well. He just wrote it. We didn't ask him to.

Thompson: I was going to ask you about how much you asked of him and how much he brought to the table himself.

Jennings: He said to me, 'Oh, there's a song in this character. Music is going to save his life. I thought that would be amazing because that would be the end of the film, the summing up of the whole story. I've said this to a few people that I didn't think he was going to do it, not because he wasn't a man of his word, but because it was an exuberant conversation, lots of things were talked about, and maybe reality would be that that doesn't happen. I wasn't waiting for it. Anyway, we turned up to record his first scenes a couple of months later, and when we were finished, I thanked him and told him that it was great and we'd got what we needed. Bono turned around and said, 'Oh, by the way, I've got that song.' He pulled out his phone and just played it. There we were with “Your Song Saved My Life” coming out of his phone. It was a really good demo and very close to how it sounds now. I was blown away, but I couldn't decide whether it was the song or his gesture. Later on, he played it again in a studio with big speakers, and I was really moved. I got a bit teary because it's a beautiful song and the end of my film on a plate. It's so rare that that kind of thing happens.

Thompson: Did you have a plan B? 

Jennings: No, I didn't. (Laughs) Again, that is this naivety. I just thought it would be great if Bono voiced this character, so why not start there. Who would Plan B be if we couldn't get him? I don't even know.

Thompson: I love that Bono had seen the original movie. I've got this brilliant image of him The Edge and Larry Mullen Jr. sitting around having a movie night and watching Sing 2.

Jennings: That's actually not far off. I don't know exactly who was is in the audience, but I know Bono watched it with about 20 or 30 friends and family in Dublin. He rang me up afterward, and he was thrilled, and all the kids were shouting in the background; they were dancing their way through the end of it and having a great time. It was the best phone call ever because he said how happy he was. It means the world to me that the people who I work with, not just the actors, but the artists, the animators, everybody, are proud of the work they've done. That's so important. Obviously, you want the audience to love it, but I worked hard with all these people for many years, and it's so nice that everyone feels that that investment they gave was worth it.

Thompson: One thing that was special about the first movie, and something that rarely happens, is when it initially landed in theaters, in the second weekend of release, the box office went up. How was that experience?

Jennings: It's that word of mouth thing. I think this sort of film is basically wrapping its arms around everybody and putting on a show. It's a big show and an emotional extravaganza. I feel like I've just been at maybe a dozen Sing 2 screenings over the last few weeks in Italy, France, England, and America, and it's been thrilling to see people get swept up by it. And so I have no idea what's going to happen tomorrow or what will happen with this release, but I do know that the thing we made does what we set out to do, so whatever happens, I know we did our best with it. If that happens again, great. If it doesn't, that's the way it is.

Sing 2 is in theaters now.