Simu Liu is fully embracing the world of animation, and he’s happy to admit one of the perks, comfort.
While promoting his new Netflix family film In Your Dreams, the actor laughed about how easygoing animated work can be, sharing that he’s “definitely shown up at recording sessions in pajamas and flip-flops.”
For him, that’s part of the charm, “All that matters is you’re giving the vocal performance,” he said.
The movie, directed and co-written by Alexander Woo and Erik Benson, follows two siblings who wander into the world of dreams and meet the Sandman.
Hoping to keep their parents together, they ask him for help once they start sensing tension at home. Liu voices the father, a musician, alongside Cristin Milioti, who plays the mother.
Liu shared that he didn’t initially realize he’d be singing in the film, but the surprise turned into a highlight.
“I don’t think I signed on knowing that we were gonna do an original song,” he said.
“But we did, and I got to do it with Cristin, which is so amazing. She’s a fantastic singer, like Broadway level.”
When reminded that Milioti actually won a Grammy in 2013 for Once: A New Musical, he joked, “I was nominated for an MTV Movie Award for best fight, which I lost to Sydney Sweeney.”
A line in the film touches on the idea that dreams show “how perfect the world could be,” sparking a conversation about what a perfect world looks like to Liu.
His vision is surprisingly simple, and very offline.
“My god, the internet doesn’t exist,” he said, imagining a reality in which people talk face-to-face rather than chase engagement online.
He added that in this perfect world, “people lead with acceptance and curiosity” instead of trying to “dunk on this person on social media so that I get likes.”
For Liu, it all comes down to connection.
“We’re all stuck here together,” he said, hoping for a world where people choose to listen, understand and “just figure out a way to get along and not kill each other while we’re at it.”
