DAZZLING ON THE RED CARPET LUPITA NYONG'O

TALKS ABOUT EMOTIONAL HONESTY AND LEARNING FROM CHILDREN — AND ROBOTS

- GILL PRINGLE

From the moment Lupi ta Nyong’o stepped on to the big screen over a decade ago in the drama 12 Years a Slave – a role that earned her an Academy Award – audiences have been fascinated by the Mexican-Kenyan actress.

Whether it’s her effervescent personality, her beauty or her ability to wrench emotions from viewers, there’s something distinctively charming about the star.

For director Chris Sanders, it was simply the warmth of her voice, which made her his number one pick to bring emotional depth to a robot in forthcoming animated family film The Wild Robot, which premiered at the San Sebastián Film Festival in Spain last week.

In the process of bringing Rozzum unit 7134 – aka Roz – to life, the actress not only lost her voice for three months, but also learned a few unexpected life lessons.

“I like the message that kindness is a force,” says Lupita, 41, who voices a sophisticated robot shipwrecked on an uninhabited island without human guidance. “I think kindness can be considered a vulnerability, but in this film, we really show how Roz’s journey shows it is a force – and it’s a force to reckon with.”

UNFAMILIAR ENVIRONMENT

Based on Peter Brown’s best-selling children’s book of the same name, the story explains how Roz has been programmed for modern city life, designed to help whoever buys her.