By Nora Quintanilla |
New York (EFE).- “Moon Girl”, Marvel’s little black heroine, will hit the screens next Saturday with a cartoon series produced by Laurence Fishburne, the famous Morpheus from “The Matrix”, the result of his “vocation » to produce stories focused on the African-American community, according to what Fishburne told EFE.
“Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur”, which premieres next Friday on the Disney Channel, follows the adventures of Lunella Lafayette, the 13-year-old girl protagonist of the hit Marvel comic, in a New York City seasoned with large doses of fantasy but that maintains its greatest identity sign, diversity.
This heroine on skates and a lover of science will have a dinosaur as her inseparable companion, as well as her best friend, to protect her neighborhood, the Lower East Side, from numerous dangers, among which there is no shortage of villains, since as the first one says of them in the pilot chapter, “Women can reach everything.”
In a videoconference interview, Fishburne talks about the aspects that led him to embark on the series, announced in 2019, and jokes: “The first and most important thing is that (Lunella) has a 15-meter dinosaur -he laughs- but also He has a big brain, and that’s his superpower.”
“She is the first female, teenage, African-American superhero. These things are very important, we had not seen them before in an animated series and they are what encouraged me to want to carry it out », she replies, already adopting a more serious gesture.
Fishburne, “producer’s vocation”
It is not the first production by Fishburne, which since 2000 has promoted, through its production company, Cinema Gypsy Productions, television and film projects based on stories from the black community, with black characters and actors.
On whether he feels a responsibility to promote the black community, with his characteristic deep voice, and that he gives life to one of the villains of the series, he clarifies it: “I think it is not just a responsibility, it is a blessing to be able to do it. It’s more like my calling.”
“I feel called to celebrate stories that are centered around black people, the wonderful things we do, and the wonderful things we can do,” she explains.
Of course, he admits that his role as a father has had weight in “Moon Girl”, since his daughter, Delilah, 15, became “chief consultant”. “Every time a drawing was made, any animation, music… I would show it to my daughter so that she would give us her approval,” she reveals with a smile.
creativity and intention
What producer Fishburne, who counts among other titles with the eight-season comedy about a black family in the US, “Black-ish”, enjoys the most is “being in the position to create a space for other people to express their creativity ».
“The greatest joy is to see other people who are starting their career or at a particular point in their career where they can really apply all their talent, ability and imagination, and create something; and it’s great to be a part of that,” she adds.
For this reason, the artist is emphatic about the reception of the series: «My expectations do not matter. My intention is that people feel identified; our intention is to do something that people enjoy, that is entertaining, fun, uplifting, emotional.
“Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur”, which will also be available on the Disney+ platform, already has a second season underway, in which characters from the first and “perhaps some from the Marvel Cinematic Universe” will appear, as well as “hidden clues” that both are related, he advanced.