Nimona may be a monster girl, but who wouldn’t want to be if they could?
In the (modern classic in the making) animated film by the same name, Nimona is a shape-shifting outcast who uses her powers to sow chaos, but also because they’re innate to who she is. She might not fit into the mainstream, and that may make other people uncomfortable, but it’s by being herself and bucking those expectations when she’s at her most powerful.
Like I said, who wouldn’t want to be a monster girl?
Courtesy of Netflix
One person who connected deeply with Nimona the character is Chloë Grace Moretz, who voices the eponymous troublemaker. But rather than her wildest side, the actor said she most connected to who Nimona was behind the cool hair and penchant for turning into a shark. “Growing up, I think I probably would hide a lot of emotions, fronting other feelings and pretending that you’re not feeling the effect of situations that you’re going through,” she tells PRIDE. “Nimona really does have high highs where everything is solid and good. And she’s like, you know, ‘Rock on,’ and ‘I got this.’ And then when she has that kind of quiet and the chaos pulls back the vulnerability, and the rawness is there.”
That dichotomy is what most struck Moretz and served as a kind of mirror for the actor. “I really connected with kind of getting to the truth of myself. And in breaking that apart and realizing, at my core, you know, who am I? And what do I want to be? And do I feel strong enough to show that to people?”
She hopes audiences, particularly queer ones, have that same experience of feeling seen by the film as she and her friends did when they first watched it. “I’ve been a part of this project for two and a half years. And it was still something that, when I watched it, I was like, man,” she recalls. “Me and some of my best friends. We were like, if we had this movie when we were kids, this would have answered so many questions, and just helped us feel so seen.”
Ultimately, it’s a universal tale Moretz feels anyone can connect with. “No matter what you’ve been through, no matter who you are, no matter what your story is, if you’ve ever felt ‘other’, you’ve ever felt ostracized or villainized for just existing for being yourself, and if that rubs against a societal norm, this is a project where you’re going to feel so supported and so seen,” she says. “That rage, that tenderness, that vulnerability, that rawness, all of that is compounded with laughter, elation, and excitement, I think that’s something that is so true for the community, as well as the world and people that I really gravitate towards and connect with. And I hope that people will kind of feel that in this movie.”
Courtesy of Netflix
As for what kind of monster girl Moretz would be in real life, well, it’s really not so monstrous after all — but just as driven by empathy. “I could answer it with a cool answer. I could say something really badass and awesome. But in reality, I would want to be my little French Bulldog, I think, who gets so much love in a day,” she divulges. “They can also be a little gremlin and just sitting around like snarfing and snorting and being cute, and I just would love to see the world through her eyes for one day. That’d be really fun."
Nimona is now streaming on Netflix.
