Harold and the Purple Crayon cast discuss shooting the film and having their own purple crayon

Be prepared to let your imagination run wild when you see Harold and the Purple Crayon hit theaters on Aug. 2, 2024!

Harold and the Purple Crayon is based on the 1955 book series of the same name by Crockett Johnson. Since then, a 1959 short film and 2001 television series, and now adapted studio film, shows how impactful Harold's adventures have been as he has charmed the hearts and souls of many. This live-action/animation fantasy feature film is meant to serve as a sequel to the original book in which Harold whom we all know and love, has grown up and draws himself and his two friends Moose and Porcupine off the book's pages where he meets Mel, his mother Terri, and many other characters as he becomes apart of the physical world. Family and friendship serve as key themes with a screenplay from David Guion and Michael Handelman and directed by Carlos Saldanha (Rio, Rio 2, Ferdinand).

The movie is produced by Columbia Pictures in association with producer John Davis through Davis Entertainment and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing.

The cast includes Zachary Levi (Shazam! Fury of the Gods) as Harold, Lil Rel Howery as Moose, Tanya Reynolds as Porcupine, Benjamin Bottani as Mel, a young boy who befriends Harold, Zooey Deschanel as Terri, Mel's mom, Jemaine Clement as Gary Naswich, a man who gets a hold of a piece of Harold's crayon to use for evil, and Alfred Molina as The Narrator/Ghost of Crockett Johnson.

Prior to the film's release, The Parent Watch had the pleasure of speaking with Howery, Deschanel, and Levi to learn more about what happened on set and what each of them would draw up if they had their own purple crayon. Curious to know their answers? Read on to find out!

Lil Rel, I was seriously cracking up at Moose, [both] in animated form and in human form. Coming from your comedic roots, was there any room for improvisation, or was everything pretty tight from the script?

Lil Rel Howery: A lot of stuff was tightly in the script, but with any role, I try to make sure I put my little twist of things and have fun with it as much as I can. Mostly, it was scripted, but like I said, I do 'Lil' Rel' it and try to bring whatever I bring to stuff.

Zooey Deschanel: You gotta 'Lil' Rel' it.

LRH: I gotta 'Lil' Rel' it. Carlos [Saldanha] let me do that, so shout out to Carlos.

ZD: We love Carlos.

Zooey, with this character, she's [Terri] a single mom and working alongside her son. What was your favorite part of filming those poignant scenes and working with Benjamin [Bottani] directly?

ZD: It was so great. He's such a great actor and really fun. I am a mom, so the thing that's nice about playing a mom is there are so many things we can all relate to just as parents, that we all want the best for our kids, and the thing is, 'How do you help your kids grow up and be imaginative and feel confident and all those things?' That's something that I think all parents can relate to. It was wonderful getting to do those scenes.

As I was watching it, it's an opportunity for both young children, but also grownups, to have their imaginations run wild. I would love to know if you had the opportunity to hold Harold's purple crayon, what would you draw up?

LRH: Good question. You know something I would draw right now? It's a gang of stuff I would draw, honestly, because now we've been doing these interviews all day, so now my imagination is extremely sore. I would really want to draw my version of the Sears Tower, which is in Chicago. One of the biggest buildings in the world. Just my own version of it. I don't know why, I just wanted it to be a tall building with no floor so you only go down and up. That's it. Nothing in between. Just an elevator to go up and down. Tourism will be so fast because there's nothing else to look at. You're either going up or down. That's it.

ZD: I'm going to draw a kiosk of souvenirs to sell outside of your imaginary Sears Tower, and I'm going to make a whole lot of purple money from my souvenir stand so thank you.

LRH: Then you have a snack shop to sell marshmallows.

ZD: Oh, great idea.

That's teamwork!

As an admirer of your work, I notice you tend to play characters that impact audiences on a multi-generational level. With you portraying Harold, was there a moment or scene where you really felt like, 'I'm actually embodying a character that so many people love?'

Zachary Levi: Well, first of all, thank you. That's very kind of you. Really, there's so many moments throughout where Harold is embodying that innocence. I mean, he's just purity. He's light and love through the whole movie. There's no judgment, there's no guile, there's no sarcasm, there's no negative energy about him. He just wants to be optimistic and joy and fun. Those are all things that I want to do all the time. Unfortunately, because I live in the real world I've had many years of my own traumas and things, thank God for therapy, those things can get beaten out of us a lot. Being forced to embody this character and really dive more into that was a really fun challenge and something that I think taps into the purity that Harold is in the books.

This is a production question. Spoiler alert! The purple crayon isn't real in the actual movie.

ZL: Wait, what? [laughs]

In terms of the environment, what is your mindset when you're actually creating these things with the crayon, what is it like drawing on set?

ZL: It was one of my favorite parts of making the movie because it was a challenge that I had never faced before as an actor, which is not to say I hadn't had similar challenges. Every time you're taking on a role, you have to use your imagination, which I love. Then, sometimes you get to take on roles that require a lot more imagination in that you might have big special effects and green screen, like when I'm Shazam and I'm fighting a dragon. Obviously, the dragon is not there, but I got to pretend that the dragon is there and seeing it and tracking with it and fighting it and all that. With this, all of a sudden now, I was creating what wasn't there. What was a fun dance with it was that the visual effects department would have, oftentimes, a wire frame of what it was that I was going to draw. I had something to rehearse with, but then they would take that out, and then I would be drawing it freehand and just having to remember through muscle memory, how large were the props on the propeller of the plane, how long was the body and the chassis and the bicycle dimensions, all of these types of things. That was a really just different fun challenge.

When you were younger, if you had Harold's magic crayon, what would you draw up?

ZL: When I was younger...I would get into probably so much trouble because I would draw all of the planes, boats, skateboards, and jet boards. Whatever my imagination could muster. That was a lot, so I would probably draw a lot of big battles between my Voltron and Transformers and GI Joes and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I would give them all actual weapons in a big battlefield and let them go at it. Stuff like that!

Make sure to get tickets to Harold and the Purple Crayon when it hits theaters nationwide on Aug. 2