From the creators of Shrek, the animated feature Trolls (due out in theaters on November 4th) will take audiences into a colorful and wondrous world populated by the always optimistic trolls, who are not only always smiling and singing, but even have hourly hug sessions with other trolls. Inspired by the toy phenomenon and with its very own mythology, this hair-raising adventure looks to have laughs, tears and a whole lot of great music, as well as a terrific voice cast that includes Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Russell Brand, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Zooey Deschanel, James Corden, Icona Pop and Gwen Stefani.

On June 23rd, Collider was invited over to the DreamWorks Animation campus for a preview presentation with directors Mike Mitchell and Walt Dohrn, who gave the media a glimpse into the world that they’ve created. As someone who had a significant assortment of trolls of varying hair colors when I was a teenager, I was definitely curious about what the world and characters would look and sound like.

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With an environment textured out of fuzzy felt and hair that does just about everything, including changing color and shape and growing as needed, the only thing the always happy trolls (who even poop cupcakes) have to worry about are the pessimistic Bergens, who are only happy when they have trolls in their stomach. So, when some of happy pink troll Poppy’s (Anna Kendrick) friends are captured, she turns to Branch (Justin Timberlake, who is also the executive music producer on the film), a grey troll who doesn’t partake in hugs or singing, to help her save the day.

The 15 minutes of footage we got to see made it clear that the huge variety of troll characters are undeniably cute and the music, made up of already known tracks (including “The Sounds of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel, “Clint Eastwood” by Gorillaz and “True Colors” by Cyndi Lauper) and original tunes (including the already released and highly catchy “Can’t Stop the Feeling”), will definitely make you want the soundtrack. Following the preview presentation, Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake participated in a Q&A to talk about whether they had their own troll collection, the process of putting together the music, working in the recording studio together, narrowing down the songs, and the biggest challenges of it all.

Question: Did either of you ever have trolls?

ANNA KENDRICK: I had trolls, growing up. My first question to them, after they finished pitching me the movie was, “Does Poppy have a diamond belly button?,” because the jeweled belly button trolls are the best trolls. They said, “No, but she has glitter freckles,” so I was like, “Okay, that’s fine.” And I had the pencil toppers, which made it seem like homework was fun, even when homework wasn’t fun. They are that kind of ugly cute. It’s hard to say what draws kids to them, but I think it’s like pug dogs. They’re so ugly that they’re cute.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE: They become disarming. Not to speak ill of things like Barbies, but I think they disarm especially young females.

KENDRICK: I had a confusing relationship with my Barbies, but I love trolls. I tortured my Barbies.

TIMBERLAKE: I’m sure, growing up, it’s easy to go through some sort of body dysmorphia thing, and trolls are probably very disarming. I remember in second and third grade, I didn’t have them, but every girl in school had one. They had the treasure trolls with the jewels in the belly, and I remember the pencil toppers. Girls would brush the hair. They were every bit as big as any other doll that came out, geared towards young females.

How does the process of music producing work?

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Image via DreamWorks

TIMBERLAKE: This is my first time doing it, on this level. I’ve never been the executive music producer for a film. For a musical like this, to take these classic toys and mythological creatures from so long ago and really modernize them, that was our M.O. with the music, as well. I think it fits with the humor. Some seven-year-old is gonna walk away knowing “The Sound of Silence,” which is very cool, and a song like “True Colors.” Now, I came on a little after some of the songs were sought after and cleared. I don’t know if you know about the clearance process, but that can be mind-numbing. So, when I came in, “True Colors” was definitely already picked out for this moment in the movie. “The Sound of Silence” was already picked out, too. So, my job for that was just hopefully to put our own spin on it, make it sound unique, and make it sound like it belonged in the scene, much like musical theater, almost. And then, I also wrote four original songs, specifically written for the movie. I’ve never done anything like that, either. Some of the music does sound very ‘70s. Overall, you’ll feel that a lot of the music definitely has a little bit of ‘70s funk to it, so that was definitely an inspiration for “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” as well. You get to see some of the animation and what they’re working on, so you get to see how big a moment is. When you finally get to see where the Bergens live, you hear The Gorillaz. You just want to sonically complement that.

Anna and Justin, how was it to work in the recording studio with each other?

TIMBERLAKE: It’s been fun to work specifically with Anna because she’s such a good singer. She doesn’t fancy herself that, but she is.

KENDRICK: It’s a lie. I’m wonderful!

TIMBERLAKE: It’s been so much fun to work with her. All the work that we actually did together was just me sitting at the board, and us talking about her singing and her vocal performance. “Get Back Up Again” is her singing, but she’s also acting. There’s a lot that goes into that.

KENDRICK: With “Get Back Up Again,” we wanted something that felt like the “I Want” song. The “I Want” song is one of those Broadway things. It’s her “I Want” song. We had a take when they were coaching me on Skype, and it was good, but after working with Justin for a while, I was like, “I feel like we should go back.” Everyone was like, “Why? It’s fine.” I would bet that 95% of what’s in the movie is from my session with Justin because, as someone who’s a singer, he gives such specific notes that are so helpful that it just tightened it so much, and I feel like we got so much more heart and mischief and sass from her.

TIMBERLAKE: I’m a big fan of musicals. The first ones that comes to mind are The Music Man or Singin’ in the Rain, where you’re getting a piece from the character that’s moving the story along and you’re getting a piece from the story that’s moving the story along, and the music services that. I feel like it’s a lot more challenging to do the type of musicals where the music starts and time stops. Then, it gets to the end of the music and everyone goes back to what they were doing. We wanted to definitely modernize our movie and make everything service the movie and move it along.

How long was the process of narrowing down the songs?

TIMBERLAKE: There were four different versions of “Get Back Up Again.” There were songs that we cleared or tried out for different scenes, and are still trying out for different scenes, to service those moments. And then, every once in awhile, you come across some irony, like The Gorillaz’ “Clint Eastwood,” where the line is “I’m happy, I’m feeling glad, I’ve got sunshine in my bag.” We’re using it for the Bergens in complete irony ‘cause there’s nothing happy about that scene.

What were the biggest challenges in making this movie?

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Image via DreamWorks

TIMBERLAKE: I had fun working on this movie, but there were challenges. There’s challenges with the music because it’s not easy to come up with a full arrangement for a song, especially one that’s so classic and popular. We’ve gone through different iterations of the different musical performances, cutting them down and extending them. That can become a little time consuming, but it’s still fun work. It’s still fun to try to crack the code of trying to not linger on with music, but still not cut any of what’s very important to the characters and the story. But that sounds like the most trivial thing, compared to probably the adversity that [the filmmakers] faced.

Do you get nervous taking on a classic song, like “True Colors”?

TIMBERLAKE: I was very nervous, to be honest. I remember the whole time I was doing the recording session, I was like, “What is Cyndi [Lauper] gonna think?” I still don’t know, and I guess it’s too late to worry about it because it’s already in the movie.

KENDRICK: I do think that having an acting objective makes it easier for me. When we sang it at Cannes, I was totally terrified. But when I’m singing it in the movie and I’m listening to Justin, I’m thinking about what we have to accomplish for the story. That distracts from being nervous and it gives me a simpler intention. Trolls opens in theaters on November 4th. Click here for the latest trailer.

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Image via Universal Pictures
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Image via Dreamworks