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I’ve seen a lot of movies in a lot of different situations but can honestly say the Sing world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival was unlike any other moviegoing experience I’ve ever had. That’s because of the audience reaction to the film. In the third act, as each of the characters in Sing performs in a big concert, the audience would clap at the end like they were watching a rock concert. It was pretty incredible to watch because it was spontaneous and organic. People genuinely loved what they were seeing on screen and reacted accordingly. As I left the theater with a few friends we marveled at the reaction and all agreed Sing was going to be a monster hit at the worldwide box office.

If you’re not familiar with Sing, the film takes place in a world populated by anthropomorphic animals and revolves around a koala named Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey), who must put on one big spectacular show to keep his theater from closing. To do so, he holds a singing contest open to the public, and the whole town shows up to audition for a role in the show. It’s basically a “backstage musical” mixed with The Voice, as the contestants sing covers of popular songs. The film also features the voices of Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Scarlett Johansson, John C. Reilly, Taron Egerton, Tori Kelly, Nick Kroll, Nick Offerman, Peter Serafinowicz, Beck Bennett, Jennifer Saunders, and Jennifer Hudson.

With the film opening this week, I recently sat down with Taron Egerton for an exclusive video interview. During our wide-ranging conversation he talked about how the story changed during production, the amazing audience reaction at the world premiere, how he got involved in the project, and more. In addition, with filming set to begin in late January on Robin Hood, he talked about what’s different about this new version and how Kingsman: The Golden Circle compares to the first film.

Check out what he had to say in the video above. Below you’ll find exactly what we talked about and the official synopsis

Taren Egerton:

• How he could have met Adam Driver at TIFF but was too nervous.
• How the film played like a rock concert at the TIFF premiere.
• When did he realize he could sing? Talks about doing a competition and winning.
• How did he get involved in Sing?
• How did the story change during production?
• What’s different about his version of Robin Hood that he’s getting ready to film?
• Where and when are they filming Robin Hood?
• How long are they shooting for in Hungary?
• What can he say about Kingsman: The Golden Circle?
• Has he seen a lot of footage from Kingsman 2?
• How would he compare the sequel to the first Kingsman?
• What’s coming up after filming Robin Hood?

Here’s the official synopsis for Sing:

Set in a world like ours but entirely inhabited by animals, Sing stars Buster Moon (Academy Award® winner Matthew McConaughey), a dapper Koala who presides over a once-grand theater that has fallen on hard times. Buster is an eternal optimist—okay, maybe a bit of a scoundrel—who loves his theater above all and will do anything to preserve it. Now facing the crumbling of his life’s ambition, he has one final chance to restore his fading jewel to its former glory by producing the world’s greatest singing competition.

 

Five lead contestants emerge: A mouse (Seth MacFarlane) who croons as smoothly as he cons, a timid teenage elephant (Tori Kelly) with an enormous case of stage fright, an overtaxed mother (Academy Award® winner Reese Witherspoon) run ragged tending a litter of 25 piglets, a young gangster gorilla (Taron Egerton) looking to break free of his family’s felonies, and a punk-rock porcupine (Scarlett Johansson) struggling to shed her arrogant boyfriend and go solo. Each animal arrives under Buster’s marquee believing that this is their shot to change the course of their life.