Slumberland opened the doors to its wild fantastical world at the film’s Los Angeles premiere on Nov. 9. For Marlow Barkley, being on the red carpet was a dream come true. “It doesn’t feel real,” the 13-year-old actor told Tudum. “I feel like I’m going to wake up any second now and I’ll be like, ‘Oh, this is all a dream!’” It’s not everyday that you book your first film acting alongside Jason Momoa. “So much fun,” is how Momoa described working with the rising star.
In the family adventure film, Barkley takes on the role of Nemo, a young girl living in a Pacific Northwest lighthouse with her father (Kyle Chandler). After he’s lost at sea, she goes to live with her Uncle Philip (Chris O’Dowd) in the city and attend a fancy prep school led by Ms. Arya (India de Beaufort). “Marlow does such an incredible job of portraying a child who’s just lost their father, and Jason is just so unbelievably lovable. The combination of all those characters was a real tearjerker for me and I couldn’t stop,” de Beaufort shared with Tudum.
To escape her mundane life, Nemo transports to the magical world of Slumberland in her sleep. There, she explores dream worlds and flees nightmares with the friendly outlaw Flip (Momoa) and her sidekick Pig. The unlikely duo have one goal in mind: to see Nemo’s late father one last time. Along the way, they must avoid getting caught by Agent Green (Weruche Opia), who’ll lock them up in Slumberland for all eternity.
“I think I am quite a badass myself,” Opia shared about getting into character for the tough dream cop. “But I did channel Pam Grier. She gave us a lot of Black female energy and I kind of channeled that.” Opia was still repping her character on the carpet with a long, emerald green gown.
For the cast, stepping into Slumberland made them confront their own dreams. “I like the flying dreams. I have once fallen in a dream and woke up with a thud, but as long as you wake up it’s not so bad,” de Beaufort said. “I have a recurring dream where I’m in a Barbie dream house with Barbie and Ken,” Opia added. O’Dowd’s recollection was a bit more grim. “I killed Barney the dinosaur,” he confessed with a blank stare.
The red carpet fashion was just as fanciful as the film itself, from de Beaufort’s flowing pink dress, which she designed herself, to Momoa’s thematically on-point purple pajama set. But, there was one star who stole the night, and that was Pig. All eyes were on the piglet as he strutted down the carpet showing off his shades. His biggest admirer was none other than Slumberland director Francis Lawrence. “I want to be Pig,” he revealed. “Pig’s cool, gets through it all, and pretty stoic.” We all dream of being like Pig.
Slumberland flies into Netflix on Nov. 18.
