Beyoncé gets emotional over Epic role

From the creators of the Ice Age and Rio series, Epic follows a teenager MK (voiced by Amanda Seyfried) who is transported into a secret forest world then embroiled in a battle between good and evil and has to protect a special flower pod to save the forest where Queen Tara (Beyoncé) reigns and is protected by the Leafmen.

 Epic’s world, which unites the familiar and the fantastic, is a forest unlike any we’ve seen before: Tiny seeds look like boulders; rocks are the size of spiky mountains; flowers are gigantic and complex; and a butterfly is a nothing short of a flying tapestry.

In this world, Wedge interweaves spectacular battle scenes with intimate and emotional character interactions, and seasons the tale with humor, fun and romance. While the film’s visual wonders break new ground in animated spectacle, realism, action and adventure, it is Epic’s characters and the actors who portray them that take center stage.

 Beyoncé loved voicing Queen Tara in the new children’s movie Epic — at least once she stopped crying. Queen B has gone from pop royalty to screen royalty, becoming the forest queen in an animated movie that she hopes her 15-month-old daughter Blue Ivy will be proud of one day.

The film was her first work since giving birth and she says her hormones were raging. “I literally had tears when I played the voice,” Beyoncé told The Associated Press in an interview between concerts in London. “There was a scene where Queen Tara picks out her pod and I just imagined seeing my child.”

This role in Epic is not the superstar’s only brush with royalty of late. Her recent concert in London on her Mrs. Carter Show world tour, the singer inadvertently singled out Princess Eugenie in the crowd to sing with her. The 23-year-old Princess Eugenie is sixth in line for the British throne. Beyoncé giggled as she revealed that she had no idea who Eugenie was.

“’I didn’t know, and I still don’t know. Someone told me and I don’t know what’s going on, but I hope they had a great time and I hope I didn’t insult anyone, making them sing into the mic,” Beyoncé said. “But you know royalty likes to have fun and have a good entertaining night.”

“I’m an artist and I love being able to express myself and I’m not one-dimensional,” she said. “I have different feelings every day and now that I’ve done movies I feel like I can try and recreate these characters on the stage.”

Beautiful, agile and strong, Tara isn’t just the Leafmen’s Queen; she’s the life force of the forest, which she presides over with respect, compassion and humor.  Her unique connection with nature gives her additional and powerful allies.  And when all hope seems lost, she summons help from the most surprising of places.

Tara is nothing less than the forest itself. She has a powerful connection with her land: Flowers bloom and bend toward her, and leaves bow to Tara.  â€œTara is the heart of the forest, personified, and she’s beloved by her people, called the Jinn,” says Beyoncé.

Beyoncé agrees with Farrell that the film lives up to its grand title. “Epic is about a massive battle between good and evil, set against a huge landscape you’ve never before experienced in a film,” she points out. â€œEverything in Epic is big — the action, stakes, characters — but at the same time, they’re all really relatable.”

 Beyoncé found much to admire in Tara, beyond the character’s elegance, powers and royal position. “What I like most about Tara is that she sets a great example for the people she protects, and Tara is a role model for the younger characters.”

 In casting the role, Wedge, unsurprisingly, thought, “big,” because, he says, “Tara had to be larger than life and even iconic.”  And there’s no bigger entertainer and artist than Beyoncé.  Adds producer Jerry Davis: “Beyoncé has the command and presence of a queen but without the typical formality.”

 Epic (3D) opens May 24 in theaters nationwide from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.