Katy Perry channels Smurfette Anews in “The Smurfs 2”

Nine-time Grammy Award nominee Katy Perry once again lends her own nuanced, energetic, and sensitive combination to the voice of Smurfette, in Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Animation’s highly awaited sequel, “The Smurfs 2.”

In the film, feisty Smurfette hasn’t been feeling like her sparkly self – it’s her birthday and that always brings reflection. She’s been having some uneasy thoughts that maybe she isn’t really 100% true blue Smurf. True, wicked wizard Gargamel created her, but Papa used magic to make her a real Smurf. So, when Gargamel kidnaps her on the eve of her birthday, and she is introduced to her newly-created siblings, the Naughties, she starts to form a bond. Papa musters a daring rescue, but will she choose the family she knows, or the new family she’s discovered?

“It was fun to get back into character,” says Katy Perry. “I blocked out a couple of days to prepare for it, because I get into a zone where I really have to turn it on. Smurfette isn’t my normal voice – it’s like my voice and a bag of rocks, with a pinch of sugar.”

            Perry says she was gratified by the chance to work in scenes opposite Christina Ricci who provides the voice of Vexy. “It’s nice to know that she’s playing my evil twin,” says Perry. “I really look up to her, both as a person and as an actress – she’s done so many incredible films.”

“Katy’s performance is amazing, because she’s able to portray both sides of Smurfette – from one moment to the next, she finds the character immediately,” says producer Jordan Kerner. “On the one hand, you have the kittenish, funny, sweet Smurfette character that everyone in Smurf Village embraces. On the other hand, this is a very dramatic story for her character – she’s kidnapped, separated from the Smurfs, and thinks she’s never going to see her family again. All of that sense of abandonment, and loneliness, and fear comes through in Katy’s vocal performance. She’s just revelatory as a comedic actress. She will be a major comedienne in films. Brilliant instincts, inherently funny, and just beautiful.”

Katy Perry cemented her status as a best-selling superstar with the global success of her second studio album, Teenage Dream, which debuted at #1 in 8 countries and spent every week in Billboard’s Top 200 album sales chart since its release over 2 years ago. She became the only female artist to have 5 #1 singles from one album on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (“California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “Firework,” “E.T.” and “Last Friday Night”). The special edition, Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection, added “Part of Me” and “Wide Awake” to Katy’s list of nine Top 40 chart-toppers (dating back to her multi-platinum debut album, 2008’s One of the Boys, which generated four hit singles: “I Kissed A Girl,” “Hot N Cold,” “Thinking of You” and “Waking Up In Vegas”). In 2011, she sold out arenas around the globe on her California Dreams Tour. The tour was the subject of 2012’s 3D feature film, Katy Perry: Part Of Me, which is already the fourth biggest music documentary of all time, outpacing films from Madonna, U2, and the Rolling Stones.

Opening across the Philippines on August 07, “The Smurfs 2” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit https://www.columbiapictures.com.ph for trailers, exclusive content and free downloads. Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.