I am so excited and so honored to announce Jett Barker! As the son of the witch DeLuna Binks! I first off need to say I am so thankful for Jett's patience with me through the casting process. The way I was doing things before meant people we're waiting a while before anything was booked with me. Either because of budgeting or because a character just wasn't far enough along for casting. And Jett fell into one of those cases. They came to me a while ago now about auditioning for Binks and while I had virtually nothing except a couple lines I was like, "yeah of course!"
Just a quick note for context, the way the chimps were all written they're all sort of tied together, so it's basically one branching route. So while Star's route was completely done and featured the others, none of the others were done, they just had enough lines that if someone wanted to audition there was enough there to do so. And I had a general (can't stress that enough) general idea of who they were as characters.
Anyways, Jett auditioned, and just nailed it. I think they were the first person to audition and immediately I was like, "yup that's the one." I had no real idea of what I was looking for, for Binks so really anyone could do anything. As long as I could look at the art, hear the voice, and it all work in my head. That's all that was important and that's what happened. The quality of Jett's voice too was something special. Especially now comparing Jett to say Josh and Mylo who are their fellow gang members; Jett's stands out a little more. Which makes sense. Star is high energy, positive vibes, doesn't want to be bothered with things that bore him. Dev again his high energy, really in your face, positive, wants to have a good time. DeLuna isn't that, at all. And that became clear to me when writing them. DeLuna is a member of the gang simply because he's a Winged Chimp. That's really it, that and he's friends with Danny-Boy. And I think there's a lot of other underlying backstory you can use to either assume or factual know shaped that. So when I heard Jett's voice I just knew, because I imagined how they would sound interacting with at the time Star. And it just made DeLuna so endearing. They also went with a heavy east coast accent, which when I wrote him imagined he'd have but it was never explicitly said. It was more like, "he talks with some sort of accent, what that is I'm not even sure, this is just how he speaks." And Jett's decision then informed my decisions. It was like, "okay so DeLuna is from the coast, that means Danny has to be from the coast." So then character beats started to fall in like, "okay why specifically doesn't Danny like people and how does that relate to DeLuna and why is he more trusting and even forgiving?" Which then of course became things like, "why is he socially awkward? is there a reason outside anxiety? Or is there a story there? What is his story? How did he come to America?" Which lead to him being Roma, which then meant "okay family is important, so how does that affect his ending?" All this was a domino effect from Jett's amazing audition. That's it. DeLuna was essentially written around their performance. Once I finally booked Jett because I ended up reworking things yada, yada. DeLuna finally came together. Because I sat and really thought about it and that performance more. Suddenly a character I was dragging my feet with was completely written in a day. And that's a testament to Jett's performance, and really voice acting on as a whole. And to be clear, Binks is not an easy role. When I wrote him, afterwards I would re-read lines over and over to make sure I could even read them outload in his voice. The way he speaks and says words just isn't natural to me. And probably most if not all the world of English speakers. And then to do an accent on top of that, it's a lot, plus then to say, "okay now act." It's a big ask in my opinion. So Binks easily could have been the hardest chimp to cast. But he wasn't he was no harder than Star. It took longer for the moment to be right. But it was so apparent Jett was the one for the job right at the jump. And it's so amazing to finally be able to say, "yes! We got to work together!" And it was awesome. I can't really put into words how incredible Jett's work was or I mean is. So my hope is illustrating the ins and outs of the character and the casting helps explain that. Binks is such a big ask I honestly expected at one point Jett would have just been, "nope, no thanks." And I would have been like, "yeah that's fair." But they believe in the project and they more importantly like the character and for me it really shows. And it just makes me so incredibly grateful and really makes me want to keep going. And I can't wait for everyone to experience DeLuna's route and the other chimps, because he's the real heart of the group. I didn't know it at first, but now it's so very clear. Dev maybe the leader who keeps everyone together, and Danny-Boy may be the one keeping everyone safe. And Star might be the one who you know makes everyone laugh and have fun. And Lee is so supportive to and gives them a place they can fail, or inspires them to maybe aim high. But DeLuna is that heart who makes them show those relatable parts of themselves both the good and probably even some of the bad. And so finally! Jett Barker welcome to Pleasant Sparkle Academy.
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