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'Elemental' stars, director on their parents' unconditional love that inspired the film

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Yong Chavez | TFC News Hollywood

<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4NQl-OOTXx8?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>In talking about Ember, the fiery daughter of hardworking immigrants that she voices in &quot;Elemental,&quot; Leah Lewis reflected on her own family&#x27;s story and her parents&#x27; unconditional love for her.</p><p>Lewis, who shared that she was adopted by her parents from China at eight months old, paid tribute to their  support in her pursuit for a career in entertainment.</p><p>&quot;Knowing how sacrificial and how generous my parents were, that&#x27;s actually something that produces a lot of love and a slight pressure,&quot; she said, &quot;the way that Ember feels as well.&quot;</p><p>Similar to Ember, Lewis added that she was worried not to disappoint her parents growing up.</p><p>&quot;There&#x27;s a line in the film that even says, ‘How do you repay a sacrifice so big?’ I&#x27;m still even figuring that out in my life,&quot; she said.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="elemental1" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/entertainment/06/24/leahlewisronniedelcarmen.jpg"/><figcaption><address style="text-align:left">Leah Lewis who plays Ember in &quot;Elemental&quot; poses for a photo with Filipino animator Ronnie del Carmen, who plays Ember&#x27;s father Bernie. (Courtesy: Disney/Pixar &quot;Elemental&quot;)</address></figcaption></figure></div><p>The film&#x27;s family theme is also very important to Lewis&#x27; partner in the film, Mamoudou Athie, who plays Wade. The actor was born in Mauritania and his family moved to the United States when he was very young.</p><p>&quot;They&#x27;ve done everything for me,&quot; said Athie. &quot;That&#x27;s the thing that really, really gets me and I&#x27;m really moved by it. That&#x27;s why I can watch this movie over and over again because it&#x27;s like, that&#x27;s the story. It&#x27;s everything.&quot;</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="elemental2" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/entertainment/06/24/elemental1.jpg"/><figcaption><address style="text-align:left">&quot;Elemental&quot; features the voice of Leah Lewis as Ember and Mamoudou Athie as Wade. (Courtesy: Disney/Pixar &quot;Elemental&quot;)</address></figcaption></figure></div><p>Meanwhile, Peter Sohn, who directed and co-wrote &quot;Elemental,&quot; shared that the film was inspired by his Korean immigrant parents.</p><p>&quot;Growing up with my parents that came from another culture that I really didn&#x27;t understand, I was trying to be so American,&quot; Sohn said. &quot;But the older I got, the more I really got to understand and appreciate who they were and where they&#x27;re from.&quot;</p><p>He added: &quot;They wanted a better life. And then it just keeps growing, the more I sort of emotionally understood what was going on, and I became so grateful for it. And that became the seed for this movie.&quot;</p><p>Sohn also shared that he chose Lewis to play the lead role after being impressed by her moving performance in the Netflix romantic-drama film, &quot;The Half of It.&quot;</p>

Pixar's latest release is a fun and visually stunning movie that pays tribute to parents' sacrifice for their children.