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Kimiko Glenn Talks Bringing Disney’s Kiff to Life in Delightful New Series
Those who have jumped into the delightful world of Disney’s new series Kiff have been introduced to the show’s charming lead duo of Kiff and Barry, and bringing Kiff Chatterley to life is actress Kimiko Glenn. Kiff and Barry go on hilarious adventures and meet all sorts of lovable characters along the way, and throughout their journey, their friendship and loyalty to each other shines through. ComicBook.com had the chance to speak to Glenn about bringing Kiff to life as well as what charmed her about the world and the show’s approach to humor and storytelling, which is perfect for all ages.
“Well, I think that the script is just so witty. I think it’s so actually funny and not just… Obviously it’s clean, so it’s for kids, but it’s also just so funny to me as an adult,” Glenn said. “So I think that’s the best. I mean, you have to be really smart in order to make it fun for both, and I think they just did such a great job with creating such a playful world. Also, just the animation feels nostalgic to me. It’s the kind of thing that I would totally watch as a kid, and I think nowadays there’s so much computer-generated looking animation and I was so excited to see the illustrations and everything.”
Kiff feels like a wonderful blend of traditional and modern storytelling and animation, and there’s a brightness to the characters that leaps off the screen. “Yeah, it’s such a personality of its own,” Glenn said. “Because obviously, I’m voicing the character, but then there’s all this other stuff that Kiff is doing that I have no control over, but it is just such a lovely surprise to watch and it just adds so much. It fills it all in and makes her so three-dimensional.”
The dialogue was already funny to begin with, but Glenn also enjoyed getting to play a bit in the world and jump into different options for scenes, bringing some improvisation into the mix, especially in scenes with Barry.
“I mean, it’s always great when the writing itself is just so funny, but they encourage a lot of play. So especially when I’m able to bounce off of Michael (Corner) who is just so playful and hilarious, we get some fun little things that sort of go outside the script. But they also have some fun plan A, plan B, plan C things in their back pocket where they’re just like, well if we went this direction just for this moment, what would that look like? So yeah, they really encourage some improvisation and some fun,” Glenn said.
As for Kiff in particular, Glenn loves the character’s energy, adventurous nature, and sincerity. These are all quickly apparent in the show’s first episode, which has Kiff doing her best to show she’s well enough to go to school for a truly special occasion revolving around a water fountain.
“I love Kiff. I think she’s so cute and so fun. She has this really strong adventurous energy and also conviction. I think one of the sweetest things about her is she is innately good. She has the best intentions. Something so funny to me is that the fight in the first episode is she wants so badly to go to school, which is the opposite of most kids. I was always pretending to be sick. I can’t go to school today, but she just loves her teachers, she loves learning, but in the most earnest, lovable way. I’ve never seen a character kind of portrayed in that way. I think she’s so much fun,” Glenn said.
One hilarious episode in the series is the fifth bath episode, which spotlights Barry’s family but also the uniqueness and differences between families. Each family has their own way of doing things and seeing how someone from outside of that adapts to the family’s approach is a comedic gold mine, and such is the case here as Kiff attempts to move her way up the list to get one of the earlier baths.
“Just even the concept of the fifth bath alone is hilarious. Putting the potato example aside, just the fact that it’s a fifth bath is just such a funny concept. I just keep wondering where they thought of this. A lot of the concepts, I’m like, how did they even think of this? But it’s so funny.”
For Glenn, it was easy to relate to Kiff’s passion and adventurous spirit, something she identified with as a child and still identifies with as an adult. “I think she’s highly expressive and just has an intensity about the passion. She has so much passion and just such an adventurous spirit, and I think I relate to that as a kid and also as me now. I feel like I have a lot of adventure within me and an openness and willingness to try new things. Yeah, I think that’s probably what I most connect with Kiff on.”
While Kiff and Barry share a lot of screen time, there is another character Glenn loves seeing Kiff interact with. “Helen. I mean, Helen is the funniest character on the page and off. She is so funny. Just the concept of Helen was so funny to me reading the scripts, but then actually seeing it come to life and Lucy, hearing her voice on Helen is just so good. It’s so good. Yeah, I love anytime Helen appears on the screen.”
Kiff airs on Disney Channel and Disney XD and is now available on Disney+.
What have you thought of Kiff so far? Let us know in the comments!
