Sneakerella’s taking the Cinderella story and doing a fun and modern gender swap. Chosen Jacobs stars as El, an aspiring sneaker designer from Queens who works as a stock boy in the shoe store that once belonged to his late mother. Sparks fly when he meets Kira King, the daughter of a sneaker tycoon. HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with Chosen about Sneakerella’s fresh and relevant spin.
The actor admitted that he loves how the movie “flipped it to where even though there’s still love, no one’s waiting for someone to come save them. You still have to go out there and put your best foot forward. I don’t meet Kira if I don’t make the shoe, and she’ll never find me if she doesn’t put out the post, so I think it just promotes a healthier vision of what love really requires, which is a little bit of bravery and a little bit of effort.”
A major draw for Chosen was the music featured in Sneakerella. The Disney+ film starts off with “Kicks,” a slick, high-octane musical number that takes inside El’s world in Queens.
“‘Kicks’ was definitely was the tone-setter,” Chosen noted. “We knew that was going to be the intro to the movie, and I want that to feel like a party. I want it to feel like get your mama, get your grandmama, and let’s get up and let’s move. That definitely has to be the cornerstone of who I think El is because that’s his dream, and that’s really what the whole movie is about is him trying to reach that.”
Growing up, Chosen “lived” for movie musicals like High School Musical. “I lived for the songs. I lived to learn those dances with my sister and see who could pull it off,” Chosen said. Sneakerella will be available to stream on Disney+ on May 13.