Edward James Olmos was left "in heaving sobs" after reading the script for new Disney movie ‘Coco’.
The 70-year-old ‘Blade Runner’ star voices Chicharrón in the new animation alongside Gael Garcia Bernal, and Olmos revealed he got very emotional while recording his parts because the story made him think about his grandmother.
Speaking to Collider, Olmos said: "They [Disney] came to me and invited me to Pixar, where they literally wined and dined me at their studio, and then they told me about the story. They didn’t tell me everything about it and what the twists were, which I’m very grateful for. That way, I was caught just like everybody else. I remember sitting there in heaving sobs, thinking about my own grandmother, my own relatives and those that have gone already.
"Emotionally, it was just like, ‘wow!’ The whole idea was achieved and attained. My character, which I was very proud of playing, is in one scene, but people who see the movie understand the depths of what we’re talking about, in that moment.
"If no one thinks about you anymore or remembers you, you disappear and vanish. I hadn’t thought about my grandparents in a while, but I started to think about the stories that I could tell about my life with them and what I remember.
"My father is gone and my mother is 91, and we already tell stories about her. It’s fun!"
The new film – directed by Lee Unkrich – follows young Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) who, despite his family’s generations-old ban on music, dreams of becoming an accomplished musician.
Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colourful Land of the Dead and after meeting a charming trickster named Hector (Bernal), the two new friends embark on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind his family’s history.
However, Miguel has to be restored to the Land of the Living before sunrise, or he will become one of the dead.
Edward James Olmos cried over Coco
