*Former Pro Bowler and Super Bowl Champion Martellus Bennett has traded the football field for the animation studio with Disney Junior’s new series “Hey A.J.!” Inspired by Bennett’s own family, the whimsical and music-filled comedy follows AJ, an imaginative young girl who transforms ordinary moments into extraordinary adventures. With her stuffed bunny sidekick Theo, her mom Siggi, dad Marty, and best friends Jessie and Jazz, AJ uses her big imagination to turn a long drive into a rocket ship space adventure, or a park visit into a superhero mission.
Bennett’s journey to creating “Hey A.J.!” began while he was still playing professional football. “I was actually writing books and writing movies while I was playing in the NFL,” he explained. “I decided to retire to be imaginative full-time.”
The inspiration for the show came from reading to his daughter, Austin Jett Rose, whose initials give the series its title. “I start reading all these children’s books to her. And you realize that there aren’t a lot of children’s books with characters who look like her that focus on the things I like to read about as a parent,” Bennett said. “I don’t want it to be about her overcoming her blackness as the antagonist, even in a children’s book.”
Bennett’s solution was to create content himself. “I’m not a guy that goes out and complains about things not existing when I know that if it doesn’t exist, I could just make it myself,” he said. “The idea was to paint pictures for my daughter to consume, in which they empower her the way that I wish other books had.”
Scroll to continue reading
The entire show draws from Bennett’s real life. “Siggi’s based on my wife,” he said, noting that all of the characters are inspired by “my household.” Bennett voices AJ’s dad Marty, a retired football player, and the character is “100% me. That’s 100% FDA approved, the Marty-fiedness,” he added.
Voice actor Amari McCoy brings AJ to life with infectious energy. The young actor noted that voicing AJ has influenced her own perspective: “After seeing some clips of AJ, I would say going to the grocery store now is very different. Because now I feel like I’m an astronaut going on an incredible rocket journey whenever I go to the grocery store.”
For McCoy, “Hey A.J.!” stands apart from other animated projects. “With Hey AJ, it feels more rooted and more grounded in a way because it really is about a normal girl and her family and friends and community, just all hanging out and going into her imagination.”
Bennett’s philosophy on imagination permeates every aspect of the show. “There are no small moments in my life. Everything is big, and everything is extravagant because I’m just dreaming,” he said. “The world itself is magical. So I’m trying to train my eyes to recognize the magic in the everyday as I’m outside doing my thing.”
When comparing voice acting to his football career, Bennett found interesting parallels. “When you play football, everything is happening in real time,” he noted. With voice acting, “you get to do 20 takes if I want to do 20 takes. If I don’t like it, we can always come back and do it again.”
However, Bennett considers creating “Hey A.J.!” an even greater achievement than winning the Super Bowl. “The making of the show, the achievement of having a show is quite bigger than the Super Bowl for me because of the marathon of imagination that one must possess to bring a thing like this into fruition,” he explained.
McCoy’s advice for young viewers echoes the show’s central message. “Never lose your imagination. Your imagination, it’s like the color in your life,” she said. “Without imagination, it’s just black and white. It’s just boring.”
Watch our full conversation with Martellus Bennett and Amari McCoy via the clip below.
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
MORE NEWS ON EURWEB.COM: Disney+ to Introduce AI-Powered User Content and Game Features
Sign up for our Free daily newsletter HERE.
