It was only a matter of time before Disney’s live-action adaptations moved from fairytale classics to the studio’s more modern hits. The live-action Lilo and Stitch just lined up a comedy get with Zach Galifianakis (A Wrinkle in Time, The Hangover), according to The Hollywood Reporter. Details on his character are not yet revealed.
As previously reported, this new version of Disney’s girl-meets-alien musical will be directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, who made the heartwarming Marcel the Shell With Shoes On—a similarly hybrid animation and live-action feature. Lilo and Stitch follows a little girl’s journey coping with the loss of her parents and living with her sister when a chaotic blue alien lands on her Hawaiian island. Adventures ensue when she adopts the creature—believing it to be a dog at first—and eventually they (and the audience) discover the true meaning of “ohana,” or “family.” The 2002 animated film from Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois won the hearts of audiences and made the mischievous Stitch one of Disney’s most iconic characters. On a related note, DeBlois is currently at work on a live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon; we all win here, because that means we’re gonna get cute, big-eyed CGI versions of these fantastical characters around the same time.
It’s hard to imagine anyone but Sanders voicing Stitch, so my bet’s on Galifianakis—whose resume includes numerous voice-acting credits, including Ron’s Gone Wrong, The Lego Batman Movie, and The Bob’s Burgers Movie—playing Pleakley, an Earth-obsessed member of United Galactic Federation who is sent to track down the escaped alien along with the alien scientist who made him.
The film’s lead roles of Lilo and her older sister Nani have not been cast as Disney is conducting a wide search to cast the Hawaiian characters. In the film Tia Carrere portrayed the role of Nani, while Daveigh Chase played the spunky kid who makes it her mission to protect Stitch at all costs. The film is set to be a major release on Disney+, like Disenchanted, with no release date set yet.
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