In the new Disney film, THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG, stage star JENNIFER LEWIS voices the role of Mama Odie, a wizened, old voodoo practitioner who lives in a New Orleans swamp. LEWIS talked to the press a couple of weeks ago about the role and revealed who the character was drawn from. (Click on the media bar below for audio):
Actually the character Mama Odie was patterned after the late, famed New Orleans storyteller, Coleen Salley. Lewis may have been inspired elsewhere, but the character’s creators were inspired by Salley. Even down to the animation, and the line “y’all ain’t got the sense you was born with!” - a tribute to Coleen Salley.
wilyfem
January 10th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Actually the character Mama Odie was patterned after the late, famed New Orleans storyteller, Coleen Salley. Lewis may have been inspired elsewhere, but the character’s creators were inspired by Salley. Even down to the animation, and the line “y’all ain’t got the sense you was born with!” - a tribute to Coleen Salley.