Why Nimona needed Chloë Grace Moretz in the lead role

When a beloved graphic novel or comic character comes to the big screen, they usually get something the source material isn’t equipped to convey: an audible voice. The filmmakers behind Netflix’s Nimona, based on ND Stevenson’s webcomic turned graphic novel of the same name, faced the usual challenge of figuring out how the characters sounded — and they did a pretty banging job.

Riz Ahmed brings a nervous yet moody voice to wrongly accused techno-futuristic knight Ballister Boldheart, while Eugene Lee Yang gives a softness to Ballister’s cohort Ambrosius Goldenloin. But Chloë Grace Moretz’s evocative performance as Nimona really becomes the beating heart of the movie.

Image: Netflix

Nick Bruno, director of Polygon’s film department, says that Moretz was a great Nimona because she had many qualities.

“She’s incredibly funny, sharp, mischievous. But she also has this amazing soul to her, and all that comes across in her voice,” he says. “Nimona is so impulsive and surprising. And another thing Chloë does, which is great — she has fun playing in the room, just trying things like different voices, and being surprising, and saying things super fast, or really slow, or very devilish.”

Moretz embodies this eclectic, rebellious character. She is a shapeshifter that can get out of most sticky situations simply by changing into a big animal and destroying obstacles. Nimona has an equally vulnerable side. She’s an outcast who doesn’t feel like she belongs anywhere. Moretz’s vocal performance is a perfect example of this duality. It has an edge that feels growling, yet still feels rooted in real emotion.

Image: Netflix

Stevenson says that he is often influenced by the voices of actors when interpreting his characters. From the time he started the comic back in his junior year of college, he never really associated his characters’ dialogue with specific voices.

“Sometimes I’ll be writing and literally moving my lips or doing hand motions. I hear the cadence of the lines in my own voice in my head,” he says. “I’m not necessarily hearing a character. […] I’m hearing my own voice doing that voice.”

Stevenson adds that this was especially true for Nimona: “That’s literally, I think, what my internal voice sounds like. For me, it was difficult to imagine someone else voice her. And then Chloë comes exploding into that character with all of the energy and all of that emotion in everything that she is, and it just brought that character to life.”

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