Jodie Foster’s performance in Hexed extends beyond the recording booth: Disney’s animators incorporated her smile into Queen Celeste. Writer Jared Bush discussed that detail at Deadline’s Contenders Film Los Angeles on November 14, describing how the actor’s work helped shape the animated character. The new remarks add a specific production story as Disney prepares to release the original fantasy in United States theaters November 25. [1][2]
Scott Huver reported the panel conversation for Deadline. Bush, who is also Walt Disney Animation Studios’ chief creative officer, recalled Foster agreeing to participate early in their discussion and being willing to experiment with readings during recording. He described Celeste as a role requiring considerable nuance. The account concerns Foster’s contribution to the performance and animation, rather than a change to the announced cast. [1]
This is a follow-up to FanFest’s earlier Hexed coverage of the D23 screening opportunity. The material development is the November 14 explanation of how Foster’s acting influenced Celeste’s screen presence. Tickets, release timing and the previously announced voice cast remain background. That distinction matters for a movie whose promotional campaign has already included trailers, a detailed studio feature and a Los Angeles premiere.
Disney’s official film page identifies Hexed as a PG-rated coming-of-age adventure. Hailee Steinfeld voices Billie Doe, a teenager whose newly discovered abilities take her from suburbia into the realm of Hexe. Rashida Jones voices her cautious mother, Alice, who follows her there. Walton Goggins plays the magical three-eyed cat Beef Roger Crummchuk, while Foster voices Celeste. The premise centers on a family navigating a surprising new world together. [2]
The film is directed by Fawn Veerasunthorn and Jason Hand, with Josie Trinidad co-directing. Roy Conli and Yvett Merino produced, and Bush wrote the screenplay with Dana Ledoux Miller. Those credits establish the creative team responsible for bringing the original story to the screen. They also put the new performance details in context: an animated character emerges through several departments, even when one actor’s recognizable expression becomes part of its identity. [2]
The mother and daughter were central to the film’s development. In Disney’s October 12 production feature, Bush described the filmmakers’ work to make their connection the emotional center. The feature explained that Alice had suppressed Billie’s abilities during childhood and that their journey changes how they understand each other. It presented the magical setting as a way to explore that family dynamic, rather than as a collection of unrelated effects. [3]
That earlier feature also described the design goal of giving Billie, Alice and Celeste distinct kinds of magic. Merino credited the artists and effects team with finding a visual approach specific to the film. Taken alongside Saturday’s account of Foster’s smile, the explanation suggests a consistent creative priority: the supernatural imagery needs to communicate something about the person using it. The design work supports characterization as well as spectacle. [1][3]
For FanFest’s analysis, a smile is an especially useful example of the exchange between actor and animator. The recorded voice establishes timing and intention, while the visible expression gives the audience a separate channel of information. If the two agree, a thought can feel immediate. If they differ, the audience may sense hesitation or a concealed intention. This is an explanation of the expressive possibilities, not a claim about an unreported scene in Hexed.
An animator also has to decide how much of a performer’s appearance belongs in a stylized design. Using an expression does not require making the character a literal likeness. The reported choice was to incorporate a recognizable feature of Foster’s performance into Celeste. The relevant question is how that feature helps the character communicate within this film’s visual world, where movement, shape and timing are constructed rather than simply photographed.
Foster’s history with Disney gives the assignment an additional connection. D23’s historical entry for Candleshoe identifies her as Casey in the live-action adventure directed by Norman Tokar. David Niven and Helen Hayes also starred. The film had its Los Angeles premiere in December 1977 before its broader 1978 release. It belongs to an earlier period of Foster’s work for the studio, well before the current animated project. [4]
That chronology makes the distinction in Deadline’s report important. Foster had appeared in Disney live-action films, including Candleshoe and Freaky Friday, but Huver’s account identifies Hexed as her first voice role in a Disney animated feature. The claim is specific to that body of work; it should not be expanded into a statement that Foster had never performed any voice work. Saturday’s discussion is about a new kind of Disney collaboration for an established actor. [1]
The film’s supporting cast has also grown during the campaign. Disney’s United Kingdom press announcement on October 12 identified Henry Winkler as Nigel, a skittish potoo bird, and Dan Stevens as Hieronymous, Celeste’s Grand Councillor of the Throne. The same announcement named additional voice cameos. Those are confirmed earlier casting details, useful for understanding the range of characters surrounding Billie and Alice, rather than additions revealed at the latest panel. [5]
That announcement also illustrates why release dates need their territory attached. Disney’s United States film page lists November 25, while the United Kingdom announcement lists November 27 for cinemas there. Those dates describe different markets, not an unresolved change to a single opening. Readers planning a screening should use the date and listings relevant to their location. The new panel does not announce a simultaneous worldwide release. [2][5]
Disney had already held the film’s world premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on November 12. Its official announcement identifies cast and filmmakers participating in that event. The premiere is another dated milestone in the campaign, separate from the November 14 craft conversation. Keeping those events distinct allows the new information to stand on its own rather than making each appearance sound like a new launch. [6]
What the latest discussion contributes is a closer view of how a well-known performer becomes an animated character. Bush’s account moves from an initial conversation to experimentation in the booth and then to an expression developed by artists. That progression gives fans something concrete to watch for when Hexed opens: how a voice, a face and an invented magical world combine to make Celeste readable as a character within Billie and Alice’s larger adventure.
Sources and reporting credits
[1] How Jodie Foster Took Her First Disney Voice Role in Hexed and Lent Her Smile to Her Character — Scott Huver, Deadline via Yahoo. November 14, 2026.
[2] Hexed — Disney Movies. Official film page; accessed November 15, 2026.
[3] Inside Disney’s Hexed a Mother Daughter Adventure in a World of Witches — The Walt Disney Company. October 12, 2026.
[4] Candleshoe Film — D23 Disney A to Z. Undated historical entry; accessed November 15, 2026.
[5] New Trailer and Poster for Disney’s Hexed an Original Magical Adventure Now Available — Disney UK Press. October 12, 2026.
[6] Hailee Steinfeld Rashida Jones Jodie Foster and More Celebrate the Magic of Disney’s Hexed at the World Premiere in Los Angeles — The Walt Disney Company. November 12, 2026.
