On July 17, 2025 the time has come: “The smurfs: the big movie” Comes into the German cinemas. In Chris Millers (“The Lego Movie”) computer -animated film, Papa Schlumpf (spoken by Uwe Ochsenknecht) is sucked into the real world through a portal. The smurf family now has to open up to free the patriarch and also cross some parallel dimensions. Álvaro Soler speaks the “No Name” Schlumpf, which still has to find its place in the community. Rolling Stone met the Spanish-German pop singer and voice actor.
Can you identify with “No Name” smurf? And if so, to what extent?
Yes, I can. No name is the only smurf in all of Schlumpfhausen that does not yet know what his thing is. And of course that is not so nice for him. He sees all the other smurfs, everyone already knows what his talent is, and only he still doesn’t know what he is doing. He then tried a lot of things, and that totally reminds me of my time when I wanted to do a lot of things. For example, I wanted to be a video game designer in the past, then Formula 1 driver-somehow everything, but I didn’t know if I had talent for it at all. That is why there is a phase in life that not only can identify me with No Name, but I think each of us. It is very important to be patient and at some point it comes.
Are you too “the puzzle piece that is difficult to fit somewhere?”. When did you feel like that?
Yes definitely! Especially because I grew up with two cultures: German and Spanish. In Spain it is not so common that people speak several languages. Many people think in drawers and I don’t fit into a drawer. My mother is half Belgian and half Spanish, I grew up in Barcelona and lived in Tokyo for a long time. My father is a German, but never uses in Germany. So it is very difficult to put myself in a certain drawer because I just don’t enjoy it.
What special ability do you like? Would you like to be a smurf?
I would like to be a smurf. Schlumpfhausen looks very nice, super cozy and totally green, a lot of nature – a good ambience in any case. There is no flying smurf yet, right? That would be me: the fly smurf!
Which is your favorite smurf next to “no name”?
I find Schlumpfine very cool because she Supported no name. She is always there for him and it is just super important to have someone who understands you, supports and brings you forward, and that makes Schlumpfine in this film.
Did you use smurfs yourself in the past?
Yes, I had figuri from Papa Schlumpf and Smurfine, actually from all typical smurfs. Unfortunately, no name was not yet a figure, I think.
Were there also smurf albums or songs in Spain? There was Vadder Abraham in Germany.
I don’t know Vadder Abraham. But of course I also know the smurfs from Spain. I think directly of the title melody of the series (begins to sing). Pop songs sang from the smurfs with high voices there was also in Spanish, I even think all over the world, right? My family therefore also thought when I told about the synchronous roll that I had to talk everything into a very high voice (laughs). But that’s not the case and especially the songs in the film are complete in a normal pitch.
How important were the smurfs in Spain?
I don’t know how important the smurfs were generally in Spain, I can only speak for my family. When I was in the smurf age, I was in the house a lot. Because my grandmother comes from Belgium, she had a lot of smurfs, and that means that we were more influenced. There were many smurfs with us, my grandma even still has a few figures.
What were your most beautiful synchro experiences with Patricia Meeden, Rick Kavanian and Uwe Ochsenknecht?
Unfortunately I didn’t hit the three at all. We all had other projects in parallel to the synchronous work and were integrated, which made a joint synchronized appointment difficult. I played concerts and was separately in the synchronized studio for my recordings. If we were all there at the same time, we would not have had enough time to record everything, and there would have been a very long waiting period for the others. That is why we talked out our parts individually and unfortunately did not get to know each other personally. But I was at the big world premiere in Brussels at the end of June, and there were also Rihanna and James Corden. Of course that was super cool to meet them there!
Do you have a favorite scene in the film? Which?
My favorite scene is when no name sings his song because it is a super nice song with a lot of emotion. And that is also the moment when he may find his talent a bit. I don’t want to reveal too much.
In the US version, No Name is spoken by James Corden. Do you listen to something like this beforehand – or rather not?
Yes, we even have to listen to the speakers beforehand. All versions are based on the original version and that’s why we have to listen very well how James Corden spoke in the case of the figure and then try to speak the role approximately in this way, but of course with our own voice. So it is a station wagon to try a little to make up the original voice and at the same time bring my own identity in.
How was it to speak a smurf? Who was your role model?
It was super nice to speak a smurf! At first we had to try to make my voice ‘smurf’, because I have a very deep voice and clear, smurfs have a slightly higher, not super high, but still. I still know that the first part of the film was only there for us in the synchronized studio to find the right voice for the film, and then we knew: Okay, that’s the tone, that’s the voice, so I will now speak as a smurf. My role model was my director Frank Schaff. He helped me a lot, that was very good.
The questions asked child reporters Ted.