Fil-Am Josh dela Cruz leads cast of first Blue’s Clues film
Filipino-American actor-singer Josh dela Cruz leads the cast of Blue’s Big City Adventure, the very first movie in the Blue’s Clues franchise.
In the film, Josh the character gets the opportunity of a lifetime to audition for a Broadway musical and he brings along with him Blue for a big-city adventure. Fans across Southeast Asia can catch the movie premiere today at 9:30 a.m. on the Nick Jr. channel.
“Right off the bat, what you can expect is a family movie,” Josh told The Philippine STAR in an exclusive virtual interview. “If you’re looking for a feel-good movie, this is the one to watch. It is a movie musical.”
“It’s not just a kid’s movie,” he stressed. “You don’t have to be a kid to enjoy this movie. There are so many jokes and moments of nostalgia because Steve and Donovan are in it, so you can relive your childhood.”
He was referring to Steve Burns and Donovan Patton, who were the original hosts of Blue’s Clues before Josh came on board in 2019 as the host of Blue’s Clues & You, the current edition of the Nickelodeon show. They will all be together for the first time in Blue’s Big City Adventure.
Besides his predecessors on the show, Josh said the film will feature special appearances from Broadway stars BD Wong, Ali Stroker, Alex Winter, Phillipa Soo and Steven Pasquale. Taboo of Black Eyed Peas will also be part of the film.
Blue’s Big City Adventure serves as a full-circle moment for Josh, who played Aladdin on Broadway for five years before his big TV break of being cast as Blue’s best friend. It made him the first-ever Asian American to host the widely-popular children’s series.
In the movie version, Josh gets to flex his musical theater background in song-and-dance numbers that were filmed on-location in Times Square, Central Park and other iconic New York landmarks.
Naturally, the film’s storyline resonated deeply with him because he got his start on Broadway.
“All I ever wanted was to be on Broadway. I never even thought that I would want to be on film or television or even be the host of Blue’s Clues & You. I knew I just wanted to be on Broadway. That was my dream.
“And then when I finally got that dream, I was on the mountaintop. I was so happy. I’ve worked so hard. My family had worked so hard so that I could be able to do it, my friends, my wife. When I finally got there, it was a dream! I loved everyone that I worked with. And when I got Blue’s Clues, I realized oh, the dream is not over. There’s another door where it’s another adventure that awaits.
“Getting to redo that entire experience in this movie is surreal because it is all about focusing on the journey more than the destination. That if you don’t work hard, if you’re not kind to the people around you and invest in people on your way to your destination, by the time you get to where you’re going, you’re gonna feel empty.
“At the end of this movie, you know, it speaks to that. That’s how I feel about every job that I book. That I’m so happy because I see every single person that helped me get there along the way, whenever I look at the lines, I get ready for work. That’s definitely in the movie, at least for me.”
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