To celebrate Earth Day 2026, we were joined on the Popternative show by director Nathan Greno (Tangled, Frozen) to discuss his upcoming animated film Swapped, premiering on Netflix on May 1. The film dives into the complexity of a wild ecosystem through comedy, following a small woodland creature and a majestic bird, two sworn enemies of the Valley, who magically swap bodies and experience the adventure of a lifetime. The film’s voicie cast is led by Academy Award winner Michael B. Jordan (Sinners, Creed) and Emmy-nominated Juno Temple (Ted Lasso, Fargo).
The voice cast also includes Tracy Morgan (The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, 30 Rock), Cedric the Entertainer (The Neighborhood, Barbershop), Justina Machado (Six Feet Under, One Day at a Time), Ambika Mod (One Day, The Stolen Girl), and Lolly Adefope (Ghosts, Miracle Workers).
Nathan wanted Swapped to explore empathy at a time when it feels especially needed, as he explains, “I personally wanted to tell a story about empathy. I felt like we were at a place in the world where I was like, boy, we could really use more of this kind of message into the world. And while I wouldn’t say it’s a message movie, I think it has a great message within it. And so part of it is gaining perspective, opening our minds to [the idea that] we don’t live in a black and white world. And I think there’s a layered thing that happens within the movie. [Maybe we’ll stop] looking at people as the other.”
“But on top of it, there’s an environmental message in the whole movie too that I was really excited about. That came in a little later, as the movie evolved there was an opportunity to talk about ecosystems and how important not just our relationship is to one another, but our relationship to our environment,” he adds.
On working with the talented voice cast, Nathan had to restructure his approach based on their styles and processes, which ultimately enhanced the film.
“Everyone elevated their characters in such great ways. I couldn’t be happier with this cast. Starting with Michael B. Jordan, recording him was unlike anyone I’ve ever recorded before. [He] actually changed the way I approach recording. He is just naturally trying to find the truth within the lines. And the lines would change as we would go through them. And it’s usually a structural sort of take onto the next line. He doesn’t work like that. Mike is just doing Mike and Mike’s grabbing things and changing things and we’d have to go back to the other people that were in his scenes and go,”hey, so we kind of rewrote this based on Mike’s performance, we need to update some of these lines.” There’s a reason why that guy is on fire right now. He’s a really incredibly talented.”
“Juno brought such depth. I thought we were getting into an area of [just] comedy. I thought we were like, “hey, we’re hiring this person because she’s got the comedic chops.” Well, she does. She also brings such emotional truth. There were scenes within the movie where they get me choked up. They weren’t originally meant to have that much depth to them. It’s because of what she brought. So, we rewrote the character because of her.”
Watch the full conversation with Nathan Greno below.
Swapped streams on Netflix on May 1.
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