Camryn Grimes (Mariah, Y&R) and her fiancé, Brock Powell, provide the voices of Mr. and Mrs. Claus in the Disney animated special MICKEY SAVES CHRISTMAS, which is streaming now on Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD and Disney+. They checked in with Digest about their real-life romance and reel-life collaboration.
Soap Opera Digest: What was the most fun thing for you about this project?
Camryn Grimes: For me, it was just kind of living out these childhood dreams. I mean, my family made such a big deal out of Christmas and really went [all out]. I grew up watching stop-motion specials, so this kind of checked every box for me: Disney, Christmas, stop-motion, Mrs. Claus. I don’t think it can get better than that!
Brock Powell: I had the chance to play Santa for MICKEY AND MINNIE WISH UPON A CHRISTMAS last year, which is also on DISNEY+ right now, and it was incredibly special to be a part of that. MICKEY SAVES CHRISTMAS was elevated because getting to share this with the love of my life, and it’s my favorite holiday — it’s pretty unreal because I feel like being with Camryn every day pretty much is Christmas. [Grimes guffaws.]
Digest: Brock, didn’t you once turn your apartment into a mini-Disneyland for Camryn at Christmastime?
Grimes: Yes!
Powell: Our Christmas surprise was, during lockdown, I turned my entire apartment into Disneyland, into a semi-functional Disneyland.
Grimes: It was incredible.
Powell: Complete with [Disneyland attractions] Soarin’ Over California and Star Tours. I called in a lot of favors!
Digest: Brock, are you as obsessed with all things Disney as your fiancée is?
Powell: I wouldn’t say the word “obsession” goes far enough.
Grimes: He’s way worse than I am. And that’s saying something!
Powell: Yeah, I was born in Toontown. That’s absolutely true. You can look it up.
Digest: You two actually met because of voice-over work, right?
Powell: That’s right. We met over Camryn’s pursuit of voice-over and then getting to work together in that capacity. We were introduced by Bill Farmer, who was my mentor and voices Goofy for Disney.
Grimes: Who I knew growing up! Being on a soap, your schedules are crazy, so when you’re looking to kind of branch out, voice work was the one thing that I kind of always wanted to do. Actually, Bryton [James, Devon] is the one who, for years, had been telling me, “You gotta get into voice-over. You’d be so good.” And then in 2020, I was like, “2020 is going to be my year!” I finally was like, “You know what? I’m gonna do voice-over.” And that’s how we met.
Digest: Was there an immediate attraction?
Grimes: No. We got along so well; I was doing a demo and Brock was directing it — to do voice-overs you have to do a demo where you kind of showcase all your voices — and we started talking and then lockdown hit. I actually consider our anniversary the day Los Angeles went into lockdown, which was March 14. He posted a photo of a TWILIGHT ZONE episode, which just so happened to be my favorite TWILIGHT ZONE episode, and that’s how we started talking.
Powell: I mean, it was instant.
Grimes: Aw, you’re making me look like a butthead [laughs]!
Powell: I just think it’s important to be honest! I knew immediately that you were someone I felt I needed to have in my life in a romantic capacity, and over time we found out there were things that we had in common. Rankin/Bass [Animated Entertainment] is one of those things — nobody talks about Rankin/Bass! It’s not something that you would bring up on Hinge [a dating app].
Grimes: And that’s all I talk about.
Powell: One of the first conversations we had was [about] Christmas and stop-motion. I remember early on, we did a “Christmas in July” thing where we just literally watched stop-motion specials all day. So to know that this is my person and then to get to go forward and create the next generation of a Christmas special together? I mean, it’s mind-blowing! I was actually going to propose to her through stop-motion on Christmas Eve, but because of Covid, we pushed it a little bit and the proposal happened on her birthday, January 7 of last year.
Grimes: It was so beautiful.
Powell: On top of it being on Camryn’s birthday, something really special was this audition for Mrs. Claus happened on the same day, just randomly. It served as a great way to get her out of the house so that I could get everything ready! It was really a Christmas miracle.
Digest: So what did you do — float balloons over L.A.?
Powell: So, it was a backyard proposal. We love travel and given the times that we met, obviously travel was hard to do, so we sort of joked that we were living Up in reverse, that we were falling in love and not able to go anywhere and then eventually, we’d get all our travels in. So the backyard was filled with balloons and postcards from different places that we want to visit.
Grimes: I mean, it was filled with them.
Powell: Y&R had sent balloons with messages of well-wishing. The ring box was shaped like the house in the movie, and when it opened, it played the [Michael] Giacchino score, and a friend of mine who creates these amazing Disney things made the talking dog collar, and we were able to have lines from the movie and the engagement happening at the same time.
Grimes: And on my dog!
Digest: Was it an immediate yes, Camryn?
Powell: I had to ask twice!
Grimes: So, apparently, I kind of blacked out. I mean, I remember the whole thing but watching the video back, everybody was making fun of me because the only thing that I was saying for a good five-to-10 minutes was, “Oh, my God! Oh, my God!” And so he had to ask a couple of times.
Powell: Like, “Uh, just to reiterate….”
Grimes: And I was like, “Oh, yes, obviously!”
Digest: How are the wedding plans coming along?
Powell: We currently don’t have a date because there are a couple of things with work and stuff.
Grimes: But we have a venue and we’re really excited about it. Around that venue, we have a lot of plans and a lot of ideas.
Digest: Are you going to incorporate Disney into your ceremony or reception?
Powell: There absolutely will be nods to Disney.
Grimes: I’ll say this — there are elements. I don’t like anything themed. But for the wedding, I just want it to be nice and I want it to be beautiful but obviously, everywhere there will be nods to the things that we love.
Digest: How’s the guest list coming?
Grimes: We are trying to whittle it down.
Powell: If you invite one of the dwarves from Snow White, you have to invite all seven, so that’s kind of hard.
Grimes: Obviously, you want everyone that you love to be a part of it, but you have to factor in cost and all that. I have two families, so I have to include them, and then you have friends, and then Y&R is a whole other family itself. That’s like 50 people, just at Y&R! It’s crazy.
Powell: Something we are trying to figure out is, Camryn is launching her own podcast pretty soon called The Soap Opera Survival Guide, and we’re doing that in tandem with [our wedding planning], hoping that we can [include] the fans of Camryn’s work. Obviously, we can’t invite everyone —
Grimes: But we’re going to bring them along for the ride.
Digest: Which Disney character do each of you most identify with?
Grimes: Jack Skellington. I have Nightmare Before Christmas lyrics tattooed on my side. I love that movie so much. People think I’d choose Sally, but no, it’s Jack Skellington, 1,000 percent. What about you?
Powell: That’s a really tough question for me because I get to voice Disney characters and create new ones, so I’m always thinking about this question. Most likely, Genie from Aladdin is who I relate to the most.
Grimes: Oh, absolutely!
Powell: And more recently, I would say that getting to reprise and create this Disney version of Santa Claus really, literally, is a part of me, and by extension, Camryn’s Mrs. Claus, because we really infused ourselves into these characters. So I’m hoping that these are versions of the characters that people will see for years to come.
Digest: Do you sing?
Powell: I do!
Digest: So you can belt out those great Genie songs?
Powell: Yep, and I will say there is a little bit of Santa singing in MICKEY SAVES CHRISTMAS that was a really special thing for me to do because I haven’t gotten to sing [as] the character before. So that’s something to look forward to. [We’ll see] whether or not Santa gets a whole album, Santa Sings The Hits!
Digest: Lastly, how would you describe the voices you use in this special?
Powell: My Santa is a little bit of Mickey Rooney from the Rankin/Bass specials and a little bit of Miracle on 34th Street. My Santa voice is very gentle so I like the idea that it has just a little age, but you can’t really tell how old he is, because Santa is still so childlike and I think the gentleness and that idea of, you know [adopts Santa voice], “We have a very important Christmas, but there’s still time for cookies!” There should be a feeling of play and warmth. Those are the things that I associate with Christmas.
Grimes: And I kind of took my influences from the two Rankin/Bass specials, THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS and SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN’ TO TOWN. I wanted my Mrs. Claus to have a little age, but not too much age, and sort of that transatlantic affect to the voice, so it’s still that same idea of something really warm and inviting and gentle and kind.
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