Camera Icon Julia Louis-Dreyfus attends the premiere of The Sheep Detectives in New York on April 19, 2026. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP) Credit: CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP
In her latest role, American comedy legend Julia Louis-Dreyfus has gone from VEEP to sheep — talk about range.
“OK, first of all, thank you for coining that phrase. It’s the first time I’ve heard it,” Louis-Dreyfus tells PLAY in that inimitably sardonic voice.
Maybe it’s a consequence of seeing the actor play Elaine Benes in too many episodes of Seinfeld, but it’s impossible not to interpret the comment as sarcasm.
“No, I love it. I’m not kidding you,” she assures us.
Louis-Dreyfus provides the voice of Lily the Shetland sheep in The Sheep Detectives, a twist on the murder-mystery genre that sees a flock of sheep attempt to find the killer of their beloved shepherd, played by our very own Hugh Jackman.
“I’ve always wanted to play a sheep. This is a dream come true. And I’ve also always wanted to be a detective. So, I mean, it was like, tick, tick, tick,” she says, while miming the ticking of boxes.
Now, this surely has to be sarcasm, right?
“When I first heard about it, and they said they’re sheep, they’re detectives, I’m not gonna lie, I was questioning this as an idea for a film,” she admits with a laugh.
“But then, when I read the material, and I understood all the parties involved, director, writer, the book itself, and, of course, this great cast of characters, and then I read the script, which was just gutbustingly fabulous, I signed up wholeheartedly.”
Based on the 2005 novel, Three Bags Full, by German crime writer Leonie Swann, and set in the UK, the film sees Jackman’s shepherd read his flock murder-mystery novels before bedtime, which doubles as their education in sleuthing.
So, when he is knocked off in mysterious circumstances, the sheep, led by Lily, get to work solving the crime, with the help of Tim, a bumbling English copper played by Succession’s Nicholas Braun.
Camera Icon Julia-Louis Dreyfus as the voice of Lily the sheep and Hugh Jackman as George Hardy in The Sheep Detectives. Credit: Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios
A fun premise, to be sure, and one that simultaneously honours and gently lampoons the well-worn tropes of the genre, which has had a resurgence lately courtesy of Daniel Craig’s Glass Onion movies and Sir Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot.
And get a load of this cast — the sheep voices alone are provided by Bryan Cranston, Chris O’Dowd, Patrick Stewart, Bella Ramsey, Brett Goldstein and Rhys Darby.
Meanwhile, the live-action cast includes two-time Oscar winner Emma Thompson, Oscar nominee Hong Chau and Nicholas Galitzine, who we’ll see as He-Man in Masters Of The Universe later this year.
Securing such a star-studded cast for a film with a premise that, at the very least, requires a leap of faith was in no small part due to the two blokes at the helm.
Director Kyle Balda has pelts on the wall as the filmmaker behind Despicable Me 3 and two Minions movies, all of which grossed over $1 billion at the global box office.
And the screenplay was penned by Craig Mazin, who is best known for creating The Last Of Us and the acclaimed HBO historical miniseries, Chernobyl.
That made signing onto the project a no-brainer for O’Dowd.
“I have kids that have gone through the whole Minions universe, and to be able to kind of tell them, ‘Oh, well, I’m going to work today with the guy who made those movies’ is kind of meaningful,” the Irish comedian tells PLAY.
“I can’t really show them a Black Mirror episode I just did.”
Braun felt exactly the same, as he was looking for something to do with his career after Succession.
“There were so many elements to this movie that got me excited just to read the script,” the 38-year-old tells PLAY.
“You know, Craig Mazin, genius, comedy writer, dramatic writer, so I was excited to read anything that he’s written, and Hugh Jackman already agreeing to play the shepherd.
Camera Icon Chris O’Dowd as the voice of Mopple and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the voice of Lily in The Sheep Detectives. Credit: Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios
“And Kyle Balda, who’s done all sorts of extremely successful family movies, so I was like, ‘This is probably going to be good, but it sounds crazy’.”
Arguably, one of the craziest aspects was Braun’s casting as a Pom.
Firstly, because the history of American actors doing accents is patchy at best, and, secondly, because there is hardly a shortage of suitable British actors.
“I did feel really privileged to get to play a British character, I mean, Americans don’t get the chance to play Brits, like, it just does not happen,” Braun admits.
“And maybe I’ve even lost parts before where I’ve tried to do a British accent and haven’t been able to, so I worked with a voice coach before my audition and, luckily, I pulled it off enough.”
If there was a shortage of Brits for the role, it would only be because so many are employed doing American accents in Hollywood.
So, Braun sees The Sheep Detectives as his chance to even the score.
“Yeah, honestly, I just wanted to nail that accent and represent Americans who can play Brits, I’m leading the charge here,” he jokes.
“Let’s see what happens and see if we can change the tides.”
Balda used cutting edge motion-capture technology to ensure the photorealistic CGI sheep mirrored the facial expressions of the voice actors performing the lines.
“I think that they said, when they did my sheep, they didn’t need to change it,” O’Dowd deadpans.
“They said my face was close enough to the face of a sheep that they could use stock footage.”
It’s important to note the ovine characters in the film can’t converse with the human characters, only chatter amongst themselves.
That doesn’t stop them from striking an unlikely partnership with Braun’s plod.
“I just loved that I would get to be the detective alongside the sheep, that they would be helping me, that we would be growing confidence together,” he explains.
“My character would actually have people — well, they’re not people — animals who respect him and think he’s capable, and I just found it to be just great in so many ways.”
After what Braun endured on Succession as Cousin Greg, in the vipers’ nest that is the Roy family, no wonder the respect of sheep was an improvement.
Of course, Braun wouldn’t have it any other way when it comes to the hit TV show that made him a household name.
“I can’t believe I got to be a part of that show,” he reminisces.
“When you’re in it, you don’t really realise what’s happening, and you don’t know if people are gonna forget about it when it’s off the air.
“So, the fact that people still love the show, they love Greg, they love what we made, and it feels like that’ll be a lasting thing, is really cool, you know, that’s really the goal.
“I feel really lucky we made a show that people watched, loved, rewatched still, and they’re still finding it.
“But you just keep going and saying, ‘Alright, I think this could be great, I think this part could be great. I think this thing could be great’, and sometimes you hit, sometimes you don’t, and I’ve been very lucky to have a few of those, and you just keep on rolling.”
Braun hopes The Sheep Detectives will do just that, and has the backing of leader of the flock.
“I’m thrilled to see that it’s come together as well as it has,” Louis-Dreyfus says.
Again, to be clear, not sarcasm. Honest.
The Sheep Detectives is in cinemas now.
