Phil Wickham has won awards, filled arenas, and sold millions of albums, but that doesn’t mean he was a shoo-in for a role in the new animated musical David.
The three-time Grammy nominee and eight-time Dove Award winner grew up loving musicals like The Lion King and Aladdin, singing along at home and dreaming of voicing a similar character if the opportunity arose.
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“It was a dream I never chased, and I never thought it would become reality,” Wickham told Crosswalk Headlines.
But when he learned of a new musical in production about the Old Testament king, Wickham jumped at the opportunity and asked to be considered for an audition. Even so, he had to survive multiple rounds of tryouts, being told at each, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
He even remembers telling a talent scout that if his abilities didn’t measure up, he’d prefer not to be hired.
“I was like, ‘If within minutes you’re thinking, ‘This guy does not [have] what it takes,’ – just let me know, because I don’t want to be bad in a movie, as much as you don’t want a bad movie,” Wickham recalls thinking.
Wickham was intimidated at first, but eventually found his footing. He participated in a Zoom audition and then a second audition in a studio. Each time, he said, he felt he got better – but still didn’t know whether he would get the role.
In fact, several weeks passed before he heard anything.
Finally, he received a phone call while in an airport from a crew member offering him the role.
David (PG) lands in theaters Dec. 19, following the story of the Old Testament figure from his days as a shepherd boy to his ascension to the throne as the king of Israel. A musical, it features Wickham as adult David and Brandon Engman as young David.
Angel Studios, the studio behind it, has described it as being as “gorgeous as Tangled and as moving as The Prince of Egypt.”
“I felt the weight of it in it,” Wickham said, describing his time in the studio voicing one of history’s most well-known men. “But I also really did trust the directors.”
A lifelong fan of musicals, Wickham said he is thrilled with the finished film, believing it can impact countless families with the truth of Scripture. The movie runs about an hour and 45 minutes, with adult David appearing around the halfway mark.
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Wickham hopes children and other moviegoers notice in David qualities to aspire to, calling him a man who “stood up when men and women wouldn’t” take a stand for God.