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Hangin' With Archives
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Three Penguins and a DirectorWe interview Robin Williams, Elijah Woodand Director George Millerby Lynn B.
Can a bunch of adorable, animated flightless birds and some really good voice actors make a difference while entertaining? The dedicated cast and filmmakers of Happy Feet, certainly hope so. Tune in for an interview that runs from hilarious to very serious and everything in between. Picture Elijah and George trying not to crack up at nearly everything Robin says. It’s better to see and hear him in person but you’ll get the idea…. These guys had way too much fun on this movie. AGW: George, you directed the much-loved Babe. Can you talk about the difference in working with real animals and animated ones? George: It’s a lot easier working with computer-generated animals, but a lot slower. Elijah: They're friendlier as well. Robin: And people don't eat computers. George: It’s surprisingly a lot easier to work with animals that one would normally think. But of course working with computer-generated creatures is really painstaking work. But, obviously, you can get the creatures to do whatever you want. When we first decided to do this movie, we realized we weren't ever going to be able to train penguins. They're not domestic animals. You can't go to Antarctica and [mess] around with their environment. It's a very delicate environment so this was the only way to do it. AGW: Robin, you were very good as the Latino penguin Ramon. Was that a difficult voice role? Robin: [in Latino accent] For me to be this tiny but very powerful penguin is to know the Argentinian male and to say [a word in Spanish meaning eggs]. Also means something else for those who speak Spanish. But I have to give him some machismo - small but powerful – and with penguins, as I say, size does not make a difference. I want give heem the power. ‘I want to talk to Ju’ and if I say Ju I don't mean it like in a Mel Gibson way (laughter). I mean ‘let me talk to YOU’. In a room full of Hispanic comedians it's very important [to get the accent right]. AGW: Poor Mumble doesn’t have a heartsong but he can dance. He has a pretty awful singing voice. Can you actually sing, Elijah? Elijah: I can hold a tune. My voice is not nearly as bad as Mumble. It was actually kind of great though because I was called on to sing really poorly for the film, and I thought I did a pretty competent job of singing poorly. But they actually digitally made it worse. So when I saw the film, I knew what I had done, but my god, they made it sound horrendous. [laughs] It's wonderful. I've got rhythm, but I wouldn't call myself a competent dancer either. AGW: Robin, have you always had a burning desire to sing “My Way” in Spanish? Robin: It was my idea to sing “My Way”. It is a very beautiful song to sing, especially [hiding] behind another penguin. I wanted to sing that. It's fun to do, especially with that ‘Gypsy Kings’ feeling. It's a great thing. AGW: Elijah, can you and Robin talk about doing the voice recordings. Were you ever actually in the same room recording together? Elijah: We were lucky enough to work together most of the time, which is nice. The nature of doing an animated film, oftentimes it's completely based on the actors’ schedules, and it's not always you get to be in a room with the actors you're meant to be working with. It helps to make the scenes come alive and breathe life into them when you've got other people to play off of. AGW: Robin, you were in the same room with the group of Chicano comics who play your buddy penguins, right?
AGW: How long did it take? Robin: It took a lot of sessions over a year, at least. The idea was to find things that worked and we'd come back and put more in or clean up pieces. We'd come back every few months with the idea of changing it or expanding or contracting it depending on what he (George) needed. AGW: Robin, you also voice Lovelace, the guru penguin who is great with the ladies. Robin: Yes, Lovelace. A Barry White kind of voice [In Lovelace’s romantic Barry White voice] Yeah. Bring it good. I want you to get fluffy and down. C'mon, I'm going to ruffle your feathers and do it all right, in that cold Antarctic night. Yeah, girl, we're going to go South. Oh yeah. That's the penguin move that you want. I’ll give you pebbles, yeah. [we’re dying laughing by now] AGW: Robin, do you enjoy voice work more than live action film roles? Robin: The idea of voice work to me is great fun especially when it's a chance to do two different voices. Especially one that's as machismo like Ramon, and to get a chance to sing, and then to get to do a Barry White-type character, that for me is a gift. I started with Aladdin and I've done a lot of cartoons and animations since. And it's always a gift because you're free literally. I love to be physical but in a weird way. They videotaped me and got a lot of who I am - even though I never thought of myself as a penguin. You can create a character from the ground up that's nothing like you. That's what the joy is of animation. I love doing live action movies, but there's a great job in doing animation, especially one with music. It's pretty extraordinary to have that chance. AGW: Elijah, little Mumble is a slow developer. Is that a bad thing? Elijah: I sort of see it as a benefit. I don't see the character as having faults but rather he has these amazing unique qualities. When George was talking about the fact that his developmental process is slowed down physically, I think that's almost a way to show that he's different, to separate him from the rest of the penguin community. I feel that his interior is developing faster than the other penguins because he sees and understanding things that they don't. He doesn't have that closed mind. So I always him as much more developed than underdeveloped. AGW: Are we at the point where we could do a film with computer-generated voices only? George: No, I don’t think so. Robin: [in boring, monotone computer voice] It would have a certain lack of character. [in his own voice] Computerized voices are the ones you also get when you call directory assistance. Yes, please, the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. [computer voice] Did you say babalakapsheba? [his voice] Artificial intelligence is there waiting for you. Just like my GPS in my car. I was on the Golden Gate Bridge. It said ‘take a right turn’. No can do. Take a right turn? Not possible. Those computerized voices tend to be slightly cold and indifferent. Elijah: [in computer voice] Recalculating. Robin: [computer voice] Recalculating. Warning, now, attempting joke now. Two Irishmen walk out of a bar. It could happen. Warning, warning, proximity to… [he makes his voice slow down to a stop]. AGW: George, how did you go about getting these guys to voice your movie? Robin: It was a lengthy audition.
Robin: [In Dustin Hoffman Rainman voice] Definitely feeling good, Definitely feeling good. Definitely a good day. George: I was very fortunate with the cast. They were wonderful people. My biggest problem was I had to say to everybody, ‘I can’t look at you. I have to close my eyes and imagine a penguin’ and then occasionally, I’d look up and see all these faces and I’d say… Elijah: Ewwww. George: No. ‘Oh my God. What a crime’ because it’s not being recorded. But, as Robin said we did videotape and the performers and the animators scrutinized them so a lot of the spirit was there. No matter how much technology you put this through, the essence of the human being just is there. I really believe that we won’t get to that point where you can make artificial actors. AGW: And working with Elijah? George: [turning to talk to Elijah] Elijah, you get everything on take one. It’s amazing. You’re so precise because I know your voice better than you do. Somehow, you got to the truth of it in a moment which I found really amazing. I know you’ve been acting for a long time but there are very few actors I know who can manage to do that. But even then you still do take after take after take. Then, the main thing you have to do is just let what happens between the actors happen and just sit back. AGW: Robin, did you learn anything from this film? Robin: Some of the things I already knew about the nature of overfishing and environmentally, the one thing that isn’t in this movie but is actually happening is that Antarctica is melting. Both North and South poles are turning into a pool, literally. There are large areas that don’t exist anymore. Areas the size of New Zealand and New Hampshire would melt which, if you’re living by the sea, you’ll notice. In ten to fifteen years, you’ll really notice. AGW: The huge factory fishing ships in the film are frightening. Robin: Industrial fishing effects everyone. Those factory ships play this game of hit and run with the international fishing limits and somebody said it’s like hunting squirrels with a bulldozer. They pull everything in and they are only looking for certain types of fish and everything else dies and they just throw it back. It’s like chumming. They just basically destroy and have just fished out large populations of fish throughout the world. It really [messes] up the entire food chain and we’re in it. That, combined with the issues of other creatures and their existence. The number of extinctions recently has dramatically increased. Great beauty exists in this world and shouldn’t be allowed to deteriorate. The penguins will go first and then it’ll be us because, as a species we’re kind of holding on. AGW: Elijah, what do you want kids or teens to take away from this? Elijah: I think the outstanding message is that sense of individuality. We all go through life, particularly as young people in a school environment. That’s the most typical place where we experience that sense of having to conform and not being accepted or having a character defect or some defect that people pick up on and excise you from that community. But I think adults can relate to that too. It’s something we experience. You see this character who is largely not accepted by his penguin family, by his friends or the community at large because he dances and he doesn’t sing. The beautiful thing about Mumble is he’s beautifully unaware of it. He just doesn’t see that there’s anything wrong. He then, as a result of that, goes on this journey to truly establish who he is and to look for greater answers for these questions that he has, but I think it’s a great message for young people to realize these things that separate us from each other are ultimately what make us who we are. That’s something to celebrate. AGW: Elijah, did you have any unique traits as a child that someone frowned on or wanted you to grow out of? Elijah: I had a lot of energy. I think Robin can relate to that. Yeah, I was very energetic. There were times, when I was younger, that I wasn’t so much spastic or crazy but I just always had a lot of energy and a certain passion for life and sometimes that wasn’t always accepted or appreciated mainly by adults. Robin: It’s called being a child. [having a conversation with himself in two different voices] Give him Ritalin. Whack the kid. No! He’s just excited. He’s actually only six. They run around a lot. Medicate the child. No! He’s happy. [Elijah is laughing through this]. AGW: George, can you talk about your choice of the music from the ‘70’s and ‘80’s that might connect a lot with the parents as well as teens or kids? George: We spent a lot of time talking about the music. Obviously, we went for iconic music given that all the penguins had to differentiate with each other by having a unique song. So, who is more iconic than Elvis? Robin: Or Prince. Or the artist formerly known as Prince. Now back known as. But, for a little while, he was known as a little squiggly symbol. George: But his christened name is Prince. Elijah: Prince Rogers Nelson. George: Anyway, so obviously, The Beach Boys are iconic, Beatles. Obviously there are songs that I like but the average age of people working on this film is 26 and even a song we had at one point, I can’t remember, Elijah heard it and he said ‘you’re not gonna use that song on a film that I’m in’. He didn’t say it that way. He said it in a really nice way and people came up to me and said, ‘Look, Elijah hates that song. It’s so uncool’. I said ‘really’? Elijah: And now I can’t remember what the song is. George: We wanted to change some of the lyrics of a Prince song when Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman sing “Kiss” and Prince never changes the lyrics to his songs which is quite right. They took the movie to Minneapolis and Prince watched the movie and towards the end, apparently, he picked up his guitar and started strumming, looking for a chord and he said ‘give me two weeks’. I said ‘what?’ ‘ I’m going to write a song for the movie’. He not only let us change the lyrics but wrote this beautiful song for the end of the movie. He somehow was inspired by it and he saw it in a pretty rough cut. AGW: What about getting Robin to sing “My Way”? George: I had no idea he could sing. I remember saying to him ‘Do you want to sing? It’s in Spanish’ and he said ‘Well, I’m not sure I can do it’ but he said he used to try to sing a little bit in that espanol style. [Robin starts signing a loud aria in Spanish] Robin: That said nothing but you have to do that to improvise. At this point, we’re dying laughing again and a publicist from the studio indicates time is up. Robin: [In his Ramon accent to the publicist] Do you want to ask a question? Oh, [time is up?] Gracias amigos! |
 
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Recently,
near Rodeo Drive in L.A., we got together with “penguins”
Mumble (Elijah Wood), Ramon (Robin Williams), Lovelace (also Robin Williams)
and their “Keeper” Happy Feet director George Miller to chat
about the new music-filled animated film. The topics of conversation ran
from choices in music to casting to what we must do to save our planet!
Robin:
Yeah. All the Chicano comics were great. It was a pretty wild group of
people to have in one room. Most of them have other gigs, but it was great
just to riff. Each one, especially the Al Pacino penguins. Hoo ha! It
was a good group to play off of. And George would just let us go and pick
things and expand on that. That's another luxury you don't normally get.
It was fun to do that. I always left there exhilarated because you get
to play in a room with other people, which is a gift.
George:
Look, basically, we looked at the characters. I called Elijah’s
agent. He read the script and we talked about it and then same when we
came to Robin. [I thought] ‘God, if we can ever get Robin Williams
to do this’. I’ve known directors that he’s worked with
and I’ve known his work and, luckily you said ‘yes’.
It was a fantastic thing to happen. Robin is known for the improvisation.
What I don’t think people know about Robin is his incredible discipline.
I push actors pretty hard. I keep on asking for more. I get very greedy
but, when I’d be happy with something, Robin would say ‘a
couple more takes, a few more takes’ and we’d keep going and
there was always gold in it.