Reese
and Seth are
"Monsters"!
by Lynn Barker
 Hey
we like Reese Witherspoon and Seth Rogan. They are two of our fave peeps!
We call them "monsters" because they voice two of them in the
new 3-D animated film Monsters Vs. Aliens. Reese is Susan, aka
Ginormica, an almost 50 foot woman and Seth is... well, the Blob! He's
B.O.B. (short for benzsoate-ostylezene-bicarbonate) and he's a friendly,
blue, gooey version of the classic movie red glob that absorbed folks
at snail-pace speed. The duo met with us in Beverly Hills to talk fave
monster/sci-fi classic films, how they identified with their strange characters,
how Reese loves being a female superhero as an inspiration for girls and
how silly Seth got into character "I got naked and painted my body
blue".. yeah, right.
Read our warm
and fuzzy, funny interview....
AGW: Reese,
this is your first voice role. Obviously something about this character
appealed to you. How did you come on the project?
Reese: When
Mr. [Jeffrey] Katzenberg took me around the studio and showed me all the
artwork for this movie, first of all I was really into the idea that 1950s
B Movie monsters became heroes. I watched a lot of those movies as a kid
with my dad every Saturday night. To put a woman at the center of the
film was pretty amazing because I’ve been offered some animated
movies, probably not as many as my counterpart here.
Seth: I take
them all though, that’s the difference.
Reese: But
they don’t make a lot of movies with a woman at the center of it
and her story so it was a great opportunity to create a female super hero.
I talked to my kids a lot about ‘Who’s your favorite superhero?'
While my son can name 27 different male superheroes, my daughter is like,
'I don’t know. The girl with the … I can’t remember
any of them.' So, hopefully, they will really start liking them and make
more of them.
Seth: I have
only one voice I do... this... so. I told them when they first talked
to me about it, 'well, if you want the character to sound exactly like
me then I'm the perfect guy for this. If you have any other aspirations,
you'll probably have to get someone else'.
AGW: Reese,
this is the first superhero role you've ever had. Have you been hoping
one would be offered to you?
Reese: Well,
I was hoping people would know my secret identity as a superhero [Seth
laughs]. No. I've never been offered this kind of thing before. I don't
think they make a whole lot of female superheroes. This is the first one
I've ever even heard of other than Wonder Woman on television in the '80's.
Seth: Doesn't
help that the two they made movies out of were Catwoman and Electra [laughter].
AGW: Do your
characters have any of your personal qualities?
Seth: Yeah.
I think, unfortunately, my wide-eyed enthusiasm. That's what I shared
with my character.
Reese: Your
joi de vivre.
Seth: Exactly
my joi de vivre. That's what me and B.O.B. have. A general good
mood. I think I share that with my character also, yeah.
Reese: Maybe
sort of at the end, a sort of tenacity, fierceness, taking care of the
group. I'm kind of a mother hen that way even on movie sets.
AGW: Seth
what is the biggest benefit of playing a character without a brain?
Seth: I do
it often. I like it. I’m good at it. I figure why not keep it up.
I found my niche.
AGW: And when
you saw the final film, did either of you see yourselves in the characters
and, Seth what did you think when you saw yourself as a big blob of Jell-O?
Seth: People
claim that the character does [resemble me]. People are like 'it kind
of smiles like you'. I don't know if that's true or not but I'll take
it with a grain of salt I guess, 'sure, yeah'. But how did I feel when
I first saw it? I thought it was a cool character. They explained to me
the dynamics of it and it just seemed funny. It seemed like there was
a clear joke. 'He has no brain and he's hungry all the time'. I get that
[laughter]. I got it.
 Reese:
When I saw my character, I was stoked! From the time she busted out of
the church and she's wearing that mini-skirt , she looks so cute. My girlfriend
and I saw it with our kids and she turned to me at the end, when Susan
wakes up and she's in this catsuit, like Ziggy Stardust, she's like 'you
look so hot!' 'I know. It's so exciting. I would actually wear that outfit.'
I was so excited. It was awesome.
AGW: There
are some good messages in the film. Anything stick with you?
Reese: Yeah,
I think the movie is about a lot of different things. I remember being
a kid and how important my friendships were and I think this movie has
a really strong friendship message in it and how important those relationships
are and if you feel a little different on the outside there is a group
of people you fit into and you guys might collectively save the world.
AGW: Have
you ever been out to Area 51 and which kinds of aliens would you like
to see coming to earth?
Seth: I can’t
discuss what I’ve done at Area 51 for legal reasons. What type of
aliens would I like to see come to earth? Vulcans of course! Silly question
[laughs].
AGW: Reese,
you have young kids who are a great audience for this film. Were they
thrilled that mommy is playing a giant superheroine?
Reese: My
kids managed to maintain their coolness for awhile, but literally it has
hit fever pitch at my house. They are rabid and they wake up in the morning
like, 'When can we watch this movie?' My daughter, who’s 9 is trying
to be cool, she’s like, 'It’s okay, it is just, how many people
can I bring to the screening?' I think she invited the entire third grade.
I’m really enjoying this moment because usually my kids think I’m
a gigantic dork and they are so in love with me right now. It is great.
AGW: You are
what, 5' 1" tall? What was it like to play an almost 50 foot woman?
When recording the voice, how did you relate to the different sized aliens
and monsters in the film?
Reese: They
had a height chart so we knew how big we were in relation to each other.
When you were fighting a really big alien they would say, 'No, no he’s
much bigger than that.' Like, 'oh, okay' and you would look up higher
and throw your voice higher. There is nothing really around you to give
you any sort of cue.
AGW: Seth,
how did you put yourself in character?
Seth: I would
get naked and paint my body blue every time. With one eye patch on [B.O.B.
has only one eye]. It was the only way I could do it, I wish there was
another way. [He's soooo kidding and laughs]
AGW: What
are the pros and cons of doing voices for an animated movie?
Seth: I don’t
think there are any cons. It is a little different than your traditional
filmmaking process I guess. It is good, it is very performance-based in
a lot of ways. There are no technical aspects to consider. There are no
marks or cameras or lights or movements, you just stand there and talk.
I like it.
Reese: That
is hard for some people. If you are alone it is a challenge sometimes
I think. It was hard for me almost like being back in an acting class
when you are doing monologues. There is nothing in front of you, there
is nothing informing the whole story, there are no other actors to work
with. Some parts are hard. Ultimately it is the opportunity to be really
silly and goof around.
Seth: You
feel really goofy in there. It is you alone in a room going, 'ooh, ah,
eeh, eh.' It is like, 'Is that what you want? Is that what you are looking
for.' They are filming you the whole time. It is very odd.
Reese: I didn’t
even really know what the whole story was.
Seth: I didn’t
either, I literally had no idea how the movie ended until I saw it.
Reese: When
we got to the Golden Gate Bridge, I was like 'This movie is awesome!'
And I said, 'Alright, see you later.' And they said, 'No, there are two
more acts.'
Seth: Yeah,
I had no idea either. I thought it was the end also.
Reese: It
was all news to me, I call this movie News to Me.
AGW: What
1950's monster or alien movie did you like?
Reese: Oooo,
well, I like the 1950's "B" movies. I like The Creature
From the Black Lagoon. That was very scary.
Seth: That's
a good one, yeah. I like The Thing, the John Carpenter movie.
That movie's rad. [To Reese] Have you ever seen Attack of the 50 Foot
Woman?
Reese: Yeah.
Both of 'um. The one with Daryl Hannah...
 Seth:
The one with Daryl Hannah. That one's not bad.
AGW: What
do you think of animation going in a 3-D direction? Seems like that's
the new thing.
Reese: Yeah.
Just to hear Mr. Katzenberg talk about it, they're really doing a lot
to make it a completely different movie-going experience. I think before
the movies would just jump out at you and scare you like two or three
times. Now, this is more like you're sitting in the middle of the movie
and the movie kind of wraps around you. So I think it's something a lot
of filmmakers are going to be doing. James Cameron and Spielberg.
Seth: Yeah.
It's cool.
AGW: Is it
fun to do something like this where you can go in and record in your pajamas
and the schedule isn't so demanding?
Reese: Yeah,
it's certainly great to be able to stay in L.A. too. It's hard to make
a movie nowadays with the current economy. But I thought it was great.
I'd barely brush my hair and show up. Then I discovered they were filming
me the whole time [laughter]. With a microscopic camera, and my vanity
went through the roof and, the next time, I showed up in a cute outfit
and I was like 'hey, what's goin' on?'
AGW: Reese,
if somebody would give you a superpower, which one would you want?
Reese: The
power to be tall would be a fantastic thing, or invisible. I'd have to
go with that. We were in France and someone asked one of the actors who
was doing a voice-over, 'I would like to bounce'. That's pretty awesome.
Seth: It's
over-rated.
AGW: When
you guys don't get to work together on a movie and only get to know each
other after making the film, is it unusual to not be able to form that
"movie family".
Seth: It's
weird to get to know someone through doing press with them. I'm actually
really interested in a lot of these questions you're asking Reese because
I don't know a lot of this stuff about her. [laughs].
Reese: The
first time we met, we were like 'Hi. Nice to meet you'. 'Okay, rolling'.
Seth: Yeah,
sit down and do an interview with the Lifetime Channel. That was literally
it. But yeah, it is a little weird. We do get along so that's nice. I
would love to do a live-action movie with these people one day. But, it's
a little strange.
AGW: What
toys did you grow up with that fired your imagination?
Reese: Well,
my brother was really into Star Wars and he had the whole carrying
case. You remember that?
Seth: Oh yeah.
That's awesome.
Reese: And
it had all the characters inside it so we played with that for hours.
And, also my son, every morning wakes up with the Monsters Vs. Aliens
characters and I have to pretend to be the giant robot [she indicates
marching like a robot] and then Insectosaurus gets to slam me in the head,
so yeah, it's fun.
AGW: Did you
get to improvise a lot when recording?
Reese: Yeah.
Seth: Yeah.
Again, there's no one else there generally so you can kind of just go.
I like improvising but you don't want to waste anyone's time. There's
a very fine line between improvising and wasting everyone's time. But,
when there's only like five people in a booth, you don't feel bad about
wasting their time [laughs]. It's not that expensive. It's not like a
whole movie set. It's a lot less cost at risk so, we can improvise a lot
from my experience.
Reese: The
more you give them [the directors and animators], the more choices they
have and they bring more writers in and they go, 'Oh, I like this little
riff they did. The whole thing with the Jell-O'. And also the relationship
between Insectosaurus and the Missing Link kind of grew into a big storyline.
I think that's the way they discovered their way through the narrative.
Photos
courtesy of and copyright Dreamworks Pictures, 2009
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