You know, what I hadn’t thought about until just now, is where Gru is at the beginning of the movie, he’s trying to become a small business man, himself. He’s like, en route to becoming El Macho.
I never even thought about that.
And El Macho doesn’t even have… We don’t see his wife, or anything. So, he was really, really close to becoming El Macho, if this story hadn’t occurred. That’s kind of fun. I was really bummed because they had these little things here… [The lights dim throughout the room] Whoa, that’s amazing.
That’s the blimp! [Benjamin Bratt dashes to the window]
Oh, was that the blimp!? Where’s the blimp!? [Dashes to the window]
[Sees the Despicable Me 2 blimp blocking out the sun] It WAS the blimp!
Oh, my god! That’s awesome!
We’re right in the middle of an interview for this.
I love how excited you are about that blimp.
I take it as an auspicious sign.
Is that your first blimp, for a movie of yours?
It is.
Yeah? They didn’t have one of those for Snitch?
They did not. [Laughs]
That would have been cool if they had. Just you, with that AK-47, just floatin’ around.
A big, floating semi-truck, filled with dope.
Oh, I just completely lost track of where we were… Oh, I was just bummed that we didn’t have one of those chip hats, with the guacamole. That is comic gold, I thought.
Not only is it comic gold, it is a great marketing idea for a Mexican food chain restaurant.
Right!? That’s gotta be real, right? Someone’s got to have done that.
If someone hasn’t done it, someone needs to do it. They need to copyright the idea. It’d have to be a smaller hat, though, because I think it would break under its own weight.
Yeah, yeah. It’s just gotta be more of a bowler, I think, than anything else.
No, you know what it is? The bottom of the sombrero would have to be supported with cardboard or something sturdy and the sides could be tortilla.
There you go. I like it. I like it a lot. What do you got coming up? You’re always involved in such interesting projects. Another one of my favorite movies of yours was Red Planet.
Oh wow.
I do not understand why that movie wasn’t a bigger deal, ’cause I thought it was a really solid, little sci-fi thriller. I had a lot of fun with it. What are you working on right now?
I actually have another animated film coming out in September. It’s the sequel to Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. This one’s called, Cloudy 2: Revenge Of The Leftovers.
Good times.
Good times, and I’m reprising the role of Many, the ever-so-quiet cameraman, who has a professional card and license for everything. He’s a doctor, he’s a pilot, he’s a surgeon, he’s a veterinarian. He’s anything you need him to be. Actually, that’s been a nice switch in gears for me in these later stages in my career, so it’s been a lot of fun.
In these animated movies, you’ve been gearing a lot more towards almost a broad comedy. And the comedies I’ve seen you do before, and maybe I’ve missed some but you’re often the straight man or you’re the romantic lead. You don’t get to be as broad. Is that something you’re interested in moving into in live-action as well, or is it just animation seemed to appeal to you more?
it’s a good question because the fact of the matter is, I don’t know whether it’s based on self-perception or the training that I have or from my college and graduate school days, but I’ve always seen myself as a character actor. I’ve always known that my best work comes out of playing someone that requires me to transform completely away from what I am. So, I can do the leading man thing and for whatever reasons, I’ve always been cast as a leading man but as far as I’m concerned, those performances are generally boring compared to say, something like Pinero or a film I did called La Mission, with my brother. He wrote and directed it.
A friend of mine was just telling me he saw that and he thought the movie was great.
Oh, check it out, if you get a chance. I think you’ll really dig it.
Yeah, I haven’t seen it, yet.
And in this particular forum, it not only allows you, it requires you to go so far beyond anything you’ve done on camera before, that it’s actually kind of emancipating in the art form that it is. For the most part, almost my entire career, I’ve always been told that, “For you, Benjamin, as an actor, less is more.” So, mine has always been a pursuit of subtlety, in the pursuit of whatever truth exists when you’re portraying a character. In this case, yes you have to find an organic place where the voice comes from, but more is more. When it comes to animation, more is more because you don’t initially have an idea of how far they’re gonna take the physicality of your animated character. In this case, I had the benefit of seeing what they did with Al’s voice and I had to match it. And I was pushed. [Laughs] It was not easy. It was really hard.
You know, it’s interesting you bring this up because I feel like there’s this whole stable of actors, wonderful actors who are clearly character actors, clearly have a lot of talent in crafting a character, but they’re too pretty not to be leading men… So that’s you. It’s just like, “Yeah, man! He’s a good looking guy. Let’s just make him the romantic lead!” and I’m just like, “He’s a better actor, man! Give him something fun!” Is there an awareness of that? Because, you have to be aware of how people perceive you in order to sell yourself in this industry and get good, plum roles, right?
It’s a good question. I think I have a general sense of what the perception is, and obviously it’s subjective, but you can never really pinpoint what the exact nature of the perception is. At the end of the day, I can’t worry about it too much, you know? I have to continually seek out the opportunities that appeal to me and that challenge me. I also have to balance that with the practical nature of what the business is at the end of the day. You know, I have workman’s philosophy. I come from a family of tradesmen, from a middle-class background and humble beginnings, and so to me there’s no shame in making an honest dollar. What that’s really dictated for me and allowed for me over the course of years is, I mix it up. You can’t have shame in some of the work you do. Some parts are gonna allow you to shine more than others, but at the end of the day, it’s just about having a good time and mixing it up and being challenged.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
