Making Of...(Page 2)

WOODLAND BAND

One animal has not just learned to survive but actually to thrive in the paved and pre-packaged world of suburbia. An enterprising raccoon named RJ has found a way to make the other animals’ loss his gain.

Johnson expounds, “A group of woodland creatures awaken from months of hibernation to discover that, where once was a forest there’s a hedge, and beyond that hedge, there is a brand new world they are terrified to venture into. Enter RJ. We call him our raconteur raccoon. He’s a sly character with his own agenda, who’s used to living life on his own and who has never experienced anything like the home and family that Verne and his friends have. We compare RJ to Harold Hill in ‘The Music Man’—a sort of sly con man who comes in and talks a good game, but never quite warns the animals of the perils he’s leading them into.”

Bruce Willis provides the voice of RJ, and Kirkpatrick says he had just the right vocal quality for the role, which was part thief, part huckster and all charm. “RJ needed to be a charming rascal. Bruce has this roguish side to his personality, but he always has this kind of half smile that gives you the sense he’s playing a little bit of a game with you while letting you in on the joke.”

Willis offers, “It was fun to get into the RJ mode. He is a devil-may-care raccoon, the David Addison of the animal kingdom,” the actor adds, referencing the irreverent character that first brought him to fame on the television series “Moonlighting.” “Over the years, RJ has accumulated all these human items that he carries in a golf bag—his own bag of tricks. It’s all very clever, but the most appealing aspect of the character for me is when he shows his vulnerability. He is really a lonely little raccoon, who runs into this family of animals and finds he wants to be part of them. But the con man in him needs something from them, and a lot of the comedy comes out of the predicaments RJ gets them into. There are a lot of funny things that kids will be able to relate to, but much of the humor was written specifically for the adults. The film makes a strong point about over-consumption, and holds a mirror up to human behavior and society in general in a way that I think everybody is going to find funny.”

“Bruce was a wonderful guy to work with,” Johnson states. “Every session he would ask what else we had learned about the character and how he could bring more to the part. It’s a joy to work with somebody who is not only so passionate about his own performance but also about contributing to the overall picture.”

Unfortunately for Willis’ character, RJ is going to learn a lesson about over-consumption the hard way when he forgets one important rule of nature: only take what you need. Caught stealing a wagonload of food from an angry bear, RJ has exactly one week to pay it all back—right down to the red wagon—or he’ll be dead meat...literally.

“How is he going to do it?” Johnson asks and answers, “Take advantage of these naïve innocents and con them into gathering enough food to repay the bear.”

The leader of that group of innocents is a turtle named Verne, who is voiced by Garry Shandling. “Verne is a very practical, cautious turtle, and Garry did a marvelous job of capturing his warmth and family affection, as well as his fear of change and anything new,” Johnson says.

As the de facto head of the forest family, Verne is the first to venture to the other side of the hedge, with disastrous results. He barely makes it back alive, and now, Johnson reports, “Verne looks at suburbia and sees nothing but peril. He never wants to go over that hedge again, but RJ has other plans. He needs the animals’ help to gather a wagonload of food for a hungry bear.”

Shandling offers, “Verne is consumed with protecting his family from this fast-talking fellow, RJ, who just comes in and takes over. Right off the bat, Verne has a bad feeling about him because his tail tingles. When that happens, Verne knows to watch out, and everything RJ says is driving Verne’s tail crazy. Verne has learned to trust his instincts because he is the oldest and wisest of the group. The turtle has been around for millions of years as a species, and they live a long time. I figured Verne to be about 120 years old, but, if I may say, he looks maybe 70, 75 at most...without makeup of course.”

Kirkpatrick notes, “In this role, Garry gives you everything you would expect from him, which is his incredibly smart and wry sense of humor. I don’t think there is anybody better at the subtle undercut. But Verne is also the emotional center of the film, and Garry stepped up to do that very nobly. It was definitely a challenge to find ways for Verne to be as funny as Garry can be without sacrificing the heart and emotion of the story, but he did an amazing job walking that line, just amazing.”

Working on his first animated feature, Shandling states, “The directors, Tim and Karey, really helped me with the character. They were fantastic and very supportive, even though I kept calling Karey ‘Tim,’ and Tim ‘Karey.’ But I used to call my mom ‘Dad,’ and my dad ‘Mom.’”

If Verne is the wariest member of the group, the most trusting is Hammy, a hyperactive squirrel who seems to move at the speed of light and, unlike Verne, takes an instant liking to RJ. Johnson comments, “Hammy is a big-hearted character who embraces RJ, this new guy who comes into their midst. He is adorable.”

Steve Carell, who is the voice of Hammy, observes, “Hammy is tremendously loyal to his friends; he is very kind and very loving. It’s going to make me cry just thinking about him because he is the sweetest thing. However, he also has a very short attention span. He will see things and immediately attach himself to that thing, be it food or be it a friend. He is totally fascinated by life, and I think that is one of his best attributes. He lives life to the fullest…amped up about a thousand percent.”

“Hammy is constantly moving,” Johnson affirms. “In fact, we created special effects that sort of vibrate the air whenever Hammy goes by because he moves so fast, but it was Steve who pushed the design of the character with his voice. In computer animation, we connect all of these controls to animate the character. We realized right away that we needed more controls to reflect the range of Steve’s extremely dynamic vocal performance.”

“His ownership of this character was transformative,” Kirkpatrick agrees. “Steve was able to bring all that manic energy to the role, but he also has an inherent sweetness, and the marriage of those two qualities is truly how the character of Hammy came to life. Our sessions with him were almost too short because he was so good.”

“As an actor, the process of recording the role was very exciting because anything was fair game in terms of creating the character and finding out what makes him tick,” Carell says. “Originally, I was just shown thumbnail sketches of what the scenes would be, then I’d come back a few months later and see it all come to life. To see elements of yourself appear in this animated character was a little jarring, I have to admit, because, for one thing, that squirrel is way better looking than I am,” he jokes.

In contrast to Hammy’s sweet optimism, there is Stella, for whom life, in a word, stinks. Kirkpatrick relates, “The first descriptions of Stella were that she is a skunk with attitude. What do you think of when you hear the word ‘skunk’? You think of an animal that stinks. So we thought, if that is the baggage you carry around all your life, it is bound to shape your personality a little bit. You’re bound to be a tad defensive.”

Stella is voiced by Wanda Sykes, who understands her character’s outlook on life. “Stella has every right to be grouchy and to have an edge to her. Who wouldn’t if you just stunk all the time? Stella is great; she gets it. She’s like, ‘These are the cards I’ve been dealt. I’m a skunk. People see me and run away. This is my life. It stinks, but I know it stinks and I’m going to deal with it…but not necessarily on a positive note.’”

Johnson recalls, “When we pitched Wanda the part, she really tapped into the idea that this is a character with a self-esteem problem. Stella’s acerbic humor and quick temper is actually hiding a fear of rejection. She wants to push you away before you push her away.”

“Wanda brought Stella to life with great verve and spunk,” Kirkpatrick remarks. “She was a perfect fit for the role. Wanda has an amazing vocal quality and her attitude has almost become iconic. She is a writer’s dream, because you can give her just about anything to say and she’ll make it funny with the attitude she brings to it. But there is also a vulnerability to Stella, and Wanda played that beautifully as well.”

The softer side of Stella comes out when she finds romance with a domestic housecat she calls Tiger. Tiger holds the key to getting into his house, and his house holds the key to saving RJ’s tail. Sykes explains, “Stella goes through this huge makeover because she has to look like a cat to trick Tiger. She’s hesitant, but she does it to help her family—the group of animals who have always accepted her. But seeing how pretty she looks starts to give Stella more confidence. She looks in the mirror and says, ‘Hey, I’m not that bad.’ She also feels a real connection with Tiger, although she knows she’s not being herself.”

A spoiled purebred Persian cat, Tiger is immediately smitten with the disguised Stella, and even after learning she’s a fake feline, Tiger is undeterred. “When he finds out she’s a skunk and the attraction is still there, Stella knows she’s found her guy. She’s not letting this one get away,” Sykes laughs.

Tiger, whose full name is Prince Tigerius Mahmoud Shabazz, is voiced by actor and comedian Omid Djalili, who says, “Tiger is a ridiculously pompous Persian cat who thinks Stella is a down-and-dirty street cat, but they seem to have chemistry anyway. Basically, Tiger falls in love with a skunk, but he doesn’t care because he can’t smell anyway,” he notes, referring to the “designer” nose of the purebred Persian cat.

Djalili adds that he immediately felt a cultural affinity for the role. “I got a call from my agents saying the people at DreamWorks had seen my work and wanted to meet me for this role. They said the character is Persian, so why not have a real Persian play it? I couldn’t say no.”

Producer Bonnie Arnold offers, “We had heard some voice tapes of Omid and knew he was very funny. We were really excited about him for the role of Tiger and flew him over from London to meet with us about the project. His voice added a different texture to the character, and he was so much fun to work with, too.”

There are two real families within the extended forest family of woodland creatures: the possums, Ozzie and his daughter, Heather; and the porcupine couple, Penny and Lou, and their triplets, Quillo, Bucky and Spike.

William Shatner is the voice of Ozzie, a possum who excels at—what else?—playing possum. Johnson says, “Possums do in our film what possums do in reality: whenever they are in danger, they play dead. But our possum, voiced by William Shatner, plays dead with a Shakespearean flair. He is a very melodramatic possum.”

Shatner expounds, “Possums don’t have a fight-or-flight mentality. What they do when threatened is drop dead; that’s their defense mechanism. The way they wrote my character, he’s a very Shakespearean possum. He likes to die very theatrically…I don’t know why they chose me.”

“As a longtime fan of William Shatner, it was a real honor to direct him,” notes Johnson. “You will never work with a more energetic, dedicated performer than Bill. The man’s comic timing is consummate. You never have to explain the setup of a joke to Bill; he reads the scene, gets it and will give you 15 different variations on a line, and every one is flawless.”

“I’ve had a lot of radio experience, and doing animation is almost like radio because the only way to reach the audience is through the coloration of your voice,” says Shatner. “You’re in a room taking cues from the director about the context of the line—What’s the situation? What’s the energy? What’s the tempo? There’s also room for improvisation, so it’s great fun.”

“Some of the funniest lines were the ones the actors came up with on the spot,” Kirkpatrick says. “We were very big on letting the actors find the character and own it. That’s when the magic really starts to happen.”

Ozzie has a teenaged daughter named Heather, who doesn’t share her father’s penchant for drama. Johnson says, “Ozzie takes great pride in his species’ ability to play dead to fool his enemies. The problem is that he sees enemies at every turn, so, to Heather’s mortification, Ozzie is flopping over ‘dead’ any time there is a loud noise, or a sudden movement draws his eye. We like to say that every time Ozzie dies, Heather dies a little, too…of embarrassment.”

Chart-topping recording artist Avril Lavigne, who plays Heather, attests, “When Heather’s dad fakes dying, it’s embarrassing to her because she thinks he goes overboard with it. You know, a lot of teenagers get embarrassed by their parents. We all go through it, so maybe a few kids out there will relate,” she smiles.

Although Lavigne is obviously no stranger to working in a recording studio, “Over the Hedge” marks her acting debut. She remembers, “When the offer came in to do this movie, I thought it would be exciting because the script was great and it was a good part. I came in not really knowing what to expect, and I had a blast. Everyone I worked with was super cool and made me feel very comfortable.”

“Avril is an incredible voice in the world of pop music and a terrific voice in the world of our film,” Johnson notes. “This is her first acting role, but by the end of her first session, Avril didn’t need any advice from us. She gave us a ton of great line readings. As a young woman, Avril still has a finger on the pulse of teenagers today. We wanted Heather to be a girl wrestling with the expectations of her father and this peculiar thing her species does, playing dead. Avril got it immediately and gave so much wit and personality to the character. We were just thrilled to have her in the cast.”

Representing traditional family values are the perfect porcupine parents, Penny and Lou, voiced by two actors who have frequently been paired on the screen, Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy. “They’ve known each other for a long time and have worked together before, and their voices complement each other nicely,” Arnold says. “They are both such talented actors and comedians, and they immediately understood what we were looking for in the characters. They brought a lot of warmth and heart to their parts.”

Johnson adds, “We thought of how much fun it would be to unite Catherine and Eugene to play Penny and Lou. They go way back to their Second City days together, so they have a natural chemistry and the kind of rapport that a couple married with children would have. Because they’ve performed together so often, they know each other’s rhythms and comic timing, which was important because, as is usually the case with animation, they did their parts separately.”

O’Hara remarks, “Watching the movie, I was struck by how close the characters seemed—like they had this history together and were having so much fun. I kept remembering that we were not with each other when we recorded the voices, but it really comes off like we were together.”

“You forget for a split second that it’s your voice,” Levy adds. “You can actually detach yourself and just start looking at the film as cute and funny and lovable, and then realize, ‘Hey, that’s me.’ It’s a great feeling to know that I’m in this movie with these other great actors playing furry little characters. I can tell my grandkids, ‘That’s me doing the voice of Lou.’”

Both hailing from Canada, O’Hara and Levy had no problem calling to mind Penny and Lou’s distinctly northern accent. Levy says, “We grew up in Toronto, Canada, where we got American television through a border station in Buffalo. They talk like that there, as well, so it wasn’t unfamiliar to my ear.”

Penny and Lou have the added prickly circumstance of being the parents of a set of mischievous porcupine triplets: Quillo, voiced by Madison Davenport; Spike, voiced by Shane Baumel; and Bucky, voiced by Sami Kirkpatrick, who, being the son of director Karey Kirkpatrick, admittedly had an inside track for the role.

The woodland band is not without enemies, both natural and manmade. On their side of the hedge, there is Vincent, a large bear with an appetite to match. Before going into hibernation, Vincent had stockpiled enough junk food to keep himself fat and happy for many months—that is until RJ tried to make off with his cache and ended up accidentally destroying it. Now Vincent has given RJ one week to recoup his losses or Vincent will be forced to resort to a different food group.

Nick Nolte, who provides the voice of Vincent, asserts, “Vincent is not a bad guy, he just has a little behavior problem. When anyone steals his food, he gets angry…and who can blame him?”

“When we approached Nick Nolte to voice Vincent, he was truly surprised. In his gravelly voice, he asked, ‘Now why would you want me to be a bear?” Johnson laughs. “The role was his the moment we met him. He is an actor who really understands subtext and totally wraps his brain around a character. He brought such an incredible richness to the role.”

Another cast member making his animation debut, Nolte states, “In 40 years of doing films, this was the first time that I had no idea what my character would look like. I found the process to be quite interesting. It was much more collaborative and directorial than I expected it to be, which was very helpful because the directors were with the characters for so long and knew them better than anyone.”

On the suburban side of the hedge, the animals face a new kind of enemy in the person of Gladys Sharp, the by-the-book president of the El Rancho Camelot Estates Homeowners Association, who lives and dies by the rules that keep her community in perfect order. Kirkpatrick says, “The character of Gladys was a way for us to take a not-so-subtle jab at the homogeny that results from development—the push towards uniformity and to squelch individuality. Gladys is obsessed with appearances, and she is there to enforce the rules.”

Lending her voice to the character of Gladys, Allison Janney agrees, “Gladys is a stickler for rules and regulations. What makes her happy is having a tightly run ship. She gets very upset when things get messy, and what messes things up more than raccoons in your trash cans? She is trying to maintain this wonderful community where everything is perfect and clean and beautiful, and these animals come along and threaten to destroy it. Gladys sees her neighborhood being overrun by vermin, and it’s up to her to get rid of these vicious animals.”

Bonnie Arnold comments, “We all know Allison Janney from ‘The West Wing,’ and she has done a lot of drama, but I don’t think many people know how funny she can be. She was up for anything; the more outrageous the character became, the more she relished in the role. We laughed a lot when Allison was in the studio.”

“I think doing animated films is one of the greatest jobs for an actor,” Janney states, “and it’s especially fun to play the villainess. I love to be silly and do crazy voices and be big and bold. Most of the time, directors are telling me to bring it down, but with this project, whatever I could bring was good…and the more the better.”

Horrified by what she regards as a virtual vermin infestation, Gladys calls for professional help. She gets more than she bargains for, however, when Dwayne—a.k.a. “The Verminator”—answers the call. A ruthless exterminator with an arsenal of weapons and the world’s worst comb-over, Dwayne is a formidable foe to any animal unlucky enough to be in his sights. Kirkpatrick confirms, “Dwayne is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to the animals. He is utterly committed to pest control, and his nose is so trained that he can take one sniff and know the phylum, genus and species of whatever animals are in range.”

Thomas Haden Church, who provides the voice of Dwayne, remarks, “He is absolutely an arch professional, but given his line of work, you could say he’s inhumane. He is the animal kingdom’s worst nightmare. Gladys is at her wits’ end, so she hires Dwayne to be the answer to her problems, but he just exacerbates things to a whole other level. Dwayne probably solves fewer problems than he creates. He thinks he is the best at what he does, but he may have met his match in these animals.”

Kirkpatrick notes, “Thomas is an amazing talent, but I don’t think any of us were aware of how extraordinary his improv abilities are. I would say that half the lines Dwayne utters are ones that Thomas came up with on the spot. He really helped develop this character and brought him to life in ways that were not on the pages of the script.”

“I had a lot of fun working with Tim and Karey,” Haden Church says. “I thought the lines were funny, the characters were funny... It was just clever and different. I am proud to be part of something so wildly entertaining and original, and at the core of it, there is a genuinely sweet, life-affirming story. That’s what really made me want to be a part of it.”

Bonnie Arnold states, “When you look at our entire cast, it is just an extraordinary ensemble for any movie. We were so thrilled that these remarkable actors all wanted to be a part of this film. Each of them contributed so much, not only to the development of their respective characters but also to the comedy and to the heart of the movie.”

Shrek 3

Bee Movie

Flushed Away

Over the Hedge

W&G Movie

Madagascar