Presented with the opportunity to create his character as he saw fit, Steve Martin took the conventional idea of a egomaniacal corporate bigwig and delivered an over-the-top transformation.
“I can’t even begin to explain the performance Steve delivered,” executive producer Chris deFaria declared. “It’s this strange sort of angry schoolboy whose development was arrested somewhere in private school back East. And now he’s going to punish the rest of the world for that. It’s a very, very funny performance.”
STEVE MARTIN (‘Mr. Chairman’)
What was the main challenge of working with the animation in this movie?
Waking up (laughing). I thought it was going to be more difficult. I’d never done it before. Now it’s not just like these big green screens, you can actually be on the set, you can have a little character there that you’re talking to. It’s inanimate but it’s talking back to you. It’s very much like I’ve worked with actors who are as wooden so…
We were completely free to walk around and do anything we wanted. It was really like making a regular movie.
What was the most difficult sequence in this film for you?
Well, actually it was quite hard holding the posture - the actual physical poster that I hold - because when you see it, you’ll see it’s quite kind of extreme and I’m not as young as I used to be.
How would you describe your character, 'Mr. Chairman'?
I play an evil [chairman] who runs the Acme Corporation and makes all the inferior products that Wile E. Coyote tries to trap the Road Runner with. I’m trying to take over the world, naturally.
And WWF wrestler Bill Goldberg is your henchman. How was it working with Goldberg?
It was a delight. I only worked with him for one day but he was really, really nice. I could tell he was a big deal on the set. Everyone loved him.
How would the Looney Tunes characters do on the WWE?
Obviously they would win because they could have their beaks fall off and [they] would come back on.
Interview with Brendan Fraser / Interview with Bill Goldberg
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