Also lending their voices to the PG-rated animated comedy are 30 Rock's Tina Fey as intrepid reporter Roxanne, the victim of numerous kidnappings by Megamind in his battle against Metro Man, and David Cross, who brings to life Megamind's right-hand man...make that right-hand fish-headed creature...Minion.
Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, David Cross and Director Tom McGrath Megamind Press Conference
Will, can you talk about what it means for you to be front and center for an animated movie and what were some of your favorites growing up?Will Ferrell: "Well, let’s see. It’s very exciting to be. I don’t really consider myself front and center of this fine cast, but I guess I am. [Turns around to look at the film’s poster on the wall behind him] I guess I am front and center. I really haven’t done a lot of this stuff before so it was just exciting to get to work on a Jeffrey Katzenberg movie and I love this premise, which I felt was so original. And to get to be in a film with this cast is the most exciting part in a way for me."
The film has some 'geek' themes in it. How much of that was there from the beginning and did any of that come from some of the actors?
Tom McGrath: "There’s always a theme here. It’s about good and evil and what makes us who we are and whether we choose a path of good or evil or do we believe it’s destiny that defines us. The main theme to take away probably is no matter how much you screw up your own life by the wrong decisions that you make, it’s never too late to do the right thing and change your ways and you can teach old dogs new tricks. Now, to say that in a way that’s elegant is partly script and mainly the acting and the characters that these guys were authors of and helped create and took ownership of. We had the theme, and I would say the cast sold the theme."
"It’s probably ingrained that we all need a nemesis, but sometimes we get off paths in life. Megamind got off the path as a baby when his pod gets knocked off course and lands in prison. Really, it’s a story about redemption in a way where we can all be redeemed. I don’t know if you need to always have a rivalry in your life or you just have to be the person you want to be or were meant to be."
Will, it seems like you adopted a little bit of a British accent in this? Was that because Brits are traditionally cast as villains?
Will Ferrell: "It’s so disappointing - and it’s not your fault. I’m actually doing a Lithuanian accent and it just shows how bad a mimic I am. But no, it’s just the accent of someone who thinks they’re important. In working with Tom, we just kind of landed on that and felt like it would be appropriate to this guy who’s really, when you get down to it, just completely insecure. So, someone who speaks like that who’s insecure kind of is a great combination."
Improvisation has played a large role in all three of your careers. Did improvisation play a role in what you did with this film or did you stay pretty close to script?
Tina Fey: "Tom really encouraged us to improvise. Will and I were lucky because we got to do sessions together and improvise together. I didn’t know David was in the movie until just now."
Tom McGrath: "Yeah. That’s why we have the cast we do to be partners and collaborators. I would say 30% of what you hear in the scenes is improvised in ways where not only are they great actors, they’re great writers as well. So, we come in with our lines and we have writers and the script was very well thought out, but on a scene-by-scene basis we’d get three alts for every line that was much funnier than what was written. Sometimes Will and Tina got to record together, but David would improvise one month. We’d get Will the next month. He would play off what David had done. We’d go back to David a month later with what Will had done."
David Cross: "The laughing scenes, which we did a number of times where there’s a scene, maybe twice, where we’re kind of topping each other, those were completely different sessions. (To Will) I heard yours first. You did it and then I did it and it went back to you. It was interesting."
What traits do you share in common with the Megamind character?
Will Ferrell: "Traits that I share with the character? I have a lot of tight leather pants that I keep in a vault. I don’t wear them but I just keep them there. And there is a part of my body that I cannot go into detail on that is blue. That’s just like a genetic defect. That’s what I share with the character."
There’s a scene in the film where Megamind finally has everything he’s ever dreamed of but he is still miserable. Have you ever had an experience like that in real life?
Will Ferrell: "Personally? Have I come across…? I’ve always wanted to sail around the world in a handmade boat and I built a boat. I had a boat built for me, I mean, and my second day out to sea I realized that A) I’m not a sailor, and B) I have no knowledge of basic navigation. I didn’t bother with any sort of supplies and in that moment I was miserable. I felt like I had everything and it turns out I didn’t. So that would be my one example to illustrate."
David Cross: "But you were also in a lake too."
Will Ferrell: "It was Lake Havasu."
David Cross: "So you kind of screwed it up."
Will Ferrell: "Yeah, right from the beginning I screwed up. That’s what I’m trying to say."
Tina, if you lived in a world where Megamind and Metro Man are real people, which one would you go for?
Tina Fey: "I think I would go for Megamind because he’s very smart and I really do find the purple undertone of this blue skin very attractive. I really do. I think he has beautiful, beautiful skin and he’s smaller than me. I like that."
Will Ferrell: "He’s more petite."
David Cross: "You could break him in half."
For Will and Tina, can you talk about the nemeses that you might have had that helped forge your character and made you a better person as a result?
Tina Fey: "I don’t really have a nemesis, but I have a series of hundreds of small enemies that fuel me. Everyone I meet I assume is out to get me and that fuels my fire on a daily basis. (To Will) Who’s your nemesis?"
Will Ferrell: "My nemesis, prior to this working experience, oddly enough was David Cross. But, through this process, we were able to basically hash that out."
David Cross: "I’m not completely there yet but we’re getting there."
Will Ferrell: "I am, and David is still trying to come over to my side."
Do you recognize yourself when you see the character?
Will Ferrell: "No, not really. I don’t think he looks like me."
David Cross: "The mouth maybe."
Will Ferrell: "Maybe the mouth."
Tina Fey: "I think when he’s moving he does."
Will Ferrell: "Really? We’ve got kind of the same watch. I wish I had his waistline. Right, everyone? Shake your heads. Right? Because it’s hard to keep the weight off when you get older. Right? Yes."
Tina, you play a reporter and you have an extensive track record with the SNL skit for Weekend Update. Is it hard to shake the reporter role or is it something you enjoy?
Tina Fey: "Okay, I am one of America’s foremost fake reporters and I am going to have a fake show on CNN. No, I’m not. It was fun to step into this very archetypal Lois Lane type of character and I really like that in this story she’s a modern version of that – that she’s active and intelligent and she looks like Sharon Osbourne."
Tina, can you talk a little about the recording process? Is it hard to get used to only having the booth to work with? Also, was there anything that surprised you about how your character looks?
Tina Fey: "No, I really like how she looks. I like her short hair and I like that she’s brunette and I like that she has an ample can. I’m not going to lie to you. I really like how she’s drawn."
"I found the recording sessions very freeing because you can really try things. When you’re filming something, if you’re improvising a film and you’re wasting film and wasting a cameraman’s time, but when you’re recording stuff first, you can try a bunch of stuff and it doesn’t matter how you look while you’re doing it. There’s a complete absence of vanity during it. I found it really fun."
What were some of the pros and cons and likes and dislikes of a voice action role as opposed to a live-action role?
Will Ferrell: "As Tina was mentioning, there is a great amount of freedom in terms of getting to come up with stuff on the spot, improvising, that sort of thing. I think, at least from my perspective, what is lost on these projects is how hard it is to articulate any sort of emotional kind of gear shift just with your voice. Those were the hardest parts for me. Playing the comedy is one thing, but I think there’s a real skill for any of these actors that can effectively do that consistently. That was the hardest part for me."
Will, how did you prepare mentally to hate Brad Pitt who is clearly unhateable in real life? And for everyone, what were your interactions with Brad during the filming and recording process and did he show up professionally in costume?
Tom McGrath: "It’s interesting. Brad’s great. He’s a total pro. But, the thing is, he rides his motorcycle to the recording sessions and there’s always paparazzi that know where he is at all times. So, he pretty much had to ride his motorcycle into the recording studio."
David Cross: "He’d always bring that pickled herring. He makes his own pickled herring and he’d insist on bringing it, and it would stink up the studio."
Tina Fey: "It’s not that good either."
Will Ferrell: "He makes his own homemade beer which, once again, is not that good. It doesn’t even taste like beer. I don’t even know what it is."
David Cross: "It’s near beer."
Will Ferrell: "Is that what it is?"
David Cross: "Yeah. You probably already know, he’s a severe alcoholic but he’s sober now so he brews his own near beer and it’s just awful. And it’s gluten free, so just forget it."
Tom McGrath: "To speak for Brad, a lot of people always want to work together in an animated film and the truth is they often don’t for scheduling or technical reasons and things like that. It would have been great to actually record everyone for every scene. We really benefited with that with Tina and Will because, like I said, there’s this love story and we did get them together because when an actor plays off another actor, even the pauses between the lines are so well timed that they’re gold. So, to have this love story told between the two of them and to have them playing off each other, you’ll see it in the movie. It’s actors playing against each other, which is really rare to do in animation because all these guys, truth be told, they’re so busy doing projects. It’s always great to get their time when we have it. Ideally, we’d all be workshopping this together, but it’s amazing and a part of the magic of animation and a testament to the acting that they can play in isolation and together it sounds like they’re speaking as one or part of the same movie. So that’s what’s extra special about what we do."
Will, what was it like working with Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal in Casa de Mi Padre?
Will Ferrell: "Diego and Gael, they could not have been better. We were so thrilled to even get them to be on the project and the fact that they committed to this crazy Spanish language movie... But they’re two of the nicest guys. They’re fantastic comedic actors as well as being just regular actors. But it was a thrill for me to get to work with those guys and they could not have been better in the movie."
Do you speak any Spanish?
Will Ferrell: "Poquito."
