Seth Rogen and Reese Witherspoon Monsters vs Aliens Press Conference
Can both of you talk about what are the creative rewards of doing voice work and how important being involved with animated films is career-wise?Seth Rogen: "I don’t know. It’s fun. It’s a different process entirely. I’m sure you’ve heard the expression that acting is reacting. Well, if you remove other actors from that equation, then the art of reacting becomes quite different, I would say, but it just is kind of a different thing. You kind of go in there and you play around and you have a lot of time to experiment and it’s just a lot of fun, I think. It feels much more like playing than acting. There’s not a lot of technical aspect to it. There’s no lights or cameras or physicality you have to be aware of, or even other actors that you have to be aware of for the most part."
Reese Witherspoon: "You don’t have to be sensitive about their light."
Seth Rogen: "Exactly. Nothing. You can just take as much time as you want. You can spend like three hours doing one line if you really, really wanted to, which I would never do on a set with other people whose time I was wasting."
Reese Witherspoon: "I’d be really annoyed."
Seth Rogen: "She would kill me. [Laughing] But she wasn’t there. So that was nice. As far as career-wise, there’s no conscious importance to these movies. Personally, I just think they’re cool movies and it’s fun to see yourself in them."
Reese Witherspoon: "It’s a great opportunity, I think, to reach a wider audience. For me, I just love to travel internationally. This is like the first movie that I’ve done that kind of transcends language because I’m always talking and talking and talking in movies. So it’s nice to actually be able to go to other countries and have them completely understand the concept of the movie and enjoy it in the same kind of way. That’s kind of a good thing for me. That’s the first time I’ve been able to travel and they get when I’m making the movie so that’s great, and also it’s a great opportunity to work with a lot of great comic actors. We’re all so busy doing other kinds of movies that it’s only ever possible to work with this many amazing talented people in this capacity because it doesn’t take up a huge amount of all of our time."
Reese, you've been approached before for animated movies. What made this one so special for you?
Reese Witherspoon: "Yeah, I’ve been offered a lot of animated films. Sometimes they were playing the girlfriend and sometimes the girl who got rescued by a guy. And I just felt like this was the first opportunity that was presented to me where the woman was at the center of the movie. So that’s kind of a unique opportunity for me to create a character that had strength, had a journey, had a whole storyline. So that’s what really appealed to me."
Has there been talk of a sequel? Also, how do you feel about 3-D?
Reese Witherspoon: "I haven’t heard anything about a sequel. I think we’re just like…"
Seth Rogen: "The movie should come out first probably [laughing]. That would be rad if they just decided to forego that step in the process."
Reese Witherspoon: "The 3-D is really interesting. I think it’s kind of different than 3-D you’ve seen before where it kind of jumps out at you. This more surrounds you. You feel more immersed in it. I’m excited. My kids have seen the movie, but they haven’t seen it in 3-D. They’re going to see it in 3-D soon. Like as soon as possible. Like my son wakes up every morning and he goes, 'When do I get to see the movie in 3-D?' [Laughing] 'I don’t know. Somebody call somebody and tell them you’re in a hurry!'"
"I’m really excited because I think it’s kind of a new moviegoing experience for them. And with what I hear Mr Katzenberg talking about, it seems like it’s going to be definitely a new cinematic experience that a lot of filmmakers are going to be incorporating in their films."
Were there any funny or memorable moments from doing the voice work that you'd like to share?
Seth Rogen: "Well apparently when the other actors aren’t there to read with you, there’s a delightful man who’s very talented who does kind of impressions of the other actors, and he’ll read the lines with you. And apparently he does a great impression of me. Reese actually had the bright idea to ask him to impersonate her for me, and he actually does a pretty good you. I actually met him before I met you and then when I met you, I was like, 'Hey, you’re kind of like the guy I read with.'"
Reese Witherspoon: "I have that weird red Mohawk."
Seth Rogen: "Exactly. He has kind of a weird faux hawk."
Reese Witherspoon: "He has a Kramer doo."
Seth Rogen: "He does have a very Kramer-ish hairdo. My one regret is that I didn’t ever get to hear him do me. I wish I got to hear him do me, but he does you fantastically."
Reese Witherspoon: "He wouldn’t do my voice in front of me. I don’t know why. He was shy."
Seth, you're in two movies opening close together. One is a venture into raunch and the other is family fare. Do you have a preference and do you worry about being locked into the adolescent raunch image? Will Green Hornet be a fusion of both?
Seth Rogen: "Yeah, honestly I’m very thankful that people are allowing me to do this. I’m kind of shocked that I’ve gotten away with it, that I can do a movie like Observe and Report and a movie like Monsters vs Aliens. One which has been described as transgressive, and the other which is a delightful family romp. So I personally am very thankful. I do like both those kinds of movies. I try to do the types of movies that I like to go see, and I genuinely like to go see both those types of movies. Being responsible for the writing of a majority of my movies, I don’t feel typecast. And if I did, I’d probably write myself a different role."
"As far as Green Hornet goes, yeah, I mean it will be a PG 13 movie. I think it has a lot of the humor that people are used to from us. But obviously in a finessed [way] so that more people can enjoy it. And it’s a big action movie, also, so that helps it round itself off."
