Universal Pictures, writer/producer Gary Ross, and directors Sam Fell and Rob Stevenhagen bring the popular children's story The Tale of Despereaux to the big screen with a talented group of actors providing the voices of the mice, rats, and humans featured in the family-friendly tale. Matthew Broderick leads the way as the voice of Despereaux, a heroic little mouse with big ears and big dreams. Dustin Hoffman is Roscuro, a rat seeking forgiveness for a tragic accident he caused, and Emma Watson ('Hermione' in the Harry Potter movies) channels her inner princess to play Princess Pea. The story is narrated by Sigourney Weaver who connects the tale together in a soothing voice kids and adults will enjoy listening to.
The Tale of Despereaux Voice Cast Press Conference
Matthew, how did you connect with your character, Despereaux?Matthew Broderick: "I just did what a variety of directors told me to do. No, I just really loved the story and I didn’t particularly think of him as a mouse, you know? I figured once they did the drawings it would be clear it was a mouse, and I thought of him as a kind of teen or a man - a boy trying to turn into a man. I tried to take it sort of seriously and think of it like my own life and I didn’t think too much about 'mouseness'."
Was there a clue in lines in the script anywhere that made you think that?
Matthew Broderick: "Sigourney, did you say anything that told me what to do?"
Sigourney Weaver: "Well I think I said, 'Despereaux Telling did not know he was small.'"
Matthew Broderick: "That's right, and I didn’t know I was small. And I'm a gentleman, didn't I say [that] or something like that? Yes, and that seemed to mean something."
Sigourney Weaver: "And calling your cat Fluffy, that's a clue."
Matthew Broderick: "Not scared of knives. I like cheese, I know that. We all discussed it pretty, pretty, pretty carefully and tried to take this story seriously, actually. So, you know, we tried to take the situation that I was in very seriously. I know that's not a great answer but…"
Dustin Hoffman: "Not a sound bite in there."
Sigourney Weaver: "That's your job."
Matthew Broderick: "Well, I wanted to really talk about the bailout plan for the auto industry. That's what I'm waiting for."
Emma, can you talk about the difference between this kind of a fairytale and Harry Potter?
Emma Watson: "Well the Land of Dor feels quite magical so I guess it has that in common with Harry Potter. And also The Tale of Despereaux is based on a book by Kate DiCamillo, who’s also here, so that has that in common. But apart from that I think they're very different stories and they have very different messages. Despereaux has such a strong character and identity [on] its own. ...And also it was so fun for me to work in a completely different media, doing an animated feature. I’d never done that before and it was a lot of fun and I'm massively proud of it."
Emma, what did you like about her? What could you relate to about her and what were the challenges of playing Princess Pea?
Emma Watson: "She's quite a generic princess, you know? She's very beautiful and she lives in the Land of Dor and everything's great. But then she loses her mother and what makes it worse is that not only losing her mother, she also loses her father because he goes into this state of grieving and he just kind of locks himself away from his people and his responsibilities and also from his role as a father. So she's pretty lonely and she’s pretty isolated and she's kind of literally locked up in this tower and she can't really be part of the real world. Anyway, I thought it was interesting and I felt very sad for her. I thought that the conversations that she had with Despereaux were really charming and I just really fell in love with the script and the book, you know, more than the character."
How challenging is it to do the voice of an animated character?
Emma Watson: "…It was, you know, particularly [because] my performance was quite physical in the film because I'm getting kidnapped and there's a rat in my room and whatever. So it was hard trying to get all of that into my voice, the emotional and the out of breath and the screaming. It was fun - yeah, it was fun. Yes, it was fun. I was actually given a toy Despereaux about this big who I could speak to, so I had kind of a substitute. So yes, it was really interesting and it was great fun."
When you start doing this process you don’t really see the character animated. How did your performances change as they started showing you scenes and you were able to see how your voice was being used? Also, Dustin and Matthew, did you work together at all?
Dustin Hoffman: "We met years and years and years ago and we were friends, and then we did a film called Family Business and it didn’t do well and we vowed never to work together again."
Matthew Broderick: "And yet here we are."
Sigourney Weaver: "But separated. They wouldn't sit together."
Dustin Hoffman: "No, we didn't work together but I will say from my part that it was quite wonderful because Gary Ross, the director, really had when I was working - I don’t know about the other actors but there were other actors in the room. We not only sat at the table trying to interact, but he had us moving around. He had a guy with a boom following us around. And I thought, 'If this film doesn't turn out good I'm going to kill him.' For my part, he’s extremely responsible for this stuff. He wouldn't let me read the script because he knew I would ask for rewrites."
Matthew Broderick: "Again, I've completely forgotten the beginning of the question."
