WINNER! Annie Animation
Award for Best Feature Voice Acting
Ian McKellen as "Toad"
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One of the first films I ever saw was Disney's
Bambi, shortly after its wartime release in 1942. Perhaps
because it made me cry, I've ever since not been much taken with what
we then called "cartoons" — at least those which present animals
as if they have human attributes, whether Mickey Mouse or, in another
style, Babe. Down with anthropomorphicity! That said, of late,
the new-style animations are increasingly alluring, from Toy Story
to Lion King, despite Simba's having no visible genitalia.
In particular, Aardman have broken new ground, since its founders
started up in Bristol UK 30 years ago. Their Wallace & Gromit:
The Curse of the Were-Rabbit looks and sounds so original that
they have won me round to animated movies — and more significantly won
an Oscar. |
| So when Jeffrey Katzenberg called, I said "Yes
please" to the chance of working on Aardman's latest joint venture
with Dreamworks — Flushed Away. I was to provide the
voice for "Toad"; nothing to do with him of Toad Hall but a villainous
little pompous beast strutting through the sewers beneath London,
where he reigns supreme, did you realise? The story starts with
an engaging rat who gets flushed down the loo and lands in Toad's
subterranean, watery domain. Toad himself made a similar
journey, once his young master HRH Prince Charles dispensed with his
amphibian pet. It was a promising project, particularly as I was
told the job would take only a few hours in a London sound studio,
spread over the year which the animators needed to join together
voices and pictures. |
Whitey (Bill Nighy), Spike (Andy Serkis) and
Toad (Ian McKellen)
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Eighteen months and many hours of work later, I
have only this week in Soho finished, with some relief. Unlike
the method used on Magic Roundabout of matching my voice to the
already completed images of Zebedee, Peter Lord directed me to record
Toad's dialogue in advance of the character's finished appearance
onscreen, although helped by showing me some engaging plaster models
of Toad. Freed of the restriction of fitting voice to any
existing mouth or body movements, I could let fly and soon settled on
a fruity voice that might fit the neckless, goitered green-jawed Toad
and the imperious stance of the lord of the sewers. As I spoke
and spluttered into the microphone, Peter's comments from behind the
sound-proof window were always helpful but, line by line, he would
never give up until I had belched up a multitude of variations from
which he could eventually select the most appropriate. |
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One disappointment was not to work with the rest
of the stellar cast which includes my erstwhile colleagues, Wolverine,
Gollum and Detective Fachu from Da
Vinci Code. Acting in Flushed Away was a solo
business. |
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I have now seen some of the finished film. You
can too by viewing the trailers on the
official website. There
has thus far only been one independent online review, based on a crude
version before the Aardman wizardry was complete. The anonymous
judgement is not much in favour, proving that it is nigh impossible
for a non-professional to anticipate the final effect of an animated
movie before it has been finalised. You might as well try and
assess a stage play in the rehearsal room or the taste of a meal
before it has been cooked. — Ian McKellen, August 2006 |
Co-starring: Hugh Jackman, Bill Nighy,
Shane Richie, Jean Reno, Andy Serkis, Kate Winslet
"Delicious slapstick, droll wit and terrific characters make
Aardman's first venture in CG cartooning a great success." -- Hollywood Reporter |
