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diversions
'Monsters, Inc.'
actors create voices that scare
By Michael Watanabe
On-line Forty-Niner
Trapped in a gray
room with a simple microphone, the actors of "Monsters,
Inc." could only imagine their characters' surroundings.
Imagination, which led to improvisation, drives the success
of Pixar Animation Studios.
Imagining the characters' surroundings was the hardest thing
the actors of "Monsters, Inc." had to do. All they
had was a rough idea of the character and instructions from
director Pete Docter with context behind the character and
into the scene.
"They're having to imagine themselves [in the role],"
Docter said. "You can see it while they're working. [It's]
like the gears going in their head and they're picturing the
things around them."
John Ratzenberger, who voices the Abominable Snowman and has
done animation before in "Toy Story" and "A
Bug's Life," had to imagine physically moving around.
"In [animation] you still move but you can't travel,"
he said. "You're nailed to a spot."
Stemming from their imaginations, the actors had a great chance
to improvise.
"You have to imagine the sets. You have to imagine the
costumes," said Billy Crystal, who plays Mike Wazowski.
"The script will be they walk into Monsters, Inc. It's
a factory. They arrive at the desk. That's the scene description.
The imaginative spark was usually created using improvisational
tools. In fact, spontaneity is a major factor in choosing
a voice talent, according to executive producer John Lasseter.
"It's not how big of a name they are its how good they
are," Lasseter said. "And we love actors that have
good improv abilities because we like to record the dialogue
before we do the animation.
"We try to find the spontaneity and one of the key things
we found over the years is to let the actors just kind of
go with it," he said.
John Goodman, who plays James P. Sullivan in the movie, was
especially impressed by Crystal's improvisational talent.
"When Billy and I got together, the energy went through
the roof," Goodman said. "When Billy would take
off on one of his tangents, I'd just hang on for dear life."
Other actors worked alone, a noticeable difference between
animation and movie acting. Steve Buscemi, who plays the sinister
gecko-like Randall, liked being alone in the booth.
"The fact that you're playing a monster affords you the
liberty to go over the top and not worry how foolish you may
look...," Buscemi said.
The cast saw other subtle differences between animation and
previous work. In an animated film the actors record their
voices separately, in a "session." These sessions,
though only lasting three or four hours, can became tedious,
as Buscemi soon found out.
"Sometimes I'd leave the session more tired than had
I been acting all day," he said.
Crystal loved the process, though at times he found it frustrating.
The experience was different than a non-animated movie, Crystal
said. In a non-animated movie, the director can immediately
tell whether the scene needs to be redone.
But animated movies often redo the same scene, even if the
director thought the scene was initially done.
Despite any differences, everyone involved agreed on one thing:
It was a great experience. Pixar has had great success with
both "Toy Story" movies and "A Bug's Life,"
with the story and the technology.
As Crystal noted, "You're in the hands of the best people
who do this."
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