Affection for animation

For Bruckheimer’s latest film, a hilarious family comedy full of action and adventure, called G-Force, he once again dons an interesting character. This time, he plays another odd-man-out, voicing Agent Speckles, the lone mole in a squad of guinea pigs trained as a Special Ops team.

Excerpts from an interview:  
 
What was important for you to bring to the voice and the performance of Speckles?
It was important to create a new voice that was unrecognisable from my own vocal patterns that you may or may not be acquainted with. It was also important for me to go into an area that has a kind of zany intensity to it. To me, that’s what would make Speckles fun to play, and hopefully fun for the audience to watch.
 
So just what is G-Force?

They’re a group of highly trained guinea pigs, who are almost human in their intelligence levels and are used to help mankind. My character, Speckles, because of his poor eyesight, isn’t really able to get into the fray with them, but he is a team leader in that he orchestrates all the maneuvers on the computer screen and tells people where they need to go. He also has a fly that he works with, named Mooch, who acts as
reconnaissance.

Was there a favourite scene to voice?

It is the one where Speckles goes just bananas — it’s just sheer madness, which I find quite amusing. This star-nosed mole going completely berserk is hilarious to me, I’m not absolutely sure why.

So this marks your seventh collaboration with Jerry Bruckheimer. You must have a good working relationship.  I think we’re comfortable with each other. Jerry once said to me that he sees everything as an algebraic equation. He was quite good at algebra when he was in school, and he’s always looking for the ‘X’ factor.

And I think one of the reasons why he works with me is that my technique and approach are not exactly standard, so I think he feels that that supplies the ‘X’ factor. And conversely, I like working with Jerry because he hires me for my instincts and he trusts me to go in different directions. He also knows how to make movies that entertain people, which is also a priority for me.
 
What do you enjoy most about the animation experience? You’re also voicing another animated film, so obviously you have an affection for animation.

I remember what animation meant to me as a child, so I feel that the best usage of my abilities, as an actor, a voice, is to apply myself and try to make kids happy. I want to give them something they can look forward to, and give parents something to look forward to, as well.

In the climate that we’re in, in this day and age, I really want to entertain them all in some way. I remember how I felt as a small child watching television, waiting for the cartoons or Disney movies to come on. They came to represent a whole time in my life, and I have such great memories associated with them. So this is my way of continuing that experience for the children of the present and the future.