Animated films may be fun to watch, but behind the scenes they are long technical endeavors. The filmmakers probably have the most fun when they're talking about the finished product, because they finally get to see each other. Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines and director Kirk De Micco goffed off together about "Space Chimps ."
Samberg plays Ham III, the grandson of the first simian astronaut, Ham. NASA needs him to lead a mission through a vortex to see if life can survive the journey before any human astronauts try. With Luna (Hines) and Titan (Patrick Warburton) in tow, the space chimps have an adventure with aliens on the other side of the vortex.
Like most recent animated films, "Space Chimps" is full of jokes kids and parents will both get. Ham wisecracks like Sambergs' "Saturday Night Live" characters and science fiction fans will recognize homages to the great space movies of Hollywood.
Opening Friday, "Space Chimps" is an alternative to "The Dark Knight" and "Mamma Mia." Though the film is family friendly, maybe only the parents should read this interview. Samberg and Hines get a little blue.
Q: Andy, did your standup background help you in the recording studio, and did you ad lib and lines?
Andy Samberg: Well, Kirk was really cool about trying a lot of stuff for sure. We would always do what was on script first to make sure we had it, just so the story tracked and all that stuff. Then he'd be like, "All right, now whatever you got." Then we'd goof around and he'd pitch me stuff that I would try, so it was definitely a loose environment. I'd say yeah, standup and "SNL" and all the stuff I've done was helpful in that regard.
Q: Cheryl, did doing "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and all your improv training help you?
Cheryl Hines: Yeah, it did. I think when you're doing animation, it takes a great deal of imagination because you're just in this little booth by yourself with people watching you and you have to imagine that you're flying through the trees with aliens snapping at your butt. So it's helpful to have, for me anyway, to have an improv background where you're used to someone saying, "Okay, where are these two people? They're in a volcano about to be shot out." So you can sort of go there quickly. I found that to be helpful when we were recording this.
Q: Some actors complain that voice work is the hardest work they've ever done. Is animation really that tough or are the other actors babies?
CH: Maybe they didn’t have a fabulous director like we did. It's strange, because you feel like you're going a little bit insane after four hours of listening to your voice over and over. I mean, by the end of a recording session you're tired but you're not digging ditches, let's be honest.
AS: Yeah, I thought it was pretty easy honestly.
CH: It wasn't the hardest thing I've ever done, no.
AS: Yeah, it's generally what I'm doing at home anyway. There just happen to me mics rolling. I walk around the house making chimp noises and screaming, "Look out! It's headed right for us!" Stuff like that.
Q: Did you do any recording together or was it all by yourselves?
CH: Us alone recording in the studio. Once in a while I'd get to hear Andy's voice, I would get to hear other voices. That was fun.
AS: Right, sometimes they'll pump in the voices that were recorded so you can bounce off of how a line was recorded and stuff like that. That would be helpful.
KD: For some scenes we put Andy's voice into Cheryl's headphones so she could play off of it.
CH: I had his voice in my head. That'll make you a little crazy.
AS: And sometimes I would just call Cheryl on weekends and nighttimes and just say lines from the movie, just to keep her on her toes.
Q: Kirk, did you have actors in mind?
KD: We definitely did. The one thing that we got very lucky with is that we have people that are all writers and comedians. Stanley Tucci's a director and Patrick Warburton's done this a million times so they bring so much already to it that they can basically help directing the sessions with us and adding so much to it. The only thing would be if we consistently asked for a lot of takes, we never really know until we get back to the studio and we put them in front of the animators because some might sound a lot better than another which in the booth might've sounded great but the one that didn't is the one that sounds better to the animators and they can make more with it. So that's what we were really lucky to have.
Q: What are your thoughts on the space program these days? Do we still need it?
CH: Wow, that's loaded, man. There's no right answer here.
KD: You know I wrote and directed "Space Chimps."
AS: Absolutely. We've gotta get out there, you guys. Who knows what's coming for us?
KD: Actually, I think the idea of where our thing came from is these astronauts all have been replaced by these computers and these robots and these probes that go up which I think maybe that might be a better way to venture out but I still think it's rather, especially for kids looking up and something, it's like that kind of adventurer, explorer spirit kind of looking out. I think it's actually really interesting and fun.
CH: Well, it seems like we would have more information about who we are and where we fit into the universe if we knew more about the other planets and the atmosphere and what's really happening out there. It seems like an important part of the big picture if you ask me.
Q: You're opening against "The Dark Knight."
AS: Good luck, "Dark Knight."
Q: Do you think you can take a bite out of their box office?
AS: I mean, I don't wanna sound cocky but yes. Let me just put it this way, I don't know anyone that's excited to see "The Dark Knight."
CH: I will say this. My four year old daughter, not excited to see "Dark Knight," or "Mamma Mia," but can't wait to see "Space Chimps."
AS: Yeah, I rest on my case.
Q: Did you have to pull anything back for a PG rating?
KD: I don't think it had anything to do with the PG when it comes down to it. I think there are certainly more surrealistic and silly that we might understand or might be a little more reference to the genre which unless you've seen a lot of these movies, you probably wouldn't get. But it wasn't about the color or the blue of what we were doing comedy-wise.
Q: How long ago did you guys start this?
KD: I think we started a year ago February. February or something like that but it went back and forth as the characters developed and as we were building stuff, we'd have to keep on going back and forth and trying to build, especially as you're saying, because a lot of the stuff is with action, so what the balance is between their level of antagonism and comedy and poignance.
AS: We worked on poignance a lot.
Q: Andy, you've done "Laser Cats" and now "Space Chimps." What's the next sci-fi animal?
AS: I don't know but certainly there will be one. I definitely have a sci-fi fetish I guess. You can use the word fetish when referring to "Space Chimps," right?
Q: Did they show you your character on paper before you started?
AS: Yeah.
CH: Did we start recording first and then see it?
AS: I think I saw some stuff.
CH: Well, I guess you're more important.
AS: But I was already told that Cheryl Hines was involved in the project.
CH: They were waiting to unveil Luna. But it was fun because you would record, you'd have a recording session and then when I would come back, there would be sometimes just some still shots. Then sometimes after we were going for a while, they would show some of the scenes which was really fun because you could then start to imagine the world and understand what you're doing.
KD: But a lot of our animation would come after their banter was put together in the editorial with voices and then given to the animators to match up to what that was.
Q: Andy, have you had any ideas for this season of "SNL" yet?
AS: No, not yet. I'm sure it's going to be awesome though.
Q : Cheryl, have you been dealing with the paparazzi on your next film?
CH: Are you referring to Lindsay Lohan? My recent project right now. Well, I am shooting with Lindsay and it is very odd. The paparazzi, I find them to be very invasive. This just in. Hello. You probably don't know this about the paparazzi.
AS: You know who are the worst? Nazis. It's like what do they want?
CH: Yes, it's surprising. It's surprising that they just don't know boundaries and they don't respect filmmaking. There have been times when we've literally had to stop shooting so we could move the paparazzi out of the shot. It does seem like there should be something you can do about it. I don't know what that is but somebody somewhere should do something. You can write that too. But yeah, there's lots of security around. There've been a few fistfights. Hi. Let's just derail this press conference. Boy, on the other set there's lots goin' on. No, but they're mean to each other, the paparazzi. They turn on each other and it's very exciting to watch. But anyway, back to Space Chimps.
Q: Have you finished directing?
CH : If you're referring to "Serious Moonlight," a film that I just directed, we did. We're still in post production but we're winding it down. We are almost completely finished with it.
Q: When is it coming out?
CH: I don't know. That would be a question for our producer but hopefully soon. I'm very happy with the way it turned out. I'm very proud of it. It was a very life changing experience directing a film. Kirk would know. You put your heart and soul into it for so long, that's all you can think about. I mean, when I was directing Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton, I would literally at night dream about them and then wake up and work with them again, so did you dream about monkeys? Did you dream about these space monkeys?
KD: Yes, I've been mostly monkeys and bananas, in that order.
Q : Will you be back for "Curb Your Enthusiasm?"
CH: Well, interestingly enough, I read in the Hollywood Reporter yesterday that we are. And of course I immediately texted Larry David and I haven't heard from him yet. I think that we are but I don't know if anything's absolutely set in stone but it's looking good.
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