Brad Garrett on Ratatouille
former Everybody Loves Raymond co-star plays ghost in Pixar flick
Feb 9, 2007
(Source: movies.about.com)
Whether he's playing Roy Romano's long-suffering brother in TV's Everybody Loves Raymond or having Vin Diesel hand him his ass in The Pacifier, Brad Garrett is a reliable character actor. He's also no stranger to animation, having voiced Lobo in 2003's Justice League and the character of Bloat in Finding Nemo. Here are some excerpts from an interview by former Suite 101 writer Fred Topel, where Garrett talks about his character in Ratatouille.
Are you still recording Ratatouille?
“I am. I think we just finished. Now we’re recording the toys so I think we’re done but yeah, that’s coming out I think in the summer.”
Did that character change?
"A lot. It changed more than any other Pixar character but the writing is so amazing, it always writes up. Whenever there’s a rewrite from Pixar, it’s always that much… I mean, they’re writing is incredible. It’s funny and it’s heartfelt and it’s poignant, and they’re just a great studio to work with.”
What is your character?
“I play the owner of the French restaurant where the rats live, Rousseau, who is dead but lives like a ghost and kind of nicely haunts the restaurant. They liked that character so much they called me and they said, ‘Your character’s dead.’ I went, ‘Well, look, it happens. I appreciate the opportunity.’ They went, ‘No, no, no, you’re in it,’ because I’ve gotten a few calls, ‘You’re out.’ God knows I know what that’s like. It’s funny, rats living in a French restaurant who want to cook. They want to be chefs.”
Any talk of Finding Nemo 2?
“I haven’t heard a thing about that, no.” (Writer's note: Finding Nemo director Andrew Stanton is currently working on 2008's Wall-E and is also developing the recently announced John Carter of Mars, set for 2009)
Ratatouille comes out June 29, 2007.
