Jeff Garlin on WALL-E
Curb Your Enthusiasm Star Talks About Working on Upcoming Pixar Film
Sep 6, 2007
A couple of weeks back, I noted that comedian Jeff Garlin (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development) had joined the voice cast for Disney/Pixar’s upcoming animated flick WALL-E. This movie is the Emeryville studio’s follow-up to this year’s Ratatouille, and the first film Andrew Stanton has directed since his 2003 blockbuster Finding Nemo.
This movie is also generating quite the buzz among movie fans since the first one-third of this flick will feature almost no dialogue. None whatsoever. This makes WALL-E the first comedy since Mel Brooks’ live-action Silent Movie to dump the dialogue, and the first wide-release animated feature film since . . . narp, this is pretty much the first one.
In a wide-ranging interview, Moviehole convinced Garlin to open up about his character in the flick (called The Captain) and what it was like working with veteran Pixar director Andrew Stanton. Parts of this interview that are of interest to animation fans are reprinted below.
I’m sure audiences are particularly excited about the fact that you’re in this highly anticipated WALL-E.
“I recorded a lot of it already. I’ve got more stuff to do. But I can tell you … what can I tell you about it? It’s sort of like a – well if I could compare it to anything I’d say if Buster Keaton made an outer space cartoon … that’s what the movie is. It’s like a science fiction Buster Keaton kind of movie.”
How are you at doing voice work and how …
“The voice I do in this movie is my own voice.”
And you play the Captain ….
“I play the Captain and it’s pretty much my own voice. And the character looks a lot like me. Made it – in the movie I’m the only animated character that speaks.”
Because a lot of the film is silent right?
“Yeah, a lot of the film is silent and (most of the characters are) robots so they make noises and such and there’s sound but I’m one of the only characters that speak – not one of them – I am the only animated character that speaks. There’s another character but I can’t talk about it (Writer’s Note: that character Garlin’s talking about is comedian Fred Willard, who plays the CEO of the bungling BuyNLarge Corporation. I learned this somewhere else, so don’t penalize Garlin, Pixar!). But I’m the only animated character that speaks.”
What was it like working with Andrew Stanton?
“I have to say, just like working with Larry David or Eddie Murphy, I put him in that class. He’s really special, he’s pretty – I guess the term would be ‘immensely talented’.”
You can check out the rest of the interview over here. WALL-E rolls into theatres on June 27, 2008.
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