By Fred Topel | Image property of Columbia Pictures.
Martin Lawrence (the bear) in Open Season
Open Season is Martin Lawrence’s first foray into voice acting work, the most lucrative job of stars lending their persona to children’s films for a few days of work. Lawrence took the role of a hired hand.
Martin Lawrence Talks Open Season Acting
“I like the fact that directors are like coaches,” he said. “They draw up the play and this is what you run. I like that guidance, because I am in unfamiliar territory. For me to act like I know exactly like I was doing, and could just adlib anything and whatever, I didn’t want to take that approach. I wanted to trust in my partners and the directors and producers and do the best I can to deliver what I could deliver.”
Actually, Lawrence treats directors the same way on all his films. “I respect the directors. I know their work is hard. So I try and trust them. It’s like Phil Jackson and the Lakers, you have to trust him just as he has to trust you in order to get the chemistry and results that you are looking for. So I never get combative with them.”
Working with only one of his tools, his voice, made Lawrence a little nervous, so he relied on the filmmakers to keep him calm. “I remember having fun and I remember days I was very tired and I don’t remember [how] to get the voice to the character and all that. And every time I came in they calmed down and they were very soothing and they did everything they could to get me back on track. It was just a smooth experience each time out.”
So professional was his approach to the material, that he felt the directors could have gotten equal performance from any actor in his part. “Different group of actors, I think everyone would have brought what they would have brought to it. When I look at the production team from the directors to the producers I think they could have done it easily with a different group of actors and had the same amount of success. It was just very smart on how they went about this movie.”
Even if they switched Lawrence with Ashton Kutcher, who plays Elliot the deer. “I could have done whatever was offered to me as long as they were explaining to me what I needed to be, what I needed to do, what I needed to say. I could have done it.”
Open Season opens to theatres this Friday, September 29th.
For the trailers, clips, posters, movie stills and movie info, head over to the Open
Season Movie Page.
Martin Lawrence (the bear) in Open Season
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