Robin Williams
Interview: Robin Williams Talks Happy Feet
On the Latino Penguin Ramon: [in Spanish accent] “For me to be this tiny but very powerful Penguin is to know the Argentinian male and to say mas huevos which is a word in Spanish meaning eggs. Also means something else for those who speak Spanish. But I have to give him some machismo, small but powerful, and with penguins, as I say, size does not make a difference. And it's very important to have that type of joke this early in the morning. But I want to play this man to give heem the power. ‘Once again come closer, I want to talk to jou. And if I say Jou, I don't mean it like in a Mel Gibson way. I mean let me talk to YOU. But thank you. For me, I love to do this very much. Thank you. With a room full of Hispanic comedians it's very important.”
On the burning desire to sing “My Way” en espanol: “I have a burning desire and many of the people I have been with had to take medication. But it is the idea to sing ‘My Way!!!’ It is a very beautiful song to sing, especially behind another Penguin in kind of a Brokeback Mountain, I love you, I can't quit you kind of way. George [Miller] said, don't go there, but it's a subtext like the two gay penguins in the Manhattan Zoo. They were there for a long time, and then one got fed up. ‘I don't know who you are any more. I brought you pebbles and you just sit on them.’ But I wanted to sing that. It's fun to do, especially with that gypsy kings. It's a great thing.”
On playing many characters: “There was plans to do more but we'll have to wait and see. If they do Happy Feet on Ice. Doing the character as Barry White, we tried that, and ‘Oh, oh, sexy. Bring it good. I want you to get fluffy and down. C'mon, I'm going to ruffle your feathers and do it all right, in that cold Antarctic night. Yeah, girl, we're going to go South. Oh yeah. That's the penguin move that you want. Give you pebbles, yeah.’”
Robin Williams is Lovelace in Happy Feet
On the danger of all digital movies with digital voices: [in monotone computer voice] ‘It. Would. Have. A. Certain. Lack. Of. Character. It would be like an evening with Stephen Hawking. Oh. You. Know. You. Want. It. Won’t it be exciting? To. Be. Or. Not. To. Be. That. Is. The. Question. Computerized voices are the ones you also get when you call directory assistance. Yes, please, the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. ‘Did you say babalakapsheba?’ Artificial intelligence is there waiting for you. Just like my GPS in my car. I was on the Golden Gate Bridge. It said take a right turn. No can do. Take a right turn? Not possible. Those computerized voices tend to be slightly cold and indifferent.”
The serious messages of the movie: “Did I learn anything? The bottom line is some of the things I already knew about the nature of overfishing and environmentally, the one thing that isn’t in this movie but is actually happening is Antarctica is melting. Both North and South poles are turning into a pool, literally. There are large areas that don’t exist anymore. Initially, we were going to just go down and shoot plates but they thought about it and it was too late. Areas were disappearing. Areas the size of New Zealand and New Hampshire would melt which, if you’re living by the sea, you’ll notice. In ten to fifteen years, you’ll really notice. Also the idea of the industrial fishing effects everyone. Those factory ships play this game of hit and run with the international fishing limits and somebody said it’s like hunting squirrels with a bulldozer. They pull everything in and they are only looking for certain types of fish and everything else dies and they just throw it back. It’s like chumming. They just basically destroy and have just fished out large populations of fish throughout the world. If your population depends on that, you’ll find your food source rapidly depleting and it’s been done over a period of the last ten years and it’s mainly a few countries and you know who you are. This issue of controlling that as they push their way further North, it really screws up the entire food chain and we’re at it. That, combined with the issues of other creatures and their existence. The number of extinctions recently has dramatically increased. I knew that coming in but I learned more about it.”
Happy Feet opens to theatres this Friday, November 17th.
For trailers, stills, more interviews, posters and movie info, go to the Happy
Feet Movie Page.
Stay tuned for updates.
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