I had the pleasure to sit down and talk with Jason Bateman & Ginnifer Goodwin earlier this week and discuss their roles in the movie Disney’s Zootopia. Having seen the movie the night before I was excited to hear their take on the characters Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps.
Jason Bateman was pleasure to talk with, let me preface by saying I am a big fan of his. I have been following him since Silver Spoons. Arrested Development is one of my all time favorite shows. So getting a chance to meet up with him and talk about Zootopia was a real treat for me.
Both actors really played their parts well. It also seems as if these roles were created for them. Nick Wilde seem to take on the living embodiment of Jason Bateman, his character had many of the same mannerisms as Jason does and it was a delight to see Disney really bring that out on the big screen.
One of the questions I asked Jason was, had his girls seen the film yet, and if they liked seeing their daddy on the big screen? His oldest had seen the film already and gave the film high marks. This being one of the first leading roles in an animated film for Jason he is going wait till the youngest gets a little older before she sees it. Jason did stress that his oldest does not give away high marks so he really hard to earn it, but she really did love the film and loved her daddy’s part in it.
Everyone knows Ginnifer Goodwin is a HUGE Disney Addict. I actually asked her about that in our interview with her, one of the people in the interview with me asked Jason about his love of Disney and what kind of history does he have with the parks. Jason said he has been going to Disney since he moved to LA in the late 70’s. Like many people going to Disneyland it is an eye opening experience. So magical!
Being the first leading role in an animated film Jason talked about the recording process for his character. He talked about how challenging it is to record in a vacuum, especially when you don’t always have the interaction with the person in the scene with you. Many times the lines are already done and you have to work your lines in between. For many actors this is very challenging, especially from comedic actors who rely on physical comedy. Luckily Disney was able to take a lot of Jason’s body language and impart it into his character Nick Wilde.
It was such a pleasure to talk with Jason, how you see him in movies and in television is pretty much how he is in real life. Like I mentioned earlier Disney did a wonderful job bringing him to life in Zootopia. When you see the film see if you can pick that up too!
Next up we had the pleasure of talking with Ginnifer Goodwin via skype. Due to some previous obligations she was unable to come to Walt Disney World and meet with us. She was heartbroken being the Disney Addict she is, you couldn’t have asked for a more perfect couple of days in Florida.
During the interview Ginnifer was so humbled to play Judy Hopps in the animated Disney Movie Zootopia. Having played a few minor roles in Tinkerbell and Sofia the First this was a huge step up for the ABC’s Once Upon a time star.
One of the questions I asked her was if she has seen anyone wearing any Zootopia merchandise at the parks, or if she has seen her character at Disneyland? She was so excited to see Judy at Disneyland for an event a few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to see both Judy and Nick at an event in Disney’s Animal Kingdom the night before and the imagineers did an awesome job on their outfits (see above).
We then talked about if she is excited to see any Trick or Treaters coming to her house dressed up as Judy this Halloween? She was so funny as she didn’t think anyone would want to dress up as Judy, but having seen the film I imagine Judy is going to be one of the hottest costumes of the 2016 Halloween season!
Next I asked how she prepared for the role as Judy Hopps. She said most of the challenges came from just learning how to act with only her voice, more than it was about the character. She said it was just different… Working on “Legend of the Neverbeast” was kind of her boot camp. There’s something about not having your facial expression, and body language, a costume, props to which you can cling to express something.
Finally someone asked, “As a mom, what kind of message do you hope kids will take away from this movie?” She said there were so many lessons kids can learn. One of the overlying themes, the one that Judy articulates in the movie, anyone can be anything! She hopes her kids pick up on that when they’re old enough to see this film. I wholeheartedly agree with her, I hope my 2 girls can walk away with that valuable lesson.
It was so nice to meet and talk with Jason Bateman & Ginnifer Goodwin, both actors are so funny and are so humble to be involved with this wonderful Disney film. It was so nice of them to take some time out to talk with all of us at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. Stay tuned to my official review in the next day or so!
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