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Hey, playing a dumb blob takes talent
Seth Rogen has a blast as a voice actor, in addition to other roles.
Seth Rogen voices the role of B.O.B. in the TV special "Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins From Outer Space."
Dreamworks
By RITA SHERROW World Television Editor
Published: 10/28/2009 2:23 AM
Last Modified: 10/28/2009 4:40 AM
For Seth Rogen, coming up with and playing the gelatinous blue B.O.B. in the animated film "Monsters vs. Aliens" was a breeze.
"It was a collaborative process" with directors Conrad Vernon and Rob Letterman, "trying to come up with the character," Rogen said in a recent teleconference. " Slowly we realized the joke was he had no brain and he was very stupid, and we kind of worked from there."
B.O.B. (aka Bicarbonate Ostylezene Benzoate) turned out to be the butt of most of the jokes in the film, and he's played the same way in the TV special "Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins From Outer Space," based on the film.
The Halloween special, airing Wednesday on NBC, sends Monsters, now working for the U.S. government as special ops, to Susan Murphy's hometown of Modesto, Calif., where an alien presence has been detected.
At first everything looks normal. The town is decorated with loads of carved pumpkins. But, when All Hallow's Eve arrives, the pumpkins reveals themselves as mutant aliens with an evil mission.
In case you missed the film, Susan, voiced by Reese Witherspoon, is a young woman who was hit by a meteorite a few minutes before her wedding and grew into a giant, hence, her name, Ginormica. Taken into custody by the government, she met a motley group of monsters and was called upon by the president to save the world from aliens. One of those monsters is B.O.B.
"I loved doing it," said Rogen, the 28-year-old actor. "One of the nice things about doing a voice movie is like there's much less pressure as you're actually doing it. So I think it allows you to kind of play around more. Like when you're on a live action movie set like the one I'm filming, there's hundreds of people around waiting, there's explosions that could be timed to go off, there's people doing dangerous stunts. There's a million things happening.
"So, like every time I improvise I'm aware that I could be ruining what it is that we're doing and we'll just have to do it again. But when you're doing an animated movie, there's just like five people in the booth listening to you and you have all day."
Rogen, who has voiced roles in the hit animated family films "Shrek" and "Kung Fu Panda," is famous for his decidedly adolescent sense of humor. His resume as a writer includes "Pineapple Express" and "Superbad" — he was an executive producer of "Funny People," "Knocked Up" and "The 40-Year-old Virgin."
At the moment, he's a triple threat — diving into the Superhero category as writer, executive producer and star of "The Green Hornet." The production also stars Cameron Diaz (as Lenore Case), Edward Furlong (as Tupper), and Edward James Olmos (as Michael Axford). The film is currently in production.
As a kid growing up in Vancouver, Canada, he said he liked the Disney cartoons but not so much "Aladdin" and "Little Mermaid" because they were "a little more female-skewed" with all the "love stories and stuff."
"But I watched 'The Simpsons' a lot. I watched a lot of television cartoons that were funny. I watched Saturday morning cartoons so that was more of the type of animation back then that I really liked And, now, I wish I was a kid now. Luckily, I'm barely smarter than one so it all pans out in the end."
He was also a fan of "The Simpsons" Halloween specials plus any TGIF sitcom that had a Halloween-themed episode growing up "because I was a nerd and had nothing to do on Friday nights."
Rogen's comedy career started with standup at age 13 with help from his mother.
"She would drive me to all the shows and not be upset when I had to miss school the next day because I was out late. They (his parents) were very supportive of it."
While he's not into the idea of aliens, monsters are another story.
Monsters, yes, "oddly enough," he quipped, "I think they're under my bed. But aliens are ridiculous. Monsters, I think, are completely real though."
Oh, and don't expect him to dress up for the holiday.
"I have a girlfriend now and I've entered the unfortunate world of paired costuming," said Rogen. "I don't recommend it. I always end up being the lamer half — like she's a dog and I'm the fire hydrant or something like that. It's never fun. So maybe I'm dodging a bullet this year."
Censoring Seth
Somewhere down the road of
life, in the hypothetical world of
Seth Rogen becoming a father
(“I’m giving myself a vasectomy
right now”), don’t expect him
to create animated films toned
down for the
wee ones.
“I don’t
think Seth
Rogen needs
toning
down for
families, to
be perfectly
honest. I
mean, I think
that, personally,
people’s
censorship
issues are personal but I disagree
with most of the personal
choices I see others make.
“You know, I watch television
and there’s a grotesque
amount of violence on almost
every show that would watch
that comes on past 8 p.m. And,
I think my dirty brand of humor
is far less destructive to a child’s
mentality.
“So, honestly, a few dirty jokes
— to me, kids can handle that.”
MONSTERS VS. ALIENS: MUTANT PUMPKINS FROM OUTER SPACE
When: 7 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday
Where: NBC, channel 2, cable channel
9
Rita Sherrow 581-8360
rita.sherrow@tulsaworld.com
By RITA SHERROW World Television Editor
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