Fred Willard to Star in Pixar’s Wall-E
Alright, I’ll admit it… I’m starting to get a bit more intrigued about Pixar’s next animated feature, Wall-E, due to hit theatres next June. For a while now, we haven’t heard any announcements regarding voice actors — which, it turns out, is simply because there aren’t many voices in the movie! A large majority of the film is silent, with robots communicating through various beeps and noises instead. However, we now know there are at least two human voices that will be heard during the flick. One is provided by Jeff Garlin (Curb Your Enthusiasm), who plays the captain of a starship that houses most of the human population. The other, according to Rotten Tomatoes, will be comedian and frequent Christopher Guest collaborator Fred Willard! Willard will apparently be setting a milestone of sorts for Pixar Animation Studios, as he will actually be the first actor to not only provide voice, but also a physical presence on screen as well.
“I’m going to be the first live character in a Pixar movie. I appear on a TV monitor but I’m more than a voice… I play the CEO of a huge corporation who by the time the movie takes place practically owns everything in the world. It’s kind of a take off on Wal-Mart. It’s called Buy and Large.” So there you have it. Fred Willard is one hilarious dude, and his involvement can only be a good thing in my opinion. I just hope the live action integration doesn’t end up looking like the Spy Kids 3D movie or something! On a more serious note, what do people think about the film being primarily silent? Could it be a bad move, or is it yet another example of Pixar innovation?
Comments (4)
Well Spirit was largely a silent movie wasn’t it? Did anybody see that?
I don’t have a huge knowledge of Fred Willard, but he was funny in Anchorman.
I’m glad they’re spoofing Wal-Mart as well. That’s clever.
Posted by Henrik on October 30th, 2007Considering that John Ratzenberger has a voice role in every other Pixar film, I’m assuming he’ll be in this one as well. I’m curious about the film being primarily silent and having a live-action person in it, but Pixar has still yet to give me a reason not to trust them, so for now I ain’t complaining.
Posted by Rian on October 30th, 2007I’m really excited that it’s going to be primarily silent. Finally someone in Western animation is challenging the damn audience.
Posted by Derek on October 31st, 2007Yeah like Dreamsworks animation did back in 2002.
Posted by Henrik on October 31st, 2007Leave a Reply