# What actors are REALLY responsible for the success of an animated film? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 28, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435 "2009-01-28T20:49:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435/21 "2009-01-29T06:11:30Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I think you forget how big (no pun intended) these guys were at the time. Tom Hanks was coming off back-to-back Best Actor Oscars; They cast Tom Hanks just after he completed shooting Philadelphia, so he wasn’t an Oscar winner at that time, though he was a double-winner by the time of its release. It was fortuitous that they got him when they did, as it was an added drawcard, even if star power wasn’t Pixar’s intent. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435/22 "2009-01-29T06:25:31Z")
> [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](#): > > Ellen Degeneres in “Finding Nemo” was perfection. This is the first one that came to mind for me- and I don’t even LIKE Ellen DeGeneres, as a rule. Didn’t matter. Her Dory was a unique creation. And it sure SEEMED as if the animators tried to make the fish’s mannerisms and expressions correspond with Ellen’s real ones. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435/23 "2009-01-29T08:42:15Z")
How does it work, anyway? Is the animation character first roughly drawn, then the voices added, then filled in as to animated lipsynching, facial expressions, etc? ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435/24 "2009-01-29T08:47:46Z")
> [@middleman](#): > > In another thread we were discussing Nicole Kidman’s box office success. **Someone offered her turn in Happy Feet as evidence of her ability to draw movie goers.** I did not. I offered her turn in **Happy Feet** to refute the claim that she’s only been in “bombs” the last several years. I never said or implied that she was responsible for the incredibly high box office numbers of **Happy Feet** and **The Golden Compass**. She wasn’t even the lead character of **The Golden Compass** , but it was brought up as a “bomb” that she did and I took issue with that, since it was a massive hit, as was **Happy Feet**. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435/25 "2009-01-29T09:53:26Z")
I think the one star in \*Happy Feet \*that made it a success was Savion Glover. As soon as I saw that penguin dance I knew it was him. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435/26 "2009-01-29T10:13:02Z")
> [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](#): > > Ellen Degeneres in “Finding Nemo” was perfection. Crap, I wanted to say that. But she was! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435/27 "2009-01-29T11:20:58Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > How does it work, anyway? Is the animation character first roughly drawn, then the voices added, then filled in as to animated lipsynching, facial expressions, etc? Sort of. Voices usually come first, as almost all timing has to be based around their dialogue, but as the animation progresses over the three or so years it’s in production, they keep bringing the actors back in to re-record or add new dialogue. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435/28 "2009-01-29T14:28:02Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I think you forget how big (no pun intended) these guys were at the time. Tom Hanks was coming off back-to-back Best Actor Oscars; and Tim Allen starred in one of the hottest shows on TV (for which he was nominated for an Emmy and won several People’s Choice awards). How big were they when they were selected for voice characters in _Toy Story_ and how big were they when they actually recorded their dialogue? Odesio ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435/29 "2009-01-29T15:05:05Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Sort of. Voices usually come first, as almost all timing has to be based around their dialogue,… Thanks. That method allows maximal freedom for the actor to interpret his lines. Incidentally, voice actors dubbing the movie in another language have an extra had time because of this. The more tailored the animation is, the harder it is to find lines in the target language that convey the same meaning in about the same length sentences with about the same mouth movements. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435/30 "2009-01-29T16:28:55Z")
I too am one of those who think that using celebrities as voiceovers is a distraction rather then an attraction. I like to lose myself in the story and not keep visualising the cartoon character as De Niro etc. I loved Shrek but Myers bizarre badly done Scots accent was really irritating. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435/31 "2009-01-29T16:33:15Z")
This was something that was discussed from the very earliest days of computer-animated movies. Remember when Dreamworks and Pixar seemed to have warring movies about similar themes released at the same time? Pixar did **A Bug’s Life** , Dreamworks did **Antz**. Pixar did **Monsters, Inc.** , Dreamworks did **Shrek**. Pixar did **Finding Nemo** , Dreamworks did **Shark Tale**. Got kinda silly. Anyway, it seemed like, when they promoted their movies, Pixar worked on selling the story and hiring people who, while famous, had voices that were just well-suited to the roles. The voice actors were hardly ever mentioned in the advertising, if at all. Dreamworks, by contrast, hired the biggest names they could and advertised their voice actors heavily. They constantly mentioned that Woody Allen, Sylvester Stallone, and Gene Hackman were in **Antz** , that Will Smith and Robert DeNiro were in **Shark Tale** , and so forth. It got pretty absurd, seeming like Dreamworks didn’t care about the story, only how many big-name actors they could cram into one movie. But, they’re still afloat and cranking out profitable movies, so I reckon the strategy paid off. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435/32 "2009-01-29T17:59:56Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Sort of. Voices usually come first, as almost all timing has to be based around their dialogue … . Except that storyboards come before voice recording. The whole movie is done as a series of rough sketches to work out shots and blocking. These are then cut together into a rough film called an animatic. Often the animatic includes a placeholder version of the dialog performed by the the animators themselves. The animatic is used to work out the timing of the scenes. THEN the real voice talent is brought in to record the real dialog. Finally the animators start producing the actual keyframes using the animatic and the dialog as their guides. That’s the Disney model at least. In anime it’s much more common to have the voice actors record their dialog AFTER a scene has been animated. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435/33 "2009-01-29T19:50:12Z")
In general actors are not paid just for their acting but for their PR abilities. Cameron Diaz can go on the Tonight Show and promote Shrek in a way that a no name who would have done a better job voice acting, could not. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435/34 "2009-01-29T20:14:54Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I think you forget how big (no pun intended) these guys were at the time. Tom Hanks was coming off back-to-back Best Actor Oscars; and Tim Allen starred in one of the hottest shows on TV (for which he was nominated for an Emmy and won several People’s Choice awards). My mistake on Tim Allen. I was looking at his IMDB entry, which listed _Home Improvement_ from when it ended in 1999, not when it began in '91, so I thought he’s done _Toy Story_ before he got the TV show. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435/35 "2009-01-29T20:15:16Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > In general actors are not paid just for their acting but for their PR abilities. Cameron Diaz can go on the Tonight Show and promote Shrek in a way that a no name who would have done a better job voice acting, could not. I cannot believe this never ocurred to me. I bet you’re exactly right and this is a HUGE reason they use celebrities. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435/36 "2009-01-29T20:29:38Z")
I remember reading an interview with Billy West, who’s one of the biggest voice-over actors right now, saying how he deplores what’s become of Hollywood animated films. How it’s no longer a character, it’s the actor, and directors, producers, etc… all make the characters to be certain actors and rarely consider getting actual talent to do it, since voice over talent is different than regular acting. Edit: [Found it.](http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/06/15/billy-west-the-tv-squad-interview/) (it’s like 3/4 of the way through the interview.) ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435/37 "2009-01-29T20:36:18Z")
> [@middleman](#): > > **Robin Williams in Aladdin**. \ His performance changed the genre and drew big cash (for the time). Big cash for the first time? Huh? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435/38 "2009-01-29T21:53:04Z")
> [@Pochacco](#): > > These are then cut together into a rough film called an animatic. Often the animatic includes a placeholder version of the dialog performed by the the animators themselves. The animatic is used to work out the timing of the scenes. I’m not sure if that’s true. It’s not really the timing of the scenes they’re after as the pacing of the movie, which is a different (though related) thing. It’s good for story editing, rather than shot-by-shot editing. If you listen to the placeholder track, the comic timing is usually horrible, and the performances quite dull (because they aren’t actors) which suggests to me that timing isn’t what they do it for. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435/39 "2009-01-29T22:09:43Z")
Storyboards/animatic are made to edit the movie as a whole, not necessarily individual scene timings. Instead of filming everything and editing it lateras in a live shoot, an animated film is “edited” before other work begins via the storyboard process. Once that and the script are finalized, then voice work is recorded. Actors may have already been cast, and previous character designs may be tweaked to better fit the voice. – The saga of Robin Williams vs. Disney regarding the Genie is an interesting tale. The best version of it is found within _DisneyWar_ by James B. Stewart. Williams didn’t want to be the star of the picture, and insisted marketing materials didn’t show the Genie too large (less than 30%, IIRC), but Jeffrey Katzenberg decided that his amazing performance was too much of a draw to downplay. Posters showing only the Genie were made. It was one of the few times Disney promoted an animated film with a voice actor’s name. Williams didn’t work with Disney again until Katzenberg left and the company apologized. Dan Castellaneta filled in on the Genie until Williams came back. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435/40 "2009-01-29T23:53:44Z")
> [@Pochacco](#): > > That’s the Disney model at least. In anime it’s much more common to have the voice actors record their dialog AFTER a scene has been animated. It’s not just the “Disney” model - it’s the model of virtually all animation _except_ anime. Even the best anime directors, like Miyazaki, insist on this ass-backwards way of doing things. But everyone else has learned to use a dope sheet and to animate to sound since “Steamboat Willy”. Maybe someday, the anime world will join the rest of us or at least move into the 20th century. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actors-are-really-responsible-for-the-success-of-an-animated-film/483435.md?page=3)