If you’ve been lost in the open ocean, you might not realize that FINDING DORY is now playing in theaters everywhere! It topped the box office this past weekend, and there’s no wonder why… it’s a long awaited sequel, and my family loved it just as much as forgetful fish lovers did, too.
In FINDING DORY, Dory’s father, Charlie, is played by Eugene Levy, whom I had the opportunity to interview while in Los Angeles for the Finding Dory premiere!
Eugene Levy started by saying he received a phone call, asking him to be in the sequel. “I got a phone call and it was a lovely call. Asking me if I wanted to be a part of it. Of course I said yes. I kind of jumped at it. Didn’t take too much thinking to be involved in the sequel to Finding Nemo so it was lovely.” He was quick to mention that he has played a father figure before, though this one was a little different.
He then explained that while most of his parts were recorded by himself, Levy did have an opportunity to do a joint recording session with Diane Keaton (who plays Dory’s mother in the film). The session did have to be done via cameras since they were in two different cities. Levy said, “I did have one session that I worked with Diane and we were in two different cities. I was in Toronto. She was in Los Angeles and they hooked up cameras so that I could see her on a monitor in my studio and she could see me on a monitor in her studio and we were able to do the scene together which doesn’t happen a lot when you’re doing these things because mostly you’re working by yourself. It’s quite lonely actually. But that was fun and the great thing too was when I was working with Diane was that I was kind of mesmerized by just watching her on the monitor working even though I was doing a scene with her. I was very aware that it was Diane Keaton behind the mic and I’m just fascinated, just watching the way she was working behind the microphone and then I’d have to go oh, yeah, I’ve got a line here!” he laughed.
Levy reflected on how much he admires his friends who have children with autism and other disabilities. He commended the amount of patience and energy that it can take to get through the day. He said, “What happens in the movie is Dory gets lost and is gone and is unlike any other fish. She will not remember what she was supposed to do and what’s gonna happen and that’s something a parent has to live with in this case. I mean any parent of a child with any kind of impairment goes through things that normal parents don’t necessarily have to deal with on a day to day.” And I agree. When watching the film, you’ll see how Dory’s parents use different techniques to help Dory function and lead her in the right direction. Levy went on to say, “You have all these emotions kind of snowballing through the movie and you’re kind of laughing and crying and feeling and touching and it’s great. It really is.”
After some thought, Eugene Levy told us his favorite character in FINDING DORY would have to be little Dory. (She is adorable!) Levy said, “When I first heard that voice I honestly I got so emotional. The first time I heard the voice I almost burst out crying. I’ve never heard anything so sweet in all my life. I said where did you get this voice?” Come to find out, baby Dory is voiced by Producer Lindsey Collins’ daughter, who originally only came in to do a guide track for the animators. She was cast permanently because everyone loved her voice so much. And I think she was the perfect fit. “So yeah but great characters. I think Marlin is a really interesting, funny character. Always great listening to Dory. Ellen doing such a great job on Dory and she had a lot to do too I mean a lot of lines, a lot of words, a lot of kind of scattered kind of sentences that are put together in such a funny, very funny way. I thought the cast was great and strong and just really honored to be, honored to be part of it.”
FINDING DORY is playing in theaters everywhere.
Leave a Reply