Kristin Chenoweth (AP)
She’s played Glinda the Good Witch on Broadway’s “Wicked,” but there’s something about playing a frog wrought in unrequited love that tickles Kristin Chenoweth’s fancy.
Some might remember her from TV’s quirky “Pushing Daisies,” where she played Olive Snook, a woman with a hopeless crush on the main protagonist, Ned; or even from her guest appearances on “Glee” as the somewhat unfortunate April. However, a turn as a pink, fabulous and, yes, poisonous animated amphibian is just something the Tony and Emmy award-winning singer/actress could not pass up.
“With the huge success of Blue Sky’s animation and the incredible world they’ve created in ‘Rio,’ I knew I wanted to be a part of ‘Rio 2’ right away,” Chenoweth says.
“Carlos Saldanha is directing the film, so I said: ‘I’m in,’” she says of the returning director. “I love Carlos to death. He is such a good director. It didn’t take much for me to say yes, because I love the idea of creating something new.”
In the upcoming animation, Chenoweth play a pink singing frog named Gabi, who falls in love with Nigel (Jermaine Clement), the white cockatoo that has and will continue to torment the lives of the rare Blue Macaw protagonists Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) and Jewel (Anne Hathaway).
Gabi, voiced by Kristin Chenoweth, the ‘pretty cute’ little pink frog that sings!
Chenoweth describes Gabi, the frog, as “very sad a lot of the time. She does not have many people in her life, or other animals, because she is poisonous and with one strike of her tongue she can kill you. So she stays away from people and things she cares about, because she is afraid she will kill them. Right there you have a great underdog.”
She knows a lot of women may be able to relate to Gabi “falling in love with someone who cannot return the affection.” She insists, however, that Nigel is much more than the bad guy, “especially to Gabi.”
As to the voice actor behind the great white cranky cockatoo, Chenoweth says, “The crazy thing is that I’ve still never met Jemaine Clement who plays Nigel. But when I meet him I just want to hug his neck and tell him how brilliant he is. He’s so funny and the characters have so much fun together!”
Another thrill for Chenowith making this animation is getting to sing in it. “I remember when ‘Toy Story 2’ came out, and I heard Sarah McLachlan sing ‘When Somebody Loved Me,’ my heart broke. It was the perfect moment. Music elevated and escalated the story.” Although when it was her turn in the studio, things got a little gruff, so to speak.
“The day I was recording ‘Poisonous Love,’ I wanted to be ready and rested,” she shares. “However, these animation people always have chips and chocolate and Coke around for us … all the things I love. Out of nervousness I found myself eating chocolate bars and I realized that, ‘Oh no I am going to have to sing now.’ For the first few takes my voice sounded like charred glass! I was so embarrassed, but it was a real joy to do this film. I loved it.”
The fans who loved “Rio” will love it, too, and surely, the sequel is sure to pick up more a few millions more along the way. Catch the wacky gang of bubbly birds – voiced by the likes of Andy Garcia, Jamie Foxx, Bruno Mars, Will.i.am, and many others – wreaking happy havoc in the Amazon rainforest when it opens on April 9.
EXCLUSIVE: Kristin Chenoweth: Pink and poisonous!
Source: Mb.com.ph (April 02, 2014 at 06:10PM)
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