CEBU, Philippines - Aside from the latest technologies that Walt Disney Pictures’ “G-Force” employs to take the film to the next level, producer Jerry Bruckheimer says there’s another aspect of the film that really makes the four-legged G-Force work. “It’s the humans who bring these animals and their world fully alive,” says Bruckheimer.
Nicolas Cage (“Knowing,” “National Treasure”), a lifelong fan of animation, provides the voice of Speckles, the blind and brilliant, star-nosed mole.
A recent No. 1 hit in the U.S., “G-Force” is a comedy adventure about the latest evolution of a covert government program to train animals to work in espionage. Armed with the latest high-tech spy equipment, these highly trained guinea pigs discover that the fate of the world is in their paws.
Tapped for the G-Force are guinea pigs Darwin (voice of Sam Rockwell), the squad leader determined to succeed at all costs; Blaster (voice of Tracy Morgan), an outrageous weapons expert with tons of attitude and a love for all things extreme; and Juarez (voice of Penelope Cruz), a sexy martial arts pro; plus the literal fly-on-the-wall reconnaissance expert, Mooch, and a star-nosed mole, Speckles, the computer and information specialist.
“G-Force” was to be Cage’s sixth collaboration with Bruckheimer (with “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” soon to follow as the seventh), but one unlike any of the others. “Jerry showed me pictures of the ‘G-Force’ characters and said I could play any role I wanted,” says Cage. “When I saw Speckles, something about it got to me, and I thought I could do something interesting with the voice. It was important to me to create a new voice that was unrecognizable from my own vocal patterns. It was also important to me to go into an area that had kind of a zany intensity. To me, that’s what would make Speckles fun to play, and hopefully fun for the audience.
“One of my favorite actors, believe it or not, is Mel Blanc,” continues Cage, referring to the great vocal talent behind Warner Bros. cartoon characters Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam. “He was a marvelous character actor. We knew him only from his voices, so I thought it would be fun to create a whole new voice for this marvelous looking little mole in ‘G-Force.’
“What was also important for me was to create a new voice that was unrecognizable from my own vocal patterns that you may or may not be acquainted with,” adds Cage. “It was also important for me to go into an area that has a kind of zany intensity to it. To me, that’s what would make Speckles fun to play, and hopefully fun for the audience to watch.”
Opening soon across the Philippines, “G-Force” is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International.