'Ice Age: Collision Course' Actors' Fan Encounters Are Not What You'd Expect
Just about every voice actor involved in the "Ice Age" films is a famous face. But are they a famous voice, especially among the animated film franchise's littlest fans?
Moviefone posed the question to several of the headliners of the fifth filmic installment, "Ice Age: Collision Course," with some surprising responses. Just what happens when parents bring their children up and introduce the actor as their animated role?
"It can go either way," laughs Ray Romano, who plays the mammoth Manny. "Because it could be confusing to the kid. They say, 'This is Manny!' and the kids are like, 'That's not Manny. It sounds like him ... What have you done with him?' Or it can be that joy that you see in their lives. So it's cool, either way."
"I think what's cool is parents are as excited as the kids," says Queen Latifah, who voices Manny's wife, Ellie. "So even if they have to really take their time and explain how this whole thing works to the kids, because the kids are like, 'Huh?' they get excited because their parents are, but they haven't quite connected what that means. It's nice to do something that parents love as much as the kids."
"It usually goes bad for me," admitted John Leguizamo, the voice of the sloth, Sid. "Because Sid is a cute character, and then they see me, and the kids are horrified. And I warn the dads. The dads are, 'Come on, show them the voice.' I go 'Dude, it's not going to go well. It's happened before. I do the voice and the kids get freaked out.' 'Come on, John. Come on. He's a little guy!' 'Okay, alright. [as Sid] 'Hi, little guy--' and the kid's like, 'Oh sh*t!'"
"They can't understand how that voice from this face goes into that little Sid," he laughs. "It doesn't work. It throws them off."
"It usually happens in airports," explains Wanda Sykes, the voice of Sid's grandmother, Granny. "'Oh, Wanda, my daughter loves [Granny], can you take a picture with her?' 'Sure.' The moment could end right there, right? Yeah, take the picture, but she has to say 'This is Granny.' And the little girl's looking at her like, 'This is Granny?' 'Say a Granny thing!' I'm like, 'Precious... Now I feel bad, like, 'Why did you do this...?''
"You're ruining the franchise for them," Leguizamo advises. "Just let them keep their fantasy intact!"
While the Paleolithic franchise is expected to continue to rule at the Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas" and this year's Easter special "Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade."
"I'm hoping that there will be a TV series in our future, but that remains to be seen," says Forte. "And I would love to do more shorts ... If there is any free time to get a short in there, I would definitely push for one. As far as who the shorts would be, I'd love Crash and Eddie to have a short. I'd love to spinoff something for the new characters. But that all is just in my mind at the moment."
"Ice Age: Collision Course" opens everywhere Friday, July 22nd.