Original-Cin Q&A: My Father's Dragon's Jacob Tremblay on voicing animated films as his voice changes

By Bonnie Laufer

Canada’s own Jacob Tremblay is growing up, which makes the rest of us feel old. The actor, who made a huge impression on audiences at the age eight in the film Room, is busier than ever.

Coming up,  He voices Flounder, Ariel’s finny best friend in the new version of The Little Mermaid. And now you can hear him in the heartwarming new animated movie My Father’s Dragon, based on the best-selling children’s book, in which a girl narrates her father Elmer’s childhood adventures with a flying reptile named Boris.

Our Bonnie Laufer spoke to Jacob about working on the film and turning 16 years and getting his driver's license!

Elmer (voiced by Jacob Tremblay) and Elmer (Gaten Materrazo) bond in Netflix’s My Father’s Dragon

My Father’s Dragon is now streaming on Netflix.

ORIGINAL-CIN: Jacob, always great to see you. How are things going? You're a busy guy.

JACOB TREMBLAY: Yeah, pretty busy, mainly with school. But things are going great. I had a great summer.

O-C: I saw you went to Canada's Wonderland with your family!

TREMBLAY:  I did, It was so good.  We had such a great time we went twice!

O-C: Good stuff.  Your movie, My Father’s Dragon is so sweet.  I love that you’re doing a lot of voice work.  Do you find this kind of work more of a challenge. or is it easy-peasy because you're such a veteran?

TREMBLAY:   I would say that there's definitely easy parts. But then at the same time, there're hard parts. It's so different because it's always the same with live action. You can be on set and in wardrobe with other actors. And typically for animation, you don't necessarily have that.

Now 16-year-old Jacob Tremblay

But one of the great things about this animation process is how I was able to record with Gaten Materrazo (who voices Boris the dragon). That was fantastic and we got along so well.

He’s such a fantastic actor and he's so funny and so fun to work with. It really just helped me develop my career and there were moments it felt like I was working on a live-action movie and was on that island.

O-C:   My heart really went out to your character Elmer, because he puts on a brave face. He has his fears just like all of us,  so I wanted to know how you connected to him on a personal level?

TREMBLAY:  I think Elmer's easily the most ambitious character I've ever played, and I really connect to how he is definitely really scared. I get scared when I have to try new things and it's hard to find your confidence sometimes. 

The thing in this film is that Elmer  just hides it more than Gaten’s character, Boris. Boris and Elmer, they're terrified but Elmer kind of pushes that to the side. Boris actually teaches Elmer that it's important to really understand your emotions and to use them because they're what make you stronger.

O-C:  Why do you think Elmer and Boris connect?

TREMBLAY:   I think they connected because they’re so different.  Elmer really takes himself so seriously and it's important to sometimes let go and not take yourself so seriously. Remember to have fun or you don't have fun.

So, what I love most about Boris is that he reminds Elmer of that and  pushes him out of his comfort zone as well.

O-C:  What is it like for you Jacob to watch an animated film you’ve worked on and then, years later, hear your voice coming out of these animated characters.

TREMBLAY: Oh my goodness. That  always takes getting used to, watching and hearing my voice. I recorded My Father’s Dragon when I was 13 so my voice was completely different.

The same thing is going to happen with The Little Mermaid, so it's definitely really interesting now that my voice has completely changed.

I'm really glad that my voice was able to match the character when I had to do some re-recordings  because my voice has changed so much  in the span of one year. I think I must have been 14 when we did the re-recordings, and I had to kind of go into a higher octave. But I'm completely unable to do that anymore now.

O-C:  I cannot believe it because I've been interviewing you, since you were a very young boy. Now you are 16 and you have your driver's license! So, what is Jacob Tremblay like out on the roads in Vancouver? 

TREMBLAY: (Laughs)  He’s pretty good! He’s very careful, he shoulder checks. He signals and he obeys all of the laws and looks at the traffic signs. (Laughs)

But yeah, I mean, it's crazy to think how long it's been. I filmed Room when I was eight. And now that I'm 16, it means I am exactly half way through my life (in that movie). So, if you look at it that way, boy, I’m getting old!