Original-Cin Q&A: Chicken Run 2's Hero Zachary Levi Won't Give Up Eating Chicken
It’s been 20 years, but as they say, patience is a virtue.
We finally have a sequel to the classic Aardman Animations movie Chicken Run!
In Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, Ginger (who in the last film, escaped Tweedy’s farm) has finally found her dream – a peaceful island sanctuary for the whole flock, far from the dangers of the human world.
When she and Rocky hatch a little girl called Molly (Bella Ramsey), Ginger (voiced by Thandiwe Newton)’s happy ending seems complete. But back on the mainland the whole of chicken-kind faces a new and terrible threat. For Ginger and her team, there is only one choice and that’s to break back in, even if it means putting their own hard-won freedom at risk!
Zachary Levi (Shazam!) takes over the voice role of Rocky, who was previously voiced by Mel Gibson in the first movie 23 years ago.
Our Bonnie Laufer spoke with Zachary about finding his inner rooster.
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget will premiere THIS Friday (December 15) on Netflix!
Click HERE to watch Bonnie’s interview with director Sam Fell.
ORIGINAL-CIN: You have taken over the voice of Rocky from Mel Gibson who voiced him in the first movie. How difficult was it for you to get into the mindset of a Rooster?
ZACHARY LEVI: Oddly it was very natural for me. I don't know why, maybe it's a past life. Aardman is such an incredible studio and the writing was so great it was honestly all on the page. I didn't have to dig to figure out where Rocky was at in this movie. It's very evident.
I loved the first movie and Mel did such a great job but I wanted to bring a little of myself to Rocky. Rocky’s a dad now, and he's a big softy and all of the things that come with that. It was just about leaning into that and bringing that heart to the character.
Then the adventure that ensues is hilarious. He doesn’t think twice, he’s a dad and he’s going to sacrifice his life because his daughter is in danger. All of those things were right there on the page, and it was fun to bring them to life.
O-C: He's like Tom Cruise on a mission. It’s Chicken Impossible!
LEVI: That's right. That's exactly right.
O-C: As I was listening to this voice cast, it dawned on me that you are the only American! Do you think that brought different sensibilities to the character in terms of the humor?
LEVI: Yeah, I think so. Not that there's some Venn diagram between British and American humor. We share a lot of kinds of bits in the middle, but there are things that are kind of uniquely English and uniquely American in our comedy stylings. It was really cool getting to represent our country in the film, but also surrounded by so much incredible talent.
Adding Bella Ramsey, Thandie Newton and having pretty much all of the original cast members coming back and reprising their roles was amazing. For me, being such a massive fan of the first one, that was so cool even though I have yet to meet any of them because you don't ever get to record with anyone. But it was really fun. It was really fun to get to do that. Also Sam Fell, the director, absolutely allowed me to improvise and bring little bits and bobs to it and I'm sure there are some of those improvisations that feel uniquely American in their tone as opposed to British.
O-C: You've done a lot of voice work over the years, do you still get a little freaked out when you watch something and you hear your voice coming out of these characters? By the way, Rocky has some great dance moves, his funky chicken is spot on!
LEVI: He does a great funky chicken if I do say so myself. His moves are based on my own. (laughs) It’s fun to hear my voice cone out of these characters. Every once in a while, I think there's these funny little moments that are very surreal, where I'm somewhere like at a friend's house and they happen to have Tangled on for their kids. I'll stop and I'll stand there watching their kids delighted by and I'll just kind of be like, Wow, that is strange! or More often than not, I'm reminded of it because I get texts from my friends. They'll say they've been listening to my voice for the last two weeks because their kids won't stop watching. I reply, with your welcome.
It's kind of a funny thing that my voice lives on in people's lives and people's minds even more than my face. It’s trippy and weird, but I'll take it!
O-C: So I have to know, do you feel any differently about chicken after making this film?
LEVI: Nope, bring on the chicken. I’m not giving up my chicken.
O-C; Well, as they say in the film, a happy chicken is a tasty chicken!
LEVI: That's right. So let's make them happy and then we'll eat them.