Since the film takes place on another planet, I think the location was perfect.
I was very impressed.
There is just no way to get some of the jokes that were being told by reading them.
CL
I promise, if you listen to the conversation, you’ll be laughing as much as we were.
Finally, if you’d like to watch 10 movie clips fromPlanet 51,click here.
Q: Jessica, your character Neera is one hot alien.
How did you add your sultry sex appeal to this green girl?
Jessica: Do I have sultry sex appeal?
That’s what I was trying to do.
Justin: I’m guessing no.
Jessica: That would be the correct answer.
I never thought about that.
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Justin: It’s funny because they had originally cast Harvey Fierstein in Jess' role.
Q: When you saw the final product with the animation, did you see yourself in your character?
Jessica: I think I saw some physical things that I do myself.
It was so weird to hear my own voice.
My brother didn’t know that I was in the movie.
I don’t know why.
I’m sure he wasn’t stoned at all.
For me, I thought they captured me pretty accurately, from the waist down.
I was amazed at how close that was.
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Dwayne: I couldn’t believe it.
I was like, “Is that all you?”
Justin: They did take a mold of my body because the animator does this whole 3-D thing.
The process is fascinating.
But, yeah, it was pretty close.
I don’t know.
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I gesticulate a lot.
I constantly, usually very effeminately, [speak with my hands].
It was a nice freedom to have, in the room.
I could just wildly use my hands and body, and not be afraid of that.
Dwayne: It was the coolest thing, when I finally watched it.
It’s something that jumped out at me, which I thought was really cool.
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Justin: I found that you have to be bigger.
(Director) Jorge [Blanco] kept saying to do more and go bigger.
Q: Dwayne, how did doing something like this compare to the computer effect in The Mummy 3?
With that, it was Stephen Sommers saying, “Okay, and you have claws.
You’re trying to get Brendan Fraser.”
At the end of the day, the process was pretty fascinating.
I thought the challenge was pretty cool.
Q: Do you believe in the possibility of intelligent life on other planets?
Justin: I do.
Jessica: I do, too.
Dwayne: Me, too.
Jessica: There’s just so much space.
Justin: It would be arrogant to think that it’s just us.
It had a utopian sense to it, which I thought was really cool.
The writers and producers involved came up with a pretty cool concept.
My take away from it was just to be better and wanting to live better.
Jessica: What I took was the idea of a more innocent, conservative time.
I’ve always been interested in the ‘50’s and that feeling of being simpler.
For me, the idea with this movie is to be open to change.
In that sense, it’s timely.
There’s a little lesson embedded underneath all the cute, fun, green stuff.
Can you have more fun and flesh out your characters more?
Jessica: I think, in one sense, you really can.
you’re free to just be crazy.
you might talk with your hands, you might go really broad, you might take it really small.
Really, it’s your director who’s guiding you along because you’re not reacting to anything.
It was an ongoing process.
I hadn’t done animation before.
Q: Would you do it again?
Dwayne: Yeah, I’d do it again in a second.
Whether it’s a live-action movie or it’s animation, it comes down to the story.
Q: What did you think about this film being done by a Spanish studio?
Justin: They showed me some art, early on, that got me really excited.
Some of the illustrations they had done were just beautiful.
And then, throughout, they showed me little bits.
It was really beautiful.
And, you couple that with the fact that those guys are so incredibly passionate about this project.
Q: In this film, your voices sounded quite a bit different.
Did they ask you to change your pitch for the characters?
Jessica: My pitch was changed while we were actually doing it.
The whole time, Jorge asked me to go higher and higher.
That was very hard for me, at first.
Q: How is making a hard-core horror film different from doing family entertainment?
Jessica: It’s the extreme opposite, for me, at least.
Making The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was probably one of the hardest experiences for me, emotionally and creatively.
It was intense because it was at this high level of freak-out, for about a month.
It was just so not this world.
That kind of emotional strain was so different.
Planet 51 was just fun.
I wanted to do it because it was speaking to my inner child.
Yes, I want to be an alien.
Yes, I want to be green.
Justin: No, I don’t want to wear pants.
Jessica: Yes, I don’t want to have to go through hair and make-up.
I want to just go to work.
It’s your whole body, too.
It was my biggest fear, just being caught in a dishonest moment.
There’s nothing worse than bad horror.
With Drag Me to Hell, it was really Alison Lohman.
I was just the boyfriend.
But, I did a few other movies that were that level, and it was just grueling.
You go home every night, so drained emotionally.
Q: Did Sam Raimi give you any advice at all?
Q: This movie really captures that great retro, nostalgia vibe.
Do you have any favorite killer robot or alien invasion B-movies?
Jessica: I never really got into those.
Dwayne: Neither did I. I love the music in Planet 51.
The music was cool.
Justin: I love the old ‘50’s monster movies.
I used to watch those, when I was a kid.
And, I love The Twilight Zone.
Q: If you could live on Planet 51, would you?
Dwayne: I would.
I think it’s kinda cool.
It’s like back in the days when things were easier.
Jessica: It’s simpler.
Dwayne: It would be cool to visit and then come back.
I wouldn’t want to be imprisoned.
Q: How did you relate to your characters?
Justin: It’s a pretty easy answer for me.
Shockingly, I was a bit of a nerd in high school.
I was studious and a little socially awkward.
That was a more innocent time.
I had a very similar experience in high school.
I was just not as smart, though, sadly.
Lem is a lot brighter than me.
Dwayne: My character is incredibly arrogant and loves him some him.
I would say the parallels were maybe the fact that he was very entertaining and loved to entertain.
And, he’s a pretty decent guy.
I’m not this great guy.
As a matter of fact, you’re more of a man than I am.
I’m inspired by you."
I thought I had it going on.
I thought I knew everything.
I relate to her feeling of risk-taking.
I had a little bit more of a bad attitude, as a 16-year-old.
That’s where I really related to her.
There is an element of war-mongering and that jingo-istic quality.
I noticed that, for sure.
Q: This was the production company’s first animated movie.
Did you notice any nervousness at all?
Jessica: I don’t know.
I think they were a mix of different things.
They were so giddy with joy that we were almost there.
Dwayne: There was a big combination of that.
They paid a lot of attention to minutiae, which we all appreciated.
They were really excited.
Justin: Likewise, I heard about who was involved, and that was the big thrill.
That was the big draw.
Justin: Gary Oldman and John Cleese did voices.
That’s so cool.
Q: Dwayne, how excited was your daughter that you were involved with this?
Dwayne: It was interesting for her.
That was interesting to her, but nonetheless entertaining.
So, she was excited.
Dwayne: I’m not quite too sure about a Witch Mountain sequel.
Great success breeds a lot of things, including sequels.
The storyline was set up for a sequel, so we’ll see.
I’m not ruling it out.
I just can’t speak to it because I don’t know.
I haven’t spoken to any of the guys up at Disney about it.
Tooth Fairy is very funny.
I can’t wait.
It will be out in January.
And, I’m not quite too sure what’s happening with Jonny Quest.
Q: Will we see you in a tutu in Tooth Fairy?
Dwayne: You’ll see me in a lot of things in Tooth Fairy.
The cast is great, with Ashley Judd, Billy Crystal, Julie Andrews and the great Stephen Merchant.
Q: What do you like most about doing family movies?
That’s always enjoyable.
There’s always an important place for family movies.
They’re great guys.
From what I know, they are happy with the movie.
Q: How does that make you feel?
Q: Do you guys have any fear of the unknown?
Jessica: That’s a constant problem.
When am I going to work?
I don’t know.
That’s always there.
I try not to think about that too much, but it’s always a little bit there.
When will I work and can I pay my bills?
Is it going to be creatively interesting?
Q: Jessica, what can you say about The A-Team and playing Lt. Sosa?
Jessica: It’s going really, really well.
It’s been a complete blast.
It’s really fun.
That sounds kinda weird, but it’s the best to learn about that kind of thing.
The cast is wonderful.
Joe Carnahan, our director, is hitting the nail right on the head.
We’ve got a really interesting tone going on.
I think it’s going to be a lot of different things combined into this one movie.
But, there are a lot of throw-backs and a lot of paying homage to the original show.
We’re in the middle of it, so it’s hard to know.
I think it’s going really well.
Everyone says it’s looking really beautiful and the scenes are cutting together really well.
That’s pretty much all I can say.
I’m excited about it.
I think it’s going to be great.
