(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Its hard to believe that The Book of Life is your first real lead role in animation.
When it came to casting the new fantasy-adventure The Book of Life director Jorge Gutierrez and producer Guillermo del Toro knew they would need a specific voice for the role of the town hero Joaquin. As the male counterpoint to the soulful Manolo (voiced by Diego Luna) he is both the best friend and romantic rival for the heart of Maria (voiced by Zoë Saldana). The two roles not only put a new spin to the classic “Prince Charming” type they also represent the two sides of what it is to be a hero: the poet and the muscle. Channing Tatum plays Joaquin in The Book of Life and recently spoke about his role.
It’s hard to believe that The Book of Life is your first real lead role in animation.
It was fun! I’ve been wanting to do it for a while but the opportunity never came up. I heard the story as to why Jorge wanted to make the movie. I signed up like that. It’s just so personal to him you know It’s his story to tell but I was pretty honoured to be a part of it.
What did you want to bring to this role of the dashing and heroic Joaquin
Jorge was just like “There is no wrong here. You literally cannot go wrong. Let’s just play.” It was always just a really fluid and malleable story process. I think the pressure was really taken off the actors specifically. It is up to the storytellers and animators. So you just kind of go in and they tell you what the situation is and then you do what they’ve written and then you play.
What was the process like for you in finding your “voice” as Joaquin
I didn’t have anything specific in my head that I was going for. I had to say certain Spanish words like the name of the town. You want a uniform pronunciation. You want everyone to be saying it the same way so there were certain things like how you would say ‘Maria’. You want it to all feel like it is of the same world. But it’s really all just trial and error. I was having so much fun. You can really get wrapped up in listening to Diego Luna’s voice. I love his accent. It was a really safe environment so you can laugh if you’ve completely screwed something up. Jorge’s obviously on top of it you know
Has becoming a new father played a role in selecting the projects you want to take on as an actor
I’ve got a lot of explaining to do with my daughter eventually... a lot of explaining. But I think just as every parent gets into those shoes you start to realise that you want something for them to be able to watch before they’re fifteen years old. I definitely didn’t do The Book of Life just for my daughter. I really did it because I loved the story and everything that it touches on. I’d always known about the Mexican Day of the Dead and the general emphasis of it. I didn’t know the finer points and the beauty in it. It was just really cool art to me. I probably didn’t even have the real definition of what the day means until I spoke to Jorge.
A key theme in The Book of Life is how we should all write our own story. If you review your life’s narrative what part are you most proud of to date
I think there’s always more to write. I’m really proud of the story that I’ve written so far. We have to live to the highest extent. Don’t ever be afraid to make a choice because you can always make another one. I think I’ve done a lot in my life. I can definitely say that I’ve made not wrong turns but turns where I’ve been like “Alright I don’t want to do this anymore.” You go on and you learn from every single thing you’ve done in your life. I think that’s reminiscent of our characters in the story. They’re all so alive and they’re all not perfect. They all have a sort of an inner song their dream or want. You’ve got to just keep moving towards those dreams.
You’ve played your share of romantic leads. So in a perfect world who should win Maria’s heart in The Book of Life Joaquin the hero or Manolo the poet
I think Maria’s heart always belonged to Manolo. Joaquin is living in a fantasy world but that’s kind of the way it works though huh Man I don’t know.
Photo: AFP
Text: Supplied