‘Despicable Me 4’ brings together heavy hitters like Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Miranda Cosgrove and Joey King. Watch CinemaBlend’s Jeff McCobb sit down with this cast to discuss the special “comedy math” of Illumination’s success, the one Illumination animator who’s phoning it in, and some special “Superfan Trivia” about Will Ferrell and Steve Carell’s run together on ‘The Office.’
00:01Everybody is doing their very best work all the time,
00:05and that's inspiring.
00:06There is one.
00:07I mean, how many animators do they use on these?
00:09Probably three, hundreds.
00:10Hundreds.
00:11There's one guy.
00:12One guy.
00:13I know who's phoning it.
00:14Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:15But I'm not going to say his name.
00:16I know, though.
00:17I won't say it either because we're mic'd.
00:19But the rest.
00:20Yeah.
00:20299 out of 3 is pretty good.
00:30It's kind of a pure sense of humor, right?
00:32That reminds me of, like, Airplane.
00:34Yes, I totally agree with you, actually.
00:37Like, it's punny.
00:38I didn't think about it like that, but I totally agree.
00:39There's also a rapid-fire joke aspect that also Airplane has,
00:43which is, like, every moment is filled with something funny.
00:46It never gets tiring, and it's also clever, unique,
00:49very different from the last joke, niche.
00:51I just think they've got the equation down.
00:55Of course he loves you.
00:56He just doesn't show it on his face.
00:59Or with his body language.
01:01I feel like the way the animation looks is really kind of unique and special, too.
01:04And the music adds so much with what Pharrell does.
01:07You know, it reminded me, there were segments, there were sequences of this
01:15that reminded me of Looney Tunes, of the old, the Warner Brothers cartoons.
01:20Slapstick.
01:21Slapstick, like Roadrunner, these Bugs Bunny, they, impeccable timing.
01:28And there are some chase scenes that the scene with the honey badger, to me, is just so funny.
01:36The scene where Kristen's character is being chased through the streets of this town.
01:41And in the supermarket, yeah.
01:42It just, and through the supermarket.
01:43Get back here!
01:45Again, like, the timing of, yeah, it made me laugh, too.
01:51And it's weird, you know, you read it, and you spend all this time working on it, and then you actually see it, and it's infinitely better.
01:58Yeah, the construction of those sequences, like from a comedy math perspective, is kind of insane, because you watch it, you're enjoying it, but then I check out going, I couldn't have thought of all that.
02:10No!
02:11Yeah.
02:12One of the fun things about being a part of the movies is just that it's kind of a surprise getting to go to the premiere or see it for the first time.
02:17Because even though you go in and you kind of know what your role is, like, seeing it all come together for the first time is really exciting.
02:23Yeah, there was, like, a moment that, like, like, my character did something funny, but, like, I wasn't, there was, I wasn't making any noises in that scene, so I didn't need to know about it or come in for it.
02:33And then I watched the movie and I was like, that's hilarious.
02:36I, like, didn't even know about it.
02:37You're, like, I'm hilarious.
02:38Like, what happened?
02:39I'm like, darn, I'm good!
02:41It's always better than you imagine it will be.
02:44And the animators are so talented.
02:48There's one shot of, like, a reflection in somebody's eyeball and it's a close-up.
02:54And I think how, how do they, it's painstaking.
02:58They take the time.
02:59Nobody's phoning this in.
03:00Everybody is doing their very best work all the time.
03:05And that's inspiring.
03:06There is one.
03:07I mean, how many animators do they use on these?
03:09Probably three.
03:10Hundreds.
03:11Hundreds.
03:12There's one guy.
03:13I know who's funny.
03:14Who's funny.
03:15Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:16But I'm not gonna say his name.
03:17I know, though.
03:18I won't say it either because we're mic'd.
03:19But they're best.
03:20Yeah.
03:21$2.99 out of three is pretty good.
03:22Were you guys in the booth together?
03:23Did you get to, like...
03:24No, I don't think anyone really recorded, like, together.
03:26Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:27We just met a couple weeks ago.
03:28For real?
03:29Yeah.
03:30What was that meet you like?
03:31I was really excited to meet you.
03:32Yeah.
03:33What can we say?
03:36What about Will and Steve?
03:38Did you spend any time with them prior?
03:39I mean, she's been in all these moods before.
03:41Right, right.
03:42But I never met Will before.
03:43Like, I think we both met him yesterday at the premiere.
03:45Yeah.
03:46So that was really exciting.
03:47That was cool.
03:48That was cool.
03:49He's just so...
03:50He's so funny.
03:51He's so good at it.
03:52He's so funny.
03:53Did you pull it out rapidly?
03:54Yes!
03:55Yes!
03:56Very rapidly!
03:57He's like...
03:58I mean, obviously.
03:59I mean, that's like saying, like, butter's good on bread.
04:01Like...
04:02I don't know.
04:03Yeah, it's...
04:04It's...
04:05It's quiet!
04:06It's easy!
04:07No, we're just gonna end on the bread comment though.
04:09Okay!
04:10That was perfect.
04:11Usually they stop after three.
04:12There's a whole trilogy thing.
04:13But I think this is one of the better ones.
04:14So where do you think we're going from here?
04:15There's not, like, 20 of these.
04:16I'm so in.
04:17Yeah.
04:18In Elimination, personally.
04:19I think these movies just like, they hit so good.
04:35Like, everyone who watches them loves them.
04:37They're iconic.
04:38It's like the biggest animation franchise ever.
04:42I just hope they keep going for years and years to come.
04:44to come so they make me laugh so much i hope i'm like 60 and i'm still playing margo and she's
04:49still somehow 13. yeah just never ages would you still be doing i carly at 60 as well probably not
04:57but i don't know where i'm going with this i just finished binging the office super fan episodes i
05:13just love the fact that you guys are working together still it's just easy to work with will
05:17keys i i i have complete faith and respect and likewise yeah but you know what's interesting
05:25about that little super fan trivia here i knew it was steve's last season and i just i just reached
05:32out to my agents going i'd love to just do a a cameo on the office because i know steve and they
05:37were like okay they're excited they loved it what about a four show arc i was like oh and then it
05:45became a thing yeah yeah and i was like of course this will be so much fun and it was it's one of my
05:51favorite things i've ever gotten to do why did you have to be so damn good i i'm adequate even though
05:59i did feel like i shouldn't i wasn't supposed to be there it was so emotional you're leaving oh no no
06:04no no it was like it was such a gift it was a gift that you were there
