Bette Midler and Christina Applegate
Bette Midler and Christina Applegate get in the catfight of their lives — at least on screen. The two Emmy-winning actresses are the voices of battling felines in "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore." In the talking-animals film (which is the sequel to 2001’s "Cats & Dogs"), Applegate is "good cat" Catherine, who teams up with a bunch of dogs to stop "bad cat" Kitty Galore (voiced by Midler), who wants to take over the world.
This is not the kind of film that is vying with "Inception" for deep complexity. Midler, Applegate and James Marsden (who voices the German Shepherd character Diggs, one of the dogs on Catherine’s team) recently sat down together for a Los Angeles press conference to talk about "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore" and why voicing the characters was different from doing voices for an animated film. The three actors also revealed what were their favorite childhood toys, and Midler shared her thoughts on her "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" co-star Nick Nolte, who voices a character in "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore."
Bette Midler and her Kitty Galore character from "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore"
What was the best quality about the cat or dog you voiced? And are you a cat or dog person?
Midler: I’m a cat. I play Kitty Galore. Kitty Galore is an Egyptian Sphinx cat. She’s hairless except for a little hair on her tail. She’s very cranky because she’s been rejected by her beloved human family and she’s determined to rule the world. I came in for a number of sessions, and it was really curious because when I first started, it was just a sketch. As the time went on, the backgrounds of the other characters got more and more filled in. That was very, very exciting to watch. I’d never experienced that before. In real life, my pet passed. I’m a non-pet person at this point.
Marsden: I play Diggs. He’s the German Shepherd. He’s a dog that worked for the police force, but was rejected from the police force because he had difficulty following orders. A lot of raw ability and talent, but unfortunately his ego eclipses all of those natural abilities. He’s hired or recruited by this separate group of dogs to thwart Kitty Galore and ultimately has to team up with cats, which is the end all be all. That’s not happening, but he has to overcome his own sense of pride and all of that to work together. I like his confidence and his boldness. Again, [Diggs] doesn’t really know about teamwork so much, but he’s very comfortable in his own skin. And I’m a dog person. I’m allergic to cats, so by default I’m a dog person.
Applegate: I play Catherine, who is the agent from MEOWS. She’s an incredibly sophisticated, smart agent — spy-like, if you will — and she begrudgingly has to be teamed up with these dogs in order for her to stop Kitty Galore, who is about to destroy her universe as well. I love her. I think she’s a really wonderful, rich cat. And I am a "both" person. I love all the animals. All shapes, colors, sizes, and species.
James Marsden and his Diggs character from "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore"
What was the process of doing the "Cats & Dogs" characters? Did you all get to work together, and was there a big moment where you discovered your "inner animal"?
Marsden: You know, it was an interesting process. We talked a lot about this yesterday. When you’re in a film or doing television or anything, and you’re in front of the camera, you have a tool box. You have your expressions in your face, you have your body language. This experience for me was challenging in a sense that you really do rely on your voice to convey emotion, to play a scene. It was definitely a journey.
Early on, we had some just sort of scratch track sessions where we were just sort of finding the voice of the character. It was important to find the voice that matched the physicality of the dog, that matched the energy that was needed for the animators. All of that was very new to me and it was a big learning process for me. It was a great sort of journey where we went many times all over the place to try to find the voice of Diggs.
For this type of movie, you’re in a dark room with a microphone sitting in front of you and not a lot of imagery to go along. We just had Brad [Peyton], the director, saying, "Say that again but remember that what you’re yelling at, that you can’t see right now, is actually 50 meters ahead of you so you need to be a little louder." You put a lot of trust into Brad, and he is the guide. It was unlike any experience I’ve ever experienced before and it was very gratifying to see the final picture of all these puzzle pieces coming together. It’s great. You don’t always have that luxury on film sets to be able to play and go here and there. You’re not burning film. You’re just burning time in the studio, I guess.
Christina Applegate and her Catherine character from "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore"
Applegate: It took me a minute to kind of figure out exactly what was going on. My first session with them, I had worked on "Samantha Who?" until 9 in the morning, and then I had to be there at 11, so I wasn’t in the best possible condition to start doing this kind of voice. But Brad kept saying, "More energy, more energy" ... With, I think a lot of other animated movies, they can animate thought in the eyes of the character, and they can animate physicality, and all of these things. But for this, these are real dogs and cats. With our characters, at least, there was very little that was enhanced. So it really was a cat sitting there.
So what we really had to do is convey so much through the voice, and I think that’s when I finally understood when he said, "More energy." It wasn’t, "Louder, bigger," it needed to be so full because that cat is not going to swerve this way or cock their head or do these things that you want it to do. So it took me a minute to get used to it. And I think it turned out really well. I was happy with it. I’d like to go back and change a couple of things, for myself. But I truly enjoy doing this kind of work. Even though it’s a little isolating, it’s quite gratifying to then finally see the picture and see what they’ve been so busy doing all these months and years.
Diggs (voiced by James Marsden) and Chris O'Donnell in "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore"
Midler: I agree. Actually, it’s not just isolating. It’s a little bit lonely, because it’s just you in a dark room with a sketch of a character or sometimes a filled-in scene, but still you don’t work with the other actors. It’s like one long looping session, I said. It’s like, "Oh my God, ADR for days." The real thrill I think comes from seeing the finished product ... You see, my feeling is — and we discussed this yesterday — the fact that [Brad Peyton] could keep all these balls in the air and make all these [things] that would form into one movie, it was absolutely staggering to me. I couldn’t imagine. I couldn’t imagine how you did it because he was working with live actors, he was working with animals.
There’s nothing harder than working with animals. Those animals really looked like they knew what they were doing but, honestly, they’re animals. I love them but you know: "Stay, stay, stay." I worked with animals before and it’s like, "Oh god." So the fact that he was working with live actors, live animals; they’re actually quite similar. And then the robots and the cartoons, it all melds together and you say, "Well, I can’t tell which part is drawn and which part is a robot and which part is a real animal." I couldn’t get over it. I think it’s really an extraordinary achievement.
Applegate: I was so nervous about – with our characters, at least — because [Bette Midler’s] character had to do all this stuff that a cat wouldn’t be able to pet a mouse, that’d be dangerous, but I know that our mouths had to move, and all I could picture in my head was like on the Conan O’Brien show when he would have Arnold Schwarzenegger, just a picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger and was like [she impersonates Schwarzenegger] "’Ello, Conan!" You know, the mouth is doing this, and I thought, "Oh God, this is going to look ridiculous," and it didn’t. It was really incredible how you’re able to get that done.
Diggs (voiced by James Marsden), Catherine (voiced by Christina Applegate), Seamus (voiced by Katt Williams) and Butch (voiced by Nick Nolte) in "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore"
Bette, did you channel anybody to play evil?
Midler: No, pardon me? Did I channel anyone or am I just plain evil? I’m just plain evil. It’s true. Now you know the real me.
Is doing voice work in a movie like this similar to recording as a singer?
Midler: There are some parts of it that are quite musical. The timing is very important in this kind of work because the phrasing works with the mouth of the character. Once the mouth of the character is moving, you have to phrase along with the character that’s drawn. And that is musical, and if you listen to that, you can hear where the beats are skipped and where you drop a beat or when you rush and catch up a little bit. I will say that the fact that I’ve sung for a long time has really helped a lot with that. Yeah, [it] really, really helped a lot. I don't think it helped the character, but it helped me get through the sessions.
Diggs (pictured at far left, voiced by James Marsden) and Catherine (pictured at far right, voiced by Christina Applegate) in "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore"
James, you have a few voice credits in movies. What is it about voice work that appeals to you at this stage in your career?
Marsden: It’s the fact that you can just sort of roll out of bed. Vanity gets set aside. You really don’t have to worry about going through the works. I mean, I’d be lying to you if I told you that wasn’t a part of it. That’s definitely one of the fun elements of it is that you get to go and really focus on one tool, your vocal performance. I don't know, voice work specifically, usually it’s not that big of a time commitment. You can go in for a couple of days or a couple of months here and there and just go in and play. I like being able to go in and just play. I like being able to go in and just play.
Again, you don’t have that luxury on film sets or television sets. Time is money and time’s money in the studio as well, but you really do. One of the great things about getting in there and working with Brad is we just would run the gamut. What didn’t work would be set aside and what worked would be enhanced and embraced and then given to the animators. You don’t get that sort of safety net a lot of the times when you’re working on a film set. It’s about, "We need the shot before lunch. We need this. The lighting setup’s got to be this." It’s all you when you go in and give a vocal performance. And there’s a playful element to that that I like and would love to continue doing voice work.
Sam (voiced by Michael Clarke Duncan), Diggs (voiced by James Marsden) and Butch (voiced by Nick Nolte) in "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore"
Bette, if anything happened to your fabulous hair in real life, would you also go maniacal and try to destroy the world?
Midler: No, no, no, never. Something happens to my hair in real life every day and I don’t. A long time ago when I first worked in the theater, I was in "Fiddler on the Roof." I came into "Fiddler on the Roof" and I was just a kid. I think I was 19 or 20 or something like that. One of the girls who was in "Fiddler" was a brazen Puerto Rican girl, and she was famous. The reason she was famous was because the opening night she had done something to her hair. She had tried to straighten her hair or something and her hair fell out, literally, and she didn’t even blink.
She went out, she got a piece, she slapped it on, she went out, she gave the performance of her life. I mean, she went on and became a really famous opera singer. And I never forgot that. I thought, "Wow, check that out. She didn’t even bother. She didn’t waste any time." From that time on, I never thought twice. I just look around, grab a piece, put it on.
Diggs (voiced by James Marsden) and Catherine (voiced by Christina Applegate) in "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore"
Bette, unlike Kitty Galore, who is about destroying the world, you do environmental charity work in real life, so you’re about making the world a better place. Can you talk about your environmental causes?
Midler: A couple of years ago, I teamed up with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation to plant a million trees in New York City. And we’ve planted about 375,000 so far in the last two years. And I am also the founder and chairman of an organization called the New York Restoration Project, and we clean abandoned parks and public places.
We also own 55 community gardens where people in the community grow their own food. And we teach kids as well about nature and environmental science and all that sort of thing. So we’ve been at for about 15 years. This is our 15th anniversary this year. It’s been fantastic. It’s been one of the great projects of my life.
There’s a girl in New York who has a blog about a tree you planted in front of her house.
Midler: And she’s mad?
No, she loves it. She has pictures of it.
Midler: You never know. Oh, that’s fabulous. That’s great.
Seamus (voiced by Katt Williams) and Catherine (voiced by Christina Applegate) in "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore"
Christina, could you compare doing the Catherine character to being a Chipette in the 2009 film "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel"?
Applegate: Very different. Considering the Chipettes, I think it could be anybody, you really don’t recognize it because it’s just [high-pitched voices]. That’s a little bit more taxing, as far as doing the Chipmunks, because you have to talk a lot higher than you normally speak and really slowly. So, and everything has to be incredibly exaggerated, so you really feel ridiculous, and the process is a little bit longer to do that.
And then they just speed it up and it doesn’t sound like you. You try to put as much personality into that slow speaking, so that when it speeds up it sounds like something great, you know, quirky and sassy. But with this, I found I didn’t want it to push too much because I think what’s great about these movies is the human quality that all these animals have. That’s why kids love it is because they can just think, "Oh, this is really happening because there’s this human inside there. There’s this real person that I can relate to." It took me a minute to really find what that was, to get Catherine as strong as she was, but not make her unlikable as well.
Diggs (voiced by James Marsden), Peek (voiced by Joey Pantoliano) and Butch (voiced by Nick Nolte) in "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore"
James, what do your kids think of your family-film roles?
Marsden: They’re sort of over it now. The whole thing’s been demystified for them. I have a 4-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old son. What’s really interesting is my daughter is 4 years old, when my son was about that age, I got excited because I thought, "Oh, they’re going to get to see their dad in this film." You forget that a child’s mind at that age, that what they’re seeing on screen is real to them. They don’t see the manipulation. They don’t see the smoke and mirrors, the Hollywood. It’s very real. So I remember thinking, "Oh, they’re going to love this. It’s going to be great."
My son when he was that age was sort of freaked out by it. When he saw me in "X-Men" — well, first of all he probably shouldn’t have been watching that movie anyway — I just showed him my scenes. I later realized just the concept of seeing me in person and then seeing me on screen. Then he grew up and sort of got into it a little bit. Now he’s sort of over it. It’s like now I’m sort of this dorky dad in the movies or whatever. But my daughter is getting a kick out of it now. So it’s one of the reasons why I like doing these types of films, so that I can be a part of something that I can enjoy with my kids, if they’re into it.
Chris O'Donnell and Diggs (voiced by James Marsden) in "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore"
Did any of you have a favorite childhood toy?
Applegate: I remember having all the dolls from El Coyote, the restaurant. I don’t know if they even have dolls there anymore. I didn’t have Barbies, but I had hundreds of these Spanish dolls that were dressed like the waitresses there … I loved my little Conchitas. I had a few of them.
Midler: I had some toys. I wasn’t totally and completely deprived. Actually, my mother made toys. My mother made our toys. She made a rabbit for me. I still have it. He had a pair of corduroy overalls and little orange feet. She was really a seamstress, my mom. She was fantastic. But in those days they used to have patterns, and all the women would buy patterns, and the pattern would come with the fabric and you would put it together — and the stuffing, too. That was a great little enterprise.
Marsden: The Star Wars action figures — not nearly as exciting as [Christina Applegate’s and Bette Midler’s favorite toys].
Is there the Divine Miss M in Kitty? Was world domination always part of the plan?
Midler: Oh, always. Always. I think a lot of female entertainers think about that when they start out. Yeah, I do.
Diggs (voiced by James Marsden) and Butch (voiced by Nick Nolte) in "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore"
Bette, are you still going to do the movie "Sweet Baby Jesus"?
Midler: It’s one of those leaks. I don’t understand how the business works when they announce stuff that has no deal, there’s no money, there’s no contract. "What? Huh? Am I in this?" it’s very strange.
Bette, since Nick Nolte voices the Anatolian Shepherd dog character of Butch in "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore," were you a little disappointed that Nick couldn’t be at this press conference so you could have a "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" mini-reunion?
Midler: Actually, I was [disappointed]. I was really looking forward to seeing Nick. I haven’t seen him in a long time. He’s so sensational in this movie. He’s so wonderful, isn’t he? I’m actually not enough of a dog person … He is that dog! He is so brilliant. He was wonderful. We all feel the same way. We have yet to meet him. If he was a dog he would be that dog!
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Photo credits: Photo #1: Getty Images. All other photos: Warner Bros. Pictures.
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