Miranda Cosgrove shows how nice girls can finish first in "Despicable Me'

Miranda Cosgrove

Miranda Cosgrove is famous as the teen star of the TV series "iCarly," but in the 3-D animated film "Despicable Me," she voices the much-younger character of Margo, one of three orphaned girls who are adopted at the same time by a villain named Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), who wants to use the girls in one of his schemes.

Gru is caught up in an intense rivalry with Vector (voiced by Jason Segel), who wants to be known as the world’s greatest villain. But when Gru’s adopted daughter come into his life, he finds himself changing in spite of himself. Cosgrove sat down to talk about the film, as well as her music career and family life, at a "Despicable Me" press conference in Los Angeles.

How much are you like your Margo character, and how are you different from her?

Well, I think a big part of the character is she is really protective of her two little sisters, and in real life I don’t have any siblings. My best friend has a little sister so I try to use her a little bit because she’s always trying to make the right decisions and she’s always helping her sister. I am like her because she’s pretty strong in the movie and she’s not afraid to stand up to Gru. I’m a little like that. Especially when I was younger, like 10 or 11, I’d always try to get my way and she does that a lot in the movie.

Miranda Cosgrove at work on "Despicable Me"

Did you get a chance to read through the script with the "Despicable Me" cast?

You know, it’s funny because I thought that doing an animated movie was going to be easier, for some reason, than a TV show or something like that. But I think it’s a lot harder because I didn’t have anybody with me in the room. It’s just me in this little sound booth. I got to see pictures of the characters which helped a lot. Like I got to see a picture of Gru and the Minions and my character, Margo. And it helped me to imagine the whole world while I was in the little booth.

What is your life like being such a huge star?

Well, when I go to the mall and stuff, people will come up and talk about "iCarly" or they’ll say, "I heard a song I like of yours," or something like that. I still get just as excited as I did like three or four years ago when I first started this show. It’s just really exciting. I love it and it’s funny when my friends are with me and cute guys come up to me. Then they get really excited. They introduce themselves.

Do you get first pick of the cute guys?

No, not really. They come over and they like introduce themselves immediately. One of my best friends is really into fashion so she always looks great, so she’s usually the one.

Edith (voiced by Dana Gaier), Margo (voiced by Miranda Cosgrove) and Agnes (voiced by Elsie Fisher) in "Despicable Me"

How do you bring a sense of personality and an edge to a character like Margo?

I thought that was the hardest part, just really figuring out what the character was going to be like. The directors helped a lot. It was interesting because they did the animation in Paris so every single time I would go into the sound booth, I’d be talking to them on iChat. There’d be a five-second delay so I’d say the lines and then I’d have to wait five seconds to see if they laughed, to see if they liked it.

So I’d just be waiting, but they helped me a lot with it because they’re really great animators. They just said, "Put everything into it. Just really go crazy and have fun." It was nice because they let me improv a lot. They’d say, "Do the line three times the way it’s written, and then just go crazy and do one for yourself."

Have you seen "Despicable Me"? And if so, what did you think?

Yeah, I have seen it … There were a bunch of kids in the movie theater with me and their parents. It was just a really fun place to see it for the first time, because I got to hear the kids laughing. I think the parents, when they came in, they were happy to see a movie with their kids, but I don’t know how much they thought they were going to love it. And then they were crying and stuff by the end. It was really fun.

Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), Agnes (voiced by Elsie Fisher), Margo (voiced by Miranda Cosgrove) and Edith (voiced by Dana Gaier) in "Despicable Me"

How did you describe your character and incorporate that into the voice?

Well, my character Margo’s younger than me. I think she’s supposed to be 11 or 12. Like I was saying about my best friend, how she has her little sister, I tried to use her a lot for the character just because I’ve always thought she was really sweet the way she is with her little sister. But yeah, I just tried to be really authoritative I guess because she has a lot of responsibility on her shoulders even though she’s really young. She’s kind of like the mom of the two little girls.

Did you see any of your own gestures in the final film?

Yeah, I did. I thought that was so exciting to see that because when I first saw the picture of the character, I love the way she looks and I love her outfit and her glasses and everything but she doesn’t really look anything like me. Then I found out that they film you the entire time you do animation and they use your hand gestures and facial expressions. So then when I went to see the movie for the first time, I was like, "Wow, she does look like me." She makes a lot of the same expressions I make and does silly things like me.

Did anything you improv’ed make it into the movie?

Oh yeah, there’s a scene where I kind of copied Gru’s voice which that was one of my favorite scenes just because it’s so fun trying to copy that voice because it’s so crazy. I just kind of did it one take for fun and they were like, "Oh, we like that. Let’s try it again." Then the directors in Paris were doing the voice and trying to help me do it. Everyone in the sound booth in L.A. were all trying to help me too, so I got to hear everyone’s take on his voice.

Agnes (voiced by Elsie Fisher), Edith (voiced by Dana Gaier), Gru's Mom (voiced by Julie Andrews) and Margo (voiced by Miranda Cosgrove) in "Despicable Me"

What were your favorite animated movies when you were younger?

I used to watch "The Little Mermaid" all the time. I love "Ratatouille." I love "Up," "Monsters, Inc.," "Ice Age."

Were you surprised Julie Andrews (who is the voice of Gru’s mom) played a mean grandmother?

I know. She’s so sweet. It’s hard to see her as a mean character, but she’s really good in the movie. She really is convincing. I was really nervous the first I went in to record for the movie, I met her because she was on her way out. It’s just so strange to be walking down a hall and pass Julie Andrews. She’s like the queen or something. She’s really elegant, her voice.

Did you say anything to her?

Yeah, I did. I was a little embarrassed because I love "The Princess Diaries" and I also love "The Sound of Music" and I love "Victor/Victoria." She’s been in these incredible movies but I said that I loved her In "The Princess Diaries 2," which that’s a great movie but I should have said like "Mary Poppins" or something.

Pictured clockwise from top: Gru (voiced by Steve Carell, Margo (voiced by Miranda Cosgrove), Agnes (voiced by Elsie Fisher) and Edith (voiced by Dana Gaier) in "Despicable Me"

What did you draw from in your real life to play Margo?

When I was a younger, I was a little bit tough. Everybody has their parent that’s a little easier to get to take them places. So my dad is the easier one of my parents. So when I was younger, I would always try to get him to take me to the movies and pick up my friends and let me have parties at my house. So I kind of used that in the scenes when I was going head-to-head with Gru.

What did you think of Margo’s fashion style?

The first thing I thought when I saw the character was that I thought it was so cute that she wore those high-tops with that little plaid skirt. I just love that. I think it’s adorable.

What’s coming up on "iCarly"?

We just started the third season. We’re on our third episode so far and my character Carly finally has a bedroom, which I thought was really cool because it’s purple which is my favorite color. They just made it like the dream bedroom. They put a trampoline that you jump on into the bed. Then the closet, it rotates and you pick your outfit on a pad next to the closet and then it gives you your outfit. It’s just a really amazing room.

Jennette McCurdy, Miranda Cosgrove and Nathan Kress in "iCarly"

How much freedom do you have to improvise on"iCarly"?

We do a lot of improv. It’s kind of the same thing. We usually do like 10 takes of every scene and then the last few takes we’ll just go crazy and do what we want — especially with the Web show scenes on the show, because they’re so outlandish and weird.

How is your music going? How do you balance everything? Do you write songs?

Yeah, well, I co-wrote the single from my album, "Kissing You." It’s about a guy that I really, really like and I was embarrassed to tell him the song was about him. And then I played him the song but I didn’t tell him, and then eventually I figured I need to tell him it’s about him so I did. He was flattered. I thought he was going to think I was weird.

But yeah, it’s been going really, really well. I got to travel all over and do a little radio tour which was really fun. I visited a lot of places I’ve never been to before and now I think I’m going to go on my first tour in September [2010].

Margo (voiced by Miranda Cosgrove), Agnes (voiced by Elsie Fisher) and Edith (voiced by Dana Gaier) in "Despicable Me"

Will other acts be on this tour?

I don’t know yet. It’s because in September, we’re just finishing up the season of "iCarly," so we’re still figuring it all out, but it’s going to be my first time on a bus, with a band, traveling around performing.

What can you tell us about an "iCarly" movie?

You know, they’ve talked about making an "iCarly" movie before but nothing’s really been finalized. I think it’d be really fun to do it just because we’ve done every episode in this little studio on Sunset on Nickelodeon Studios and we’re never left. I mean, the farthest we’ve ever gotten away was the street behind the studio, so I’d love to get to go on vacation somewhere with the whole cast.

Is there a character that you’d like to play?

That’s hard. Let’s see. As far as movies, I love "The Notebook." I always say that I wish I could play Rachel McAdams’ character. She’s amazing. That’s the movie every girl wants to be in. As far as books, this is kind of random, but I used to read "Jenny B. Jones" when I was little, and when I was little, I always wanted to be her.

Jason Segel and Miranda Cosgrove at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California

What grade are you in at school?

I’m finishing up 11th grade. I’m doing home schooling. I went to regular school in fifth grade, and then I started doing home schooling, which s completely different. I have a teacher on set with me, and I just work with her one-on-one. I didn’t want to miss out on prom and stuff, so I crashed one of my friend’s proms last year. It was really fun.

Where do you see yourself in the future?

I want to go to college for sure. My dad went to USC [University of Southern California], and he wants me to go there so bad. I also really love NYU [New York University]. That’s my dream school. So I want to go to college, and I want to keep acting. I want to keep singing. I love entertaining and making people laugh. It’s my favorite thing to do.

Is there anybody you’d like to work with in the future?

I was super-excited to work with Steve Carell and Jason Segel. I think those guys are awesome. As far as other people, I really love Anne Hathaway. I think she’s great. Meryl Streep. That’d be pretty amazing.

Miranda Cosgrove at an in-store appearance in New York City, April 2010

What kind of music do you like?

I like La Roux’s "Bulletproof." I love that song. And I really like "California Gurls" by Katy Perry, of course. My bets friend got a jeep because of the song. She got a jeep for graduation. We’ve been going to the beach. We’ve been going to the beach a lot, and we’ve been driving by the house of a guy she likes.

What are the holidays like for you and your family?

My mom’s a really good cook. I didn’t get the cooking gene, but she cooks this really amazing dinner every Christmas, so that’s always really fun. My dad, it’s really funny, he sometimes gets me gifts he wished he could’ve had when he was younger. Like he got me a go kart one year. And he was like, "Let me just test it. I need to test it out. So that’s always fun. My whole family comes over. My next-door neighbor is my age, and she comes over to my house every year. It’s fun.

How close are you to your "Despicable Me" cast mates?

I met Jason [Segel] and Steve [Carell] for the first time two weeks after we finished the movie, which is kind of funny because we were finished with the whole thing and I’d never met them. I met them under really weird circumstances. I was supposed to be doing the conga and they had these 12 people dressed up as the Minions in the movie, these 12 little people. They did a dance, a choreographed dance. So we were told to do the conga with them and try to follow along with the dancing. It was just really funny. Steve and Jason were laughing so hard they could barely breathe and I was just really weirded out standing there, so that was really funny.

Agnes (voiced by Elsie Fisher), Margo (voiced by Miranda Cosgrove) and Edith (voiced by Dana Gaier) in "Despicable Me"

How do you see yourself furthering your movie career?

Well, I’m always reading scripts and my parents are always reading scripts too. They help me pretty much make all my decisions, so I’d love to get to be in a really great film. I guess that’s what everybody wants. I love comedies. I love all the Judd Apatow movies, like "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," that Jason’s in. So I’d love to get to be in a really funny movie like that because when I go to the movies with my friends, I love being able to sit there and just crack up.

Have you ever been despicable?

Yes. On Mother’s Day, I dropped my mom’s cell phone in a toilet. It was by accident. I borrowed her phone. I was going to see a movie and my phone went dead, so I borrowed hers. I went to the bathroom and I was walking towards the bathroom stall holding the phone and I tripped. It was like out of a TV show or movie. It just flew out of my hand and plopped right in the toilet. And then I was freaking out because it was Mother’s Day and I knew she’d be upset anyways, but on Mother’s Day, that’s just the worst.

I was with my friend, one of my best friends who always laughs whenever something bad happens. It’s just like this uncontrollable thing with her. She starts laughing. Then she was trying to be nice and help me. She said we should go to her house and try to blow dry it, but she lived like 10 miles from the movie theater. So we were going to try to walk to her house at one point. It was pretty crazy.

Agnes (voiced by Elsie Fisher), Edith (voiced by Dana Gaier) and Margo (voiced by Miranda Cosgrove) in "Despicable Me"

What do you think of the music in "Despicable Me"?

Pharrell [Williams] does the music for the movie. I love the song that’s inside the trailer, a rap song. It’s "Despicable Me." I can’t wait to get the soundtrack. I haven’t heard the rest of the songs in the movie. I’m sure it’s going to be great.

Did anyone inspire you to be an actor?

I’ve always loved Meryl Streep. My favorite movie is "To Kill a Mockingbird." My mom showed me that movie when I was 8 or 9. And then I just recently read the book for school. So I’ve always loved that.

Miranda Cosgrove at the Los Angeles premiere of "Despicable Me"

You senior year of high school is coming up. Are you looking for a date for your senior prom?

I am still looking for a date, so if you guys know anybody ... [She laughs.] Yeah, I don’t want to miss it, for sure. They have a home-schooling prom, but I’m not sure how fun that will be, because you don’t know anybody. It’s just random people milling about. I’ll probably go with my friend again to her prom — or at least try to go. Last time, I got lucky, because her date, at the last minute something happened, so he couldn’t go, so I got to go with her inside of a limo to prom. It was really fun.

If you go to college, what would you like to study?

I want to study film. I love Tina Fey. I’ve been watching all the episodes of "30 Rock" recently. I just think it’s so amazing that she was able to create that show and write it. And "Mean Girls" is another one of my favorite movies. I love that. I’d love to get to be like a Tina Fey.

Do you see yourself directing, writing and/or producing?

Maybe directing. I think that would be really interesting. I just think it would be really cool to get behind the camera.