Colin Farrell voices the powerful Ronin
The creators of ICE AGE and RIO will reveal a hidden world unlike any other in an all new 3D CG action-adventure comedy. EPIC tells the story of a battle raging all around us between the forces of good, who protect nature, and the forces of evil, who wish to see it destroyed. When a teen age girl finds herself magically transported into this secret universe, she must band together with a rag-tag team of fun and unique characters to save their world…and ours.
Colin Farrell discusses his character Ronin and the classic story of good verses evil…
Tell us about Epic. Is it Star Wars with birds and bugs?
Wow. It’s big shoes to fill, Star Wars. I don’t know, but it honors some of the similar story conventions regarding the forces of good versus of evil, the force of life versus the force of dark, the forces of creation versus the force of destruction, the heroes journey, the young man, holding onto the coattails trying to figure out who he is, meeting someone who’s a little bit wiser and more versed in the experiences that he’s trying to attain for himself, coming into himself. It honors those things that I think Mr. Lucas was obviously very aware of when he did Star Wars but it’s its own thing.
Did you have fun?
I did. You know, it was a bizarrely unengaging experience, not when I was doing it. When you’re in the studio with the mic and recording, it was very engaging completely, but it was over a year and a half, and it was seven or eight sessions over a year and a half of five or six hours each. The whole thing was 40 hours. I feel a bit fraudulent sitting here talking about what it was like to work on this. I’m used to over the years, having a lot of memories and a lot of almost creative attachments to what you did. And sometimes it’s a healthy thing. I was grateful when I was working on it, but it was only 40 hours. The real work was the animators and Chris Wedge and the writers who did so much work trying out different things and creating scenarios and dialogue and mixing the humor with the more emotional elements and all that.
Your character, Ronin is a hero. Do you enjoy being a hero?
Heroes can be kinda dull. It’s funny; isn’t it? You wouldn’t think, it’s sometimes the most interesting stuff that happens in the peripheral of the hero’s actions. Heroes kind of in many ways is the middle man, the common denominator, but having said that, yes, I enjoyed it. I got a sense, when I saw Ronin, the character you get a sense that he’s stoic, and he’s brave, and he’s emotionally reserved.
When you were a kid did you have a favorite animated film?
The first animated film I ever saw, which I loved, I didn’t see enough animated films, The Jungle Book and I loved Tom and Jerry, and I loved, Roadrunner.
What did you like about The Jungle Book?
I liked how exotic it was. I liked the idea of a child being able to find a home even in the most extremely, despaired of environments from what he grew up in. I loved the child, the sense of unity and communion between the child and animals. And I loved King Louie, King Louie squirting bananas with his toes and his hands. I mean That whole section there with the ruins.
EPIC IS OUT NOW ON 3D BLU-RAY, BLU-RAY AND DVD