John Malkovich Plays Octopus with Ginormous Grudge Against the “PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR”
John Malkovich, considered as one of the world’s lead actor of his
generation and who has made an important mark in cinema, lends voice to
Dreamworks’ “Penguins of Madagascar’s” tentacled nemesis who goes by the name
Dave aka Dr. Octavius Brine.
A renowned geneticist, cheese-enthusiast (at least he has that in
common with the Penguins) and donor to public radio pledge drives, the good
doctor’s limbs are skewed at impossible angles, which isn’t that surprising
because he’s actually an octopus named Dave. Raiding Fort Knox for a tasty
treat is nothing compared to the challenges the Penguins face when they come up
against Dr. Octavius Brine. And Dave bears
a ginormous grudge against the Penguins.
Dave was once a star attraction at various zoos around the world, until
the adorable, cuter-than-cute Penguins stole the spotlight away from him,
relegating him forever as an exhibit also-ran.
“You took everything from me!” he bellows at the Penguins, and he’s
about to take extreme measures to once again become a star attraction.
The filmmakers wanted Dave to be an adversary whom audiences
wouldn’t soon forget. “Dave is a villain
like those in the classic tradition of the James Bond films,” says producer
Mark Swift. “He has a big agenda; this
is a guy who wants to change the world.”
To give Dave a bigger-than-life comic presence, they really thought
outside the box in casting the role. “We wanted someone who was new to animated
features and would bring gravitas in terms of stage craft, which would bring
some weight as well as fun to the character,” says Smith.
They turned to Academy Award® nominee John Malkovich, who has
distinguished himself in films, on stage, and on television. Making his animated feature debut, Malkovich
quickly latched onto Dave’s vengeance-fueled motivations. “Dave feels he had his life ruined at every
zoo and aquatic park he’s called home, once the Penguins arrived,” he
notes. “They’re cute, so people oohed
and aahed over them, so Dave would no longer get any attention.”
To Dave, the Penguins are the story’s true villains. “These Penguins ruined his life by stealing
all the attention and just standing there or waddling around, while Dave
actually performed tricks and acrobatics, only to have people ignore him,” adds
the actor. “So he has very strong
feelings about the Penguins, but they aren’t even aware of him. Which makes them even more annoying to Dave!”
Malkovich quickly embraced his inner mollusk, but was also eager to
give Dave’s thirst for vengeance some subtext.
“We strategized with John and came up with the idea that this film is
the third act of Dave’s life,” says Smith.
“Dave’s plot is the culmination of ten years of planning, which entails
kidnapping the Penguins, developing a transformative technology that will
change Penguin-hood forever, and disguising himself as a human. All that subtext made the role much more fun
for John.”
The actor’s physical performance while recording the role so
impressed the DreamWorks Animation team that they lifted parts of it to create
the final animated performance. “John
and Benedict [Cumberbatch, who voices Classified] just didn’t do voice recordings
for this film. They act out the scene;
they’re very theater-based in that way,” says Darnell.
“Moving around in the booth while voicing the role was kind of
natural because Dave is so slippery and gelatinous,” Malkovich elaborates. “I’d move my arms and pretty much the rest
of my body. I found it really helpful to
have that physical manifestation.”
Perhaps abetting the actor’s drive to get into character was his
resemblance to his cinematic alter ego.
“Yeah, Dave does look a bit like me – but he looks even more like my
youngest sister,” he says with a laugh.
Dave is aided by his octopi henchmen, who do his bidding with
ninja-like moves. Their innate
abilities, including camouflage, flexibility, and a vise-like grip make them a
multi-limbed threat to our heroes. Their
interactions with Dave also provide a rich source of verbal byplay,
complementing the film’s plentiful physical gags. Dave’s instructions to his team result in
hilarious puns; one, of many, examples:
“Nicolas, cage [the Penguins]!”
The filmmakers had brainstormed dozens of these celebrity-themed verbal
gags, the best of which made it into the finished film.
“Penguins of Madagascar” opens November 26 in cinemas nationwide –
available in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D from Dreamworks Animation and 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.
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