DreamWorks Animation’s HOME is out on Digital HD on 13th July and Blu-ray and DVD on 20th July.
Warm-hearted, exciting and funny, infused with fantastic music, HOME is the story of an alien species called Boov, who land on Earthand decide to take it as their new home. They promptly round up all the humans and relocate them. Jim Parsons plays ‘Oh’, a Boov who doesn’t fit in, and is terribly unpopular with the rest of his species. The well-meaning Oh can’t seem to do anything right. He accidentally sends out a party invitation to the entire universe, which means the dreaded enemies of the Boov will be able to track them down. As a result, poor Oh becomes a fugitive. If the Boov leader Captain Smek finds him, he will be in deep trouble.
Oh meets up with a feisty and resourceful girl, Gratuity Tucci, known as Tip, played by Rihanna, who is surviving on her own. Her mother has been whisked away with all the other humans and she is desperate to find her. At first Oh and Tip don’t get along at all, and on the surface don’t appear to have anything in common. When Tip remarks that she is missing ‘my mom’, the little alien (who has an interesting use of the English language!) tells her: ‘Boov are not having my moms.’ They gradually become close friends, and set off on the road trip of a lifetime…
Jim Parsons, who play Oh, is best known for his role in ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and continues to bring a winning combination of incredible charm, charisma and comedic value to his roles on both screen and on stage.
To celebrate the digital & DVD release of HOME; Jim Parsons sat down at DreamWorks Animation’s Glendale studios in Southern California, to discuss the film and his career:
You must get offered a lot of film roles. What made this story stand out?
A: I was really excited at the prospect of doing any animated film at all, because I’d never done one. It was just the opportunity in and of itself; that part of it was very appealing. The first thing I saw of it was a rendering of the character ‘Oh’, and I loved him. In fact, I liked him so much that I thought, ‘Oh! They can’t want my voice for this. He’s so cute!’ He’s got that adorable, curious quality about him.
But then the other thing that’s so appealing, and that has only intensified as we’ve done it, is it’s such a beautiful story about learning to let other people be who they are, and letting their true self shine through, and finding how much you end up loving that person. It’s about not prejudging, and not coming in with too many assumptions about other people. I think it’s an important lesson at all times of life, but really important right now.
For anyone who is yet to see the film, tell us about your character, Oh.
A: Oh is an extremely friendly, curious, enthusiastic being who, by his very nature, is not one of the crowd. Nothing would please him more than to fit in and conform with his fellow aliens in the Boov race – but he doesn’t, and he can’t help himself. Therefore he feels like an outcast, and his attempts to fit in end up causing trouble for him, to the point where he has a very big mistake he makes that could get his entire alien race in trouble. He’s on the run; he’s a fugitive from the rest. That’s when he meets this young human girl [Tip, voiced by Rihanna] who feels like an outcast in her own way and the two of them find all these things they have in common.
But for him in particular, he’s an extremely optimistic hopeful character. He has an irresistible curiosity and enthusiasm for life in general that is just beautiful.
How much do you identify with this endearingly fun and quirky little alien?
A: There is a certain sense of delightful wonder he has about everything on Earth that I have to admit I do understand, even though I can be as cynical as the next guy. The first thing I tapped into about him and that I feel every time I work on him, is that sense of easy delight he has about things that he hasn’t seen before, things that we all find commonplace. I really understand him for whatever reason. Maybe I haven’t matured enough!
In terms of the relationship between Oh and Tip, did you get to record your dialogue with Rihanna?
A: A little bit, not a lot. It was wonderful. She’s an excessively warm person, a very funny and quick-witted person. We had never met before, and I was taken aback at what a wonderful sparring partner she was, both in conversation and to work with, immediately. I think she’s a beautiful fit for this part because she brings two very opposite qualities to this character, of strength and maturity, and this real sad loner quality at the same time. It’s very moving, and very vivid, what she’s brought.
There was a picture online of you recording alongside Steve Martin as the Boov’s leader, Captain Smek. Please tell me that he was as fun to work with as we imagine.
A: That was beyond fun! It was like taking a class. He was like you would think he is, but even more impressive in person. He is so creative and so brave. We would be doing a scene and… it’s not just that he does improv or anything like that. It’s just that he knows natural ways to take a scene and play with it, and these rhythms and noises and things that are really awe-inspiring. It’s because he has a real fearlessness about him, and it makes it tremendous fun to work with him.
And Oh has a very distinctive way of speaking, with things like “For what are you doing that?” or “Can I come into the out now?”. Did you find yourself using his grammar when you left the booth?
A: No, but I did find myself correcting it in the process. We would have to retake lines because I would self-correct his broken English as I was saying it. ‘No, it’s not “does,” he pronounces it “doos”,’ all manner of mistakes he was making. The only thing he says that we all began to say was ‘Thanking you’. It was always ‘Thanking you’. For some reason that was easier to catch on to. And sometimes ‘Can I come into the out now?’
Did you get a key piece of direction on playing Oh? Was there one thing that really helped you?
A: That’s hard to say. I will say that the direction in general was so crucial. Having no set and frequently no other actors to work with, it was really all about what Tim Johnson, our director, said. He was sort of my everything in that way; I couldn’t imagine it until he would say what it was and dictate what it was going to be. He was always a big proponent of that curious energy that Oh has, and that hopeful spin on it. That was the most consistent thing that came up again and again, and that’s very catching. Once you key into that, it’s a lovely place to be, so you find yourself wanting to reside there and talk from that place. It’s a nice break from the world.
How much recording time did you do in total?
A: It was spread over about two and a half years, but I did, I think, 31 or 32 sessions. They varied in time. The shortest I did was probably two hours at once, but I would do four hours at a time. They said it was a lot, but it never felt like a lot. It just felt like I worked on it over a very long time. I think that he had a lot to say in the film, is the bottom line, and that’s really all that mattered.
It’s interesting that J.Lo is in the film because, in the book, Oh’s character actually took the name J.Lo as his human name. Do you know how she got involved?
A: I know that they just wanted her to play the mother, which she did. I don’t know why they changed his name. I think there were copyright issues with her name. It’s funny: Oh ended up being such a wonderful name for him, and the way they incorporated why he’s called Oh is so beautiful. But right before we got to that, I was crushed that he wasn’t going to be called J.Lo, because it was very fun to keep saying, ‘My name is J.Lo’. I enjoyed saying that very much. But I really do think it worked out for the best.
The explanation for his name being Oh really is perfect.
A: It ended up being such a character-defining moment, and that simply wasn’t there before. He was called J.Lo because he thought that was easy for humans to understand.
Now your Instagram account is full of pictures of your adorable dogs. Did you have problems relating to Tip, who is a cat person and has her cat, Pig, with her?
A: No, not at all! In fact, when I first saw the little cat, Pig, animated, I was like, ‘Oh! That’s the star of the film right there, that stinking cat!’ It’s a very cute cat, and kind of has the body of a dog if I’m being frank. She looks very sturdy.
Do you believe in aliens, is there something out there?
A: To be honest, I really don’t know. One of my favorite movies growing up that I still love was CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977). It is the charming allure of other life forms being out there that I connected with and I can still feel that a little bit, but I don’t know. I guess hope springs eternal – although it could be frightening if there really is something.
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DreamWorks Animation’s HOME is out on Digital HD on 13th July and Blu-ray and DVD on 20th July
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