As “The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie” is coming to theaters this weekend, Good Things Utah’s celebrity interviewer and film critic Patrick Beatty speaks to voice actors Eric Bauza (Porky Pig, Daffy Duck) and Candi Milo (Petunia Pig), both renowned for their voice acting work for countless characters.
In the interview, Patrick learns about the challenges of voicing multiple characters, as well as what they love about Looney Tunes. First, he had to ask the most important question.
Q: “How would you define Porky’s “Rizz” regarding his relationship with Petunia?”
Eric Bauza (As Porky): “Oh, that it’s okay to be nervous around someone that you have a… I think she’s cute … a crush is what I’m trying to say.”
Candi Milo: “I think that Petunia is not something that was looking for love because she is such a super scientist and she’s very busy with her tastes, and she just thinks that she’s found the right flavor, and the real right flavor turned out to be Porky.”
Q: “Were you recording together in the same booth at the same time, or were you separate?“
(For Background: “The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie” was originally slated to debut on MAX in 2021, but was among multiple projects Warner Brothers “wrote off” for taxes during its restructure period. It was then given a new life and able to be optioned to another company, which Ketchup Entertainment took over. Patrick asked about the recording process both actors went through during the film’s long journey to the big screens.)
Eric Bauza: “I don’t know if we were recording it in the same booth per se, because this was the tail end of 2020. We started in 2019 and then we were all recording separately from home for safety, and I remember there was a session where I saw her [Candi] on Zoom and I wasn’t sure if she was at home or at her studio. We had a great session and it was like, “I miss you and I wish I could see you”, then literally we exited the same hallway. We were at the same studio not knowing that we were in different rooms … But in this film, we definitely had opportunities to perform together for timing and chemistry.”
Candi Milo: “When you find somebody who has the same sense of humor that you do … I think that we have the same sensibility. It’s so wonderful to get to play at that as a relationship on screen. It’s very easy because I remember that Porky and Petunia start as a friendship, and then there is an attraction…It evolves into something a little bit more. I think that she finds him charming and affable and a great companion.”
Eric Bauza (As Daffy): “You know, kids, it’s a real Ross and Rachel will they or will they not? Not to give any spoilers, but, I’m at the edge of my seat every time I watch this movie.”
Q: “Daffy, welcome to the interview. I’m excited to talk to you! Speaking of friendship, there’s a big friendship between Porky and Daffy in this, and they really get a feature-length story to flesh out their characters.
Eric, you’ve been doing this for a while now and you have to switch constantly between these characters, what is the process like for that? Having taken the role on for so long, have you developed your shorthand with the characters, or are you thinking, what would Mel Blanc do in certain situations? “
Eric Bauza: “That’s tattooed on my back — ‘What would Mel do?’ … It really is the blueprint. I call Mel Blanc the blueprint. He is the blueprint. He was the original performer and creator of, most of, if not all, of the Looney Tunes characters. Aside from June Foray, of course, being there, filling in the other side of Looney Tunes. You can’t veer off of the tracks when it comes to these characters, because I’m not the only one that grew up with them and that is as familiar with them 90 years later.”
“We get the musical notes that we know and that we hear in our ears, and then the conductor hands us the new arrangement of how these notes are to be performed, and we swing for the fences. In interviews, I can talk back and forth with these characters. But for the film, we will start with, Porky. He’s less taxing because when I start as Daffy, he’s always at 11 and breaks the dial. It keeps going and going. There is no inside voice with Daffy because there’s nothing inside … I’m really lucky to have directors like Pete and Alex, they’re there to make sure that I don’t fall off the trapeze.”
Candi Milo: “He is beyond incredible, and besides that he began as an animator. As we like to say, he’s all in. There’s not a lot of reining him in and keeping him on track. Sometimes I think that Pete Brownsgardt who I think is a genius, Johnny Ryan, all of these guys, Derek Bachman, I believe that they trust Eric so much that they write for him, and they write to his sensibilities.”
” … We all get this rhythm and we’ve seen other iterations. I have been in some rooms where I’ve seen other Porky’s and other Daffy’s and everybody and I think that when you have somebody that’s able to do them all, that’s where the cohesion is. That’s what makes this film different, is that you don’t have a different Porky and you don’t have a different Daffy. You have one man, I call him Mel Blanc Jr., Mel Blanc of our generation … I’m hoping that it bleeds over to the women. I’m standing in the background, I have my little hat on, ready to go on, and I love the franchise. I really do feel that’s what’s different and special about ‘The Day The Earth Blew Up’ is that for the first time it’s … the same person doing all the voices.”
“The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie” is available in theaters starting this Friday, make sure to watch the full interview above, and Good Things Utah Friday Flicks to get the full review.
Note: See It or Skip It is proudly owned and produced by Patrick Beatty. ABC4 is a broadcast partner, but the show, its content, and opinions are independently created.
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