SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails are sprinting into a new adventure in the upcoming “Sonic the Hedgehog 3”. In this third film, they face a new enemy with mysterious powers — Shadow (Played by Keanu Reeves). Ahead of the film’s release, ABC4’s film critic and celebrity interviewer Patrick Beatty met with members of the Sonic crew to learn more about the story behind Sonic’s third installment.
Ben Schwartz (Voice of Sonic)
First, Beatty spoke with Ben Schwartz, the voice behind Sonic, to dive into how he’s grown with the character.
Q: You’ve been playing this character for quite a few years now. How has your relationship to Sonic changed, and do you feel more of a stewardship over him?
A: That’s a great question. I was the voice of Dewey on “Duck Tales” and the voice of Leonardo in “Turtles.” All those writers said that if I took away all the character names, and I let you read the script, you should be able to know exactly when each character is saying each line.
I think that’s important for this, too. Like, what’s a Tails line? What’s a Sonic line? They’ll be sometimes I’ll read the script or I’ll be doing the dialogue where I’ll be like, Tails should say that or I think that’s me, and this one’s Tails, and I think that is good. You really learn what Sonic would say, especially movie Sonic, I don’t think anybody knows movie Sonic as well as I do right now.
I really know when he would say things, when he wouldn’t say things, how he would say things. And then even with this one, I get to find new emotions. Like he gets angry in this one. He finds different emotions. There’s some darkness in his film, so it’s fun to kind of explore and keep finding new stuff.”
James Marsden (Tom) and Tika Sumpter (Maddie)
Tom and Maddie are Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles’ chosen family. They’ve settled into a family routine, and when you have children, you need distractions.
Q: What are the things that you would need to distract Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles with?
Sumpter: Chili dogs. That’s super easy. Anything with chili dogs, grapes, electronics.
Marsden: I would give Knuckles all of our Amazon boxes to break down and recycle. Tails to take out all the toilet paper in our trees.
Sumpter: Or just give them a ton of just, like, electronics … And they’re all broken things and he’ll put stuff together.
Jeff Fowler (Director)
Jeff has been helming the Sonic films since the first premiered in 2020, and has been slowly bringing in incredible talent to voice the iconic characters of Sonic’s world.
Q: You’re pairing these characters so well with voice actors, and in Sonic 3, you’ve got maybe one of the greatest actors you could put in to play Shadow with Keanu Reeves. What was it like approaching him with this role?
A: “It was just absolutely dream casting. I mean, we knew fans love the idea. We love the idea. So all it took was for Keanu to say yes. We had a really great meeting, walked him through, the story showed him a bunch of the artwork, some storyboard and animatics. He was very aware of Shadow, with just how popular the character is. I think Keanu was excited by the story we were telling and that Shadow complex character.
I think he is a very unique, and brought something very new to our movies. I think he could see the potential there and was excited to come in and do his take on it. I think fans are going to love it.”
“Sonic the Hedgehog 3” is in theaters everywhere this weekend. For more interviews and reviews head to ABC4.com, click the “shows” tab, and “See It or Skip It”.
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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