ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget star Zachary Levi about the stop-motion animated sequel. The actor discussed taking on a role played by Mel Gibson and the legacy of stop-motion animation. Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget will be released through Netflix on Friday, December 15.
“Having pulled off a death-defying escape from Tweedy’s farm, Ginger has finally found her dream — a peaceful island sanctuary for the whole flock, far from the dangers of the human world. When she and Rocky hatch a little girl called Molly, Ginger’s happy ending seems complete,” reads the movie‘s synopsis. “But back on the mainland the whole of chicken-kind faces a new and terrible threat. For Ginger and her team, even if it means putting their own hard-won freedom at risk — this time, they’re breaking in!”
Tyler Treese: I really love seeing Rocky and Ginger as parents throughout Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget. It’s a nice evolution from the first movie, and they’re very protective of Molly. What did you like most about that aspect of them having settled down a bit from, the first film?
Zachary Levi: Well, it’s fun. Anytime you have a character that can evolve that has some kind of character arc, that always freshens things up. It builds a more dynamic character and dynamic storyline. So I loved that. I loved that. It gave me an opportunity to come in as the new voice of Rocky very humbly, receiving the torch from Mr. Gibson and, and and getting to play this father. It’s one thing for Rocky to fall in love with Ginger. It’s a whole other thing for him to now become a dad. And the sensitivity and vulnerability and all the dotting on his daughter … everything like that was a really fun, new, fresh take on it.
I was curious about how you found your version of Rocky. He’s in a different space, and you don’t want to do an impersonation of Mel Gibson the whole time. How was it, navigating that?
Well, I couldn’t really do a good impersonation of Mel Gibson anyway. [Laughs]. So, fortunately, I didn’t have to. But no, again, I don’t know. I think, as an actor, what you’re trying to do is just bring as much authenticity as you can, whether it’s in live-action or it’s in voice. You’re trying to bring authenticity. You’re trying to bring, “What is that character feeling or thinking?” At any given moment. That’s all I tried to do and trusted Sam [Fell] along the way, and I think we made something real special.
You also bring authenticity into belting out these cock-a-doodle-dos. When you’re in the studio making rooster noises, does it just set in how goofy this job can be?
100% bro. [Laughs]. 100%. It’s so silly. I mean, being an actor in general is kind of silly. You’re playing dress-up and make-believe, but silly in all the best of ways. Then getting to do a voiceover job, you don’t even have to do the dress-up. You’re doing make-believe, but it’s all to make-believe with your voice. Then you really almost get more of a license to be silly, to kind of go crazy places and think of things. Sam was very encouraging of all that, so I think we got to be creative and imaginative and had a lot of fun.
I didn’t expect Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget to be a heist movie. It’s almost Mission: Impossible-esque in a lot of ways. How fun was it when you finally saw the script and saw the wild ways it was going above and beyond the first film?
Oh, I was delighted. Being able to go and create a really entertaining film soup to nuts is what you’re setting out to do. That starts with the script. It starts with the creative team, it starts with Aardman — incredible studio, making incredible content for decades. So I wasn’t surprised at all that it was such a great script, and then we just had to go and execute it and try not to screw it up. [Laughs].
What does it mean for you to be adding to that legacy and being a small part of stop-motion animation in general? It’s well over a hundred years old and it’s still going strong and there’s still such great work coming out of it.
It’s really cool, man. Honestly, not to go too far down any kind of a rabbit hole, but AI is very rapidly growing, rapidly evolving, and is going to start rapidly changing the landscape of our industry — particularly with anything that is within an animated form first. Then it’ll start coming for all of the live-action stuff … it already kind of is. But to be able to be within this world, to be a part of this world and legacy of stop-motion with Aardman is really a blessing. I’m very, very grateful for it.
