While in LA, we had the distinct pleasure of viewing Planes: Fire & Rescue coming to theaters next week. The movie is so great, and so is Julie Bowen who plays Dipper. We were able to meet with her and interview her about her role as Dipper.
If you watch her on Modern Family, you know how high spirited she can be, and let me tell you, she is the same way in person. She is fun, down to earth and is someone you just want to hang out and chat with over a glass of wine. I thoroughly enjoyed speaking with her because she just made everyone so at ease, no over the top movie star facade here.
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…………… I wanted to say thank you very much for coming. Julie Bowen – Dipper. We all know, we saw the movie last night, they loved it, they got to meet the filmmakers.
JULIE: So it was good? You liked it.
A: Yes!
JULIE: I haven’t seen it, so but I know that it’s gonna hit the sweet spot in my house with three boys. Four with my husband, too.
Q: Is this your first time playing an animated character?
JULIE: For a movie, yes. I did a couple little quickie things like Scooby-Doo. When I got an opportunity to do this, and I saw how much mileage I got off Scooby-Doo…..I couldn’t believe how much mileage I got from them. They were like worshipping me. So this, I’m genuinely excited to show off to my children.
Q: We recorded a little clip of what you did.
JULIE: It’s kind of nerve-wracking, because there’s nothing there. Also my big fear is you’re in the booth, and then there’s a glass thing…[Looking into the booth and not knowing what they were saying in reaction to her recording] I would say…you guys, when you’re just chitchatting, even if it’s about lunch, leave the mic open, because I’m in here dying a thousand tiny deaths [thinking they hate what she is doing] and they’re like, “you want pickles on it? Pickles? I’m fine. [LAUGHTER]
But once we got that out of the way then I could relax a little, because it’s just that silent alone in a room thing.
Q: How was it to do animated versus Modern Family?
JULIE: Oh. Oh. So different. So different. I am not a trained voice actor and I’m keenly aware of my weaknesses. It’s just your voice, and if you aren’t getting across clearly, the humor, the message, the real sentiment, you can’t deny it. You can’t go like, yeah, but she looks really good in that shot, or your hair looks nice, so maybe no one will notice. So I was keenly aware of it. Luckily they are perfectionists and they are so pro that they very quickly figured out that the best way to work with me was just let me go, and then some poor editor had to sit somewhere going, oh my god! I mean I was leaping around! But to get to the like sassiness of the way that she thinks, I kind of needed to spout some garbage.
Q: Did they match you with a female pilot? There are gonna be girls watching this film that are gonna come away going, yeah, I totally wanna fly planes!
JULIE: No they didn’t. I was shocked to see how specific they made the plane. I mean a plane doesn’t have a front grill like cars did, they didn’t have even a bumper to do mouths and stuff with, or hands, they were really limited. And they made it look really human and kind of like me. I underestimate the level of research they had done.
Q: Do you watch the film first and then voice it?
JULIE: They draw it (first) it’s kind of like what you would imagine as far as there’s a rough sketch copy, like a pencil drawing. I come back like six months later and thev’re drawn more, and the cool thing is, six months or eight months later, they’ve taken all that spouting that I did in the booth, and running around and sweating, and they incorporate it into the character. And now they’ve started to draw her- her movement and her mouth and everything to fit that. That was very cool to see. Somebody had to work very hard.
Q: Are you ever with other actors in the booth or always by yourself?
JULIE: No. I was always by myself. When I did Scooby-Doo it was in a room with a bunch of people, but those are serialized, so they’ve got a much faster production piece. Luckily, Dane Cook, [and everyone’s} was completely done so I could hear him, I could hear Ed Harris, I could hear everybody else.
Q: At the end of the day did you walk away feeling different?
JULIE: You know, I think when I actually get to see the whole movie it’s gonna be really exciting. I’m not very good at watching myself, but I’m okay at listening to myself. I’m very excited about this. It also feels so collaborative, it doesn’t feel like I’m raising the ‘I am awesome’ flag, which always makes me cringe a little. I can look at this and go, wow, I was part of something that was so awesome so it’s easy when you’re done to embrace the whole thing.
Q: Did you get to do any ad-libbing?
JULIE: Yeah, like a lot of ad-libbing. I’m not super great at joke telling or reading a line, usually I have to lay the pipe a bit, like on Modern Family. That’s the person who gives you the story. This was, everybody else for the most part, were laying pipe and I had to come in with exactly this romance in my head. So really the possibilities were endless because they weren’t necessarily a hundred percent connected to what was going on. Like one thing, you know, oh, we’re gonna go here and then I would take that to, well what do you want me to tell him? It’s a date, it’s our third date? Our second date? I still am not sure a hundred percent what’s in there. But I’m sure it’s very, very perfect for children.
Well there’s always something for the parents, too, and it doesn’t have to be like dirty filthy, but they can know. There’s something nice when you watch this, it was like… [LAUGHTER] It’s not just the- because this is family entertainment, but it’s primarily aimed at- at kids. And when there’s something for the parents to hook into…
Q: How intensive was the process for the animators compared to your work on Modern Family?
JULIE: I mean this was so great and short, and even though I sweat a lot and get really anxious whenever I had to go in, I didn’t have to go in that many times. I think because Bob was so great and they just let me go, instead of trying to get the line. Stop. Let’s get the line. They just were like, just do whatever you want and we’ll tell you if we need something else. So they had a lot more material probably than they needed.
So I just went in to polish up bits, or change it for legal reasons or whatever. So it’s kind of hard to believe it’s actually coming out as a movie. It seemed like a fun place to go where I didn’t have to wear makeup. [LAUGHTER] So yeah, Modern Family is you get there- it’s a process, but I’ve been doing TV for a long time so you’re getting there six a.m. and somebody makes you look like, you know, a much better version of you and by the time you get to the stage at seven thirty in the morning it’s been hours and you’re like, go team! This was very different.
Q: Did you know the name of your character was before getting the role?
JULIE: I got offered the role after she had been named. So when they sent me a three ring binder with the story, and the script and some drawings, that was it. I didn’t come in and was like I’m thinking Doris, and they were like, we’re thinking of Dipper. I did not have any say. I was just so excited and was like do I get to be a toy? [LAUGHTER] I want to be a toy so badly. There’s so many toys in my house, and one of them will be something when I step on it I will be happy. One trips me in the middle of the night and I will want to kill it ‘cause it’s actually… It’s me.
Q: Did you audition or did they just send this?
JULIE: Theyy contacted the people that represent me and asked me if I would do it and I was like, oh yeah, yes I will! Especially given that Planes was just coming out and I was deeply familiar with the land of Cars. Deeply, deeply. Like intimately. So I knew what the world was, and I knew what the Planes world was gonna be kind of like, so I embraced it wholeheartedly.
Q: How did you get into character?
JULIE: No, I mainly needed to leap around. Which was great, because you can’t do that on on camera. I actually took my shoes off and would definitely do a lot of jumping around. It’s funny, because Ty Burrell, who just came off of two big animated films back to back, he needs to sit in a chair – I don’t think he’ll mind me telling this. He sits like this and has the microphone here and doesn’t move and it works for him. He gets all, everything he wants comes through his voice. And I kinda can’t. I can’t. Which is just different. I can’t even sit still right now, so it was great! I would run around and like scream and yell, and then do whatever it is I needed to do. Especially in scenes where like, you know, we’re flying over fires and we’re putting them out and you’re like yelling. It’s weird when you’re alone in a quiet room in a beautiful building.
Thank you very much. [TIME FOR A PHOTO]
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PLANES: FIRE & RESCUE opens in theaters on July 18, 2014!
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Disclosure: I was provided with an all expense paid trip by Disney. This is accordance with Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of. Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.