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In 2006, a movie came along that not only delighted audiences, but had them tapping their toes and singing heartsongs. Happy Feet was an unqualified global hit that appealed to critics and audiences of all ages. The film went on to earn numerous awards, culminating in the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. It fuelled greater efforts for environmental and wildlife conservation and even entered the modern lexicon, with “happy feet” becoming a synonym for tap dancing, its star Mumble’s particular talent.
Adult in child,child in adult
“I often say that these stories are for the adult in the child and the child in the adult. I think one of the reasons why Happy Feet resonated is that it had a kind of nourishment to it, with the time-honoured ideas of being true to yourself, being brave and trying to treat the world and yourself with respect,” says director George Miller.
The idea for the story of Happy Feet 2 actually began even as Miller and his team were putting the finishing touches on the first film.
“When you work on a film like that for so long, you actually fall in love with the characters. They become a part of your family. As you’re thinking about them, new stories arise, which is what led to Happy Feet 2. It was surprisingly easy to go back there, and so much fun hanging out with them once again.”
“I think this new film — which is about family and community — gives them the opportunity to be able to do that through the characters of the penguins.”
In the new film, Miller wanted to imbue even more physical comedy and action, while staying true to the spirit of the first movie. “Happy Feet 2 has all the singing and dancing and beautiful Antarctic landscape, but there are new characters of every dimension, from the largest scale to very tiny creatures”.
In fact, the tiniest of the film’s creatures are voiced by two of today’s biggest stars: Brad Pitt and Matt Damon as Will and Bill The Krill.
As the story opens, the vocally challenged but choreographically gifted Mumble, once again voiced by Elijah Wood, and the golden-throated Gloria, voiced by Alecia Moore (P!nk), are parents. Mumble’s own difficult adolescence, however, did not prepare him to be the ideal dad. His son is a fluffy fledgling named Erik, who seems disinterested in dancing, while the rest of the Emperor nation is movin’ and groovin’.
“Mumble is now a parent, and the tables have turned on him. Now he has the problem of being a father with a child who doesn’t completely conform to the way Mumble thinks his son should be! And he truly wants to connect with his son. We all think when we
become parents that somehow, we’ll know how to do better than our parents did. And, of course, we often make the same mistakes, because there’s no real instruction manual about how to be a good parent,” says Miller.
But the filmmakers ratcheted up the stakes: Mumble not only has to find his way through fatherhood, he ultimately must find a way to save the entire Emperor community, pitting penguin against nature. Violent shifts in the glacial landscape are threatening the Emperors’ very survival, and it falls to Mumble to rally creatures both great and small, to save them.
Wood and p!nk,brad and matt
Elijah Wood returns to the role of the masterful tap-dancing penguin, whose unique talents have captured the hearts of so many. “I knew that George would never do a sequel unless it was something that he felt was true to the original story and that there was another compelling story to tell.”
If Mumble is the undisputed dance champ of Emperor Land, his mate Gloria is the undeniable diva. “P!nk was a natural for the role, and has been really superb,” says Miller. “She had sung in the opening of the first movie and wanted to be involved again because she’s compassionate and a great animal lover. So for this one, in addition to voicing Gloria, she wrote the wonderful lullaby called Bridge of Light, with Billy Mann.”
No stranger to a recording booth, Moore was nonetheless a little nervous about making her voice acting debut. Watching other cast members helped to change that. She recounts, “I got to watch Brad [Pitt] and Matt [Damon] not only record some of their dialogue, but they also had to sing. They just went for it, and I thought, ‘Wow, I really have nothing to fear in there.’”
Another of Mumble’s companions returns in the sequel: his best friend Ramon, the talkative Adelie penguin. Robin Williams again voices Ramon. “He is basically still the same incurable romantic. He still loves las chicas, but he has not found the bird of his dreams. And yet, he still has an image that he is a gift to all females, that they want him in the worst way. The Adelies all are very, very machismo; so though he is small, he is fierce.”
One of the film’s biggest adventures is undertaken by its smallest characters. “It’s the journey of two tiny krill, Will and Bill,” says Miller. “They live in a great bio-mass of billions and billions of krill that move with the tides… they’re the bottom and the basis of the food chain. And in the middle of these billions are Bill and Will, played by Matt Damon and Brad Pitt.”
Miller was happy to have the opportunity to pair Damon and Pitt in the recording studio to capture both their irrepressible banter — and their singing. “They were really very free, working off each other, because they know each other so well. Matt Damon can sing, and Brad Pitt made it really clear upfront he couldn’t. But Brad just said, ‘This is a no-shame zone; I’m just going to go out there and give it a go,’ and he did remarkably well.”
Producer Doug Mitchell adds, “We learned later on that Brad’s and Matt’s kids are fans of the first film, and I think it is safe to say that they had a lot to do with them taking the roles.”
Damon admits: “The singing was a bit of a surprise. It was fun to just go for it and say, ‘What the hell?’ It’s definitely not my strong suit, but I figured, you gotta go loud or go home.”
It was lucky for the filmmakers that both Pitt and Damon were available to record together in the same studio. And both actors agree they were fortunate to have a filmmaker like George Miller to guide them. Damon observes, “There is a contagious fearlessness that comes from George. You see a guy who loves the project that much and you realise that what made the first movie great is that spirit. Brad and I were doing stuff we’ve never done in any kind of movie, animated or not. We left there thinking, ‘Now that was cool!’”
