Interview with Albert Brooks and Hayden Rolence of Finding Dory #FindingDoryEvent

Finding Dory is in theaters NOW and it’s so fantastic. I just saw it for the second time and it was even better than the first time I saw it. I loved watching the movie again and remembering my interview with Ellen DeGeneres and Ed O’Neill (voices of Dory and Hank) and I can’t wait to share with you the interview I had with Albert Brooks (voice of Marlin) and Hayden Rolence (voice of Nemo).

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Albert Brooks as Marlin

I’ve had a few people ask me if Nemo was in Finding Dory – of course! Finding Dory takes place only a year after Finding Nemo and Dory is happily living with both Marlin and Nemo. Marlin is his familiar old self – a worrying Dad and Albert Brooks was asked if he could relate to that with his parenting style.

Albert laughed, “Well when my children were younger, I worried more. Now I worry less and I pay more. I’m a worrier but not as much as Marlin, nobody can worry as much as Marlin. Maybe I worry as much.”

He also shared how easy it was to slip into the role of Marlin again saying, “I’m telling you it happens in about twenty seconds.  Because the character itself, they didn’t age the character. If it’s a year later, you start.  You’ve created the character.  As long as you’ve got your wits about you, you can do it. It’s like no time passed.  But if they’re going to make a third one, they better hurry up because he (gesturing to Hayden) won’t get a job and I’ll have to have a wheelchair!”

I’ve already shared that I think Finding Dory has such a great message for people and when Albert was asked what message HE wanted families to take away from it. He shared, “I’m not a big message person because I think that you sort of fail if you try to do a message. Here’s the thing about the movie – this really is a movie that you can take kids to and you’ll sit through and enjoy.  It’s the ultimate children’s movie but it’s enjoyable. I don’t think I’ve seen a movie like that for a while. It’s funny without being sarcastic.

It’s heartwarming without being schmaltzy and I think people will be surprised that there’s maybe more feeling than they thought. I don’t like to tell people what to do emotionally. But I came out with more emotions than I thought I would. And so I think that’s a good thing.”

Sara Lundberg / BudgetSavvyDiva.com

When talking about what he thought made the relationship between Marlin and Nemo so special, Albert shared, “In the first movie, the idea of a father losing a son, you know, it’s a nice father son story at any juncture. It’s a worried father and I liked where it had sort of mellowed that, you know, Marlin felt secure now about his kid.

Well, you know, I like this blue tang, but I don’t know, do I want to risk my life and then he sees how important it is to the kids.  So he does it for the kid and it’s a different kind of relationship than the first movie. I sort of thought Marlin was a little wiser and a little warmer. Because he wasn’t so panicked.”

Hayden Rolence as Nemo

Since Finding Nemo was released 13 years ago, it’s obviously not the original voice of Nemo in Finding Dory. Hayden Rolence is 12 years old and shared more with us about playing the iconic role of Nemo.

Hayden shared, “I was a very big Nemo fan, even before I knew that I was going to be the voice of Nemo, I was still a really big Nemo fan. 

I love being able to meet everybody else that worked on the film. I just love being able to meet everyone.” 

Hayden also shared with us that “the biggest challenge was probably knowing that he was art- that Nemo was already a character and knowing that I wanted to do him justice. I didn’t want any disappointment.”  I don’t think he has to worry about that – he is a fantastic voice of Nemo!

He also shared that the Finding Dory premiere he attended was his first premiere and also the first time he watched Finding Dory. He told us, “I was really excited to see the film and I just knew all the hard work it took to get to where I’m at right now. I was just really excited and astonished.”

When getting ready to audition for the role of Nemo, Hayden shared that “I did watch Finding Nemo a lot, just to sort of get myself prepared for trying to make my voice sound like Nemo. I live in Illinois so I had to send in a tape, so I was able to just watch the movie, then practice the scene, and watch the movie and practice the scene. And I did that over and over again. And then finally I was able to make my voice sort of sound like Nemo, so yeah.”  

Then, when he found out that he had scored the role of Nemo in Finding Dory, “I was actually at school when my parents got the call from my agency, and my parents told me that I had an audition that day.  So my dad got out the camera and then they told me the news.  And I was sort of in disbelief at the beginning, I’m like, you guys are joking with me right but then once I realized that they weren’t actually joking with me, I was astonished. I couldn’t believe it.”

Sara Lundberg / BudgetSavvyDiva.com

Finding Dory is in theaters now! Make sure to like Finding Dory on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Disclosure: Disney provided an all expenses paid trip to Los Angeles including travel, accommodations and activities. All thoughts and opinions are my own.