Travel consideration provided.
Earlier this month, I flew to Los Angeles for the Ratchet & Clank event. During my trip, I attended a press conference with the film’s cast and director, and it was a fun Q&A that provided insights, laughs – and even a voice impression or two!
We began our interview by speaking to Ratchet & Clank’s director and writer, Kevin Munroe.
BEEB ASHCROFT: You’ve worked on both films and video games in the past. Do you feel like that gives an advantage in being able to translate this video game into a good movie?
KEVIN MUNROE: Yes, and no. I think at the end of the day, it’s all about just finding a good story, and really trying to find that. I was working at a company called Shine Entertainment, back in the mid-90’s. I was Canadian – I was – I still am Canadian, I guess. (laughs) But I came down to California, and I had animation training. And so where do you get a job? And video games at the time were really friendly with that. And so my first “in” was through video games. And the company had done a game called Earthworm Jim, that felt like you were playing a cartoon. And so that, to me, always resonated. And from there, that project I think gave birth to a lot of projects like Ratchet and Clank, and these very sort of character driven kind of properties and stuff.
And so I think knowing kind of the background of that, I think I tonally knew what everybody was going after. It was a very familiar world for me I think, coming from the silliness of that sort of Shine-y Entertainment, Earthworm Jim era, like Hooper, and Crash Bandicoot and all those things came about. And what’s great now is that it’s all about the story. It doesn’t matter if it’s a game, or if it’s a movie, or a TV show. It’s all about just experiencing, even on your phones – you can just experience a story anywhere. And so ultimately, it came down to that.
During the chat, we were joined by actors Bella Thorne, who provides the voice for Cora in the film, and James Arnold Taylor, who voices Ratchet in both the movie and original video game.
BEEB ASHCROFT: Ratchet and Clank is such a playful project, that I was wondering what the most fun part of doing these voices was for you?
BELLA THORNE: The snacks. The snacks. It’s very fun.
JAMES ARNOLD TAYLOR: You had better snacks than I did, though.
BELLA THORNE: The most fun about playing it was probably playing like a bad ass female was super cool. When I walked in you guys were just like, “No, yeah, you can just use your dark voice, your…”
KEVIN MUNROE: She was like, “Are you sure you don’t want me to sound more girly?”
BELLA THORNE: He was, “No, no, no, no. Yeah, you can even go deeper.” And I was like – no.
KEVIN MUNROE: I will say when it’s too far. Trust me.
BELLA THORNE: Yeah. No, no, no, I sound like a man, guys. We don’t want to think that a man is actually Cora. The most fun part was yeah, was probably getting to stress my personality to its limits, just because I wasn’t playing like, so different of a character from me.
JAMES ARNOLD TAYLOR: Yeah, and she does an amazing job at it. It’s so fun. I was just telling her, we were walking down the hall, it was like – I’m afraid of her character, in every way. And it is great to be able to do that. That’s the funnest thing for me is [that] the character of Ratchet is my regular voice. And that’s kind of a first for me. I’ve been, you know, Fred Flintstone, and nobody expects Fred to come out of me, or Obi-Wan Kenobi, or Johnny Tatstu’s an 11 year old kid and totally awesome and all that, you know, and that’s cool. Or if I’m doing Christopher Walken when he can’t do it – I come in, it’s great. Or Jay Burshell, or Michael J. Fox – well, wait a second; this is heavy. So I’m basically just trying to impress you all with voices. (laughs) But Ratchet – I get to be me. And so it’s very cool to get to do that, and get to work with these people, and get to work with Kevin again. We worked together on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. So it’s just been a blast to see this transition.
Ratchet & Clank hits theaters this Friday!
I am so excited for this movie! I saw the trailer the other day and I know the kids my daughter babysits are dying to see it.
I bet this was a fun event to attend. This looks like it is going to be a cute movie. I plan on taking my niece and nephew to see it.
Bella Thorne is such a doll! It seems like I was just watching her on Shake it Up.
I remember her from Shake it off – or was it up? LOL. My oldest son used to have the BIGGEST crush on her 🙂
My girls are HUGE fans of Bella Thorne. They will be thrilled to know she’s in this movie, and I’m sure we will be watching it!
Interviewing the stars of a movie sounds like an amazing experience. We look forward to seeing this release.
We also previewed the movie! But no star interviews, oh well. I love this additional info though some of it is news to me!
thanks,
Mitch
This looks like it was a great event. I am excited to see this movie with the kids.
It’s really cool that the same people that work on the game, worked on the movie. I really need to see this one!
Well I’m all about the snacks too! I can’t wait to see this one with my family. Sounds like it’s going to be great!
That’s really cool that you had a chance to interview the cast and the director. I love hearing the behind the scenes stuff, so I bet this was really fascinating! Our family is really looking forward to this movie!
Can’t wait to see their movie! I’m so glad that you are part of this event.
How fun to interview the actors! I think for animated movies especially hearing live what the voice actor’s experienced and think of the plot is so fun.
What an exciting event! I’ve already decided Ratchet & Clank will be our next family outing. It’ll be fun to hear James Arnold Taylor’s real voice and then listen to the differences in other characters he speaks for.
My kids are really excited for this movie. We’ve been seeing it all over the place lately, so we’ll definitely have to make a trip to the theater to see it this weekend.
How cool that you got to attend this event in L.A. My son cannot wait for this movie, right up his alley
I’d lke to attend an interview for a movie. I think these always sound fun 🙂
This is a great interview. I’m glad you got to have this great experience. I hope I get a chance to see the movie.
I can’t wait to see this tonight with the boychild. He has been begging to go to the movies so this is on the list
My daughter just loves Bella Thorne! I bet this was a fantastic event to attend!
I can’t believe what this once beloved game has turned into! The original PS2 game was the best and only the best, and I don’t know who just said that this James Arnold Taylor was in the first game but he wasn’t, you are not a true fan. Let me explain a lot of things about what you are about to observe from this film. Firstly, Mikey Kelley was the original voice for Ratchet, James Arnold Taylor walked through the door in the second one, he is a obsessive, greedy joker who turned Ratchet into “double crossing, ugly-looking chick magnet, the actor himself is always overly excited and acts as the star, reminds everybody that he is the voice of Ratchet, we all know that! Even demanding that his name comes first in the cast, which didn’t and ended up with him being clouded by jealousy. And the voice of the girl ranger, c’mon everyone can tell she’s just doing this for the money! She cares nothing for the new Ratchet And Clank release, she should be ashamed of herself, and when it comes to interviews, she sure thinks fast of anything that she can come up with, the bullshit and lies that spreads out of her dirty foul mouth, she doesn’t even know of the true cast that was in the original game, I even believe that despite being 28 years older than her, that James Arnold Taylor is deeply in love with her, but she’s just playing hard to get! And for Paul Giamatti who was in the 2002 film Big Fat Liar, took the role of Drek, well I do know how disappointed Kevin Michael Richardson was, when he was replaced, I guess he went through the same process as Mikey Kelley, I even hate 9 year olds who come up and claim their fans, if you haven’t played the games then you should not have anything to do with it. Everyone may be blinded by most of these actor’s speech and may also love the film so much but I know I am one of the few people in the world who love and cherish the original game and it’s true. cast, the four true actors who played the main characters of the original game, and I hope the phony actors soon realise. True original cast:
Ratchet – Mikey Kelley
Clank – David Kaye
Qwark – Jim Ward
Drek – Kevin Michael Richardson
We will remember them, lest we forget!
message for James,
I am not really a fan your voice for Ratchet and wish that Mikey Kelley stayed for the rest of the games. I do not have a problem with Clank and is my favourite character.
All I know is I will never get used to Ratchet’s new voice because it changed dramatically and you make him sound so serious and uptight. Very upset. thumbs up for David Kaye because no one can do clank like him.
Jokes, Clank is not my favourite character and Ratchet ‘s voice sounds good and like Michael J. Fox. I hate they guy that voice clank.
please make a Jak movie
Let’s all wonder why the Ratchet & Clank Movie failed. There are lots of reasons why this could of happened, firstly ratchet’s original actor was not there to voice ratchet, but if he was there the humour would be funnier. The next reason is the two main characters are hardly together, the movie is supposed to be center around them not the galactic rangers, i have not seen the movie but this is what I have heard.
ratchet and clank get along very fine in the remake and that is a big problem, without the protagonists arguing it adds less to the story, if this were in the movie it would be emotional and add depth to the story making more than one scenario happen at once.
the galactic rangers were not in the first game and should not be in the movie. They are probably the biggest problem that made this movie fail. The Rangers are the most useless characters there, and do not do anything that would help this movie. the entire movie the plot focus on them and hardly show main characters. the first game was about ratchet and clank’s friendship, the movie forgets that and throws it aside.
The writer didn’t do a good job and had very poor and lazy writing and i am not sure why dr. Nefarious is here. The remake version of Drek is so dumb, i liked Drek from the original game, he was very sneaky and mysterious and had short temper, he was unique from other villains, the new drek does not stand out very well and his voice makes annoyed. He just does the bad guy formula, like just evil laughing and fancy words. I haven’t seen the movie and I’m not very exited. If all those problems didn’t exist this movie would be better than zootopia.
Message for james Arnold taylor.
I am not sure why you think you sound like Michael J. fox but to me you do not sound anything like him. no one can talk like Michael j. Fox.
Actually he sounds 88% like him, they’re very similar, the guy your talking about is Ratchet’s shitty sidekick’s actor.
Your right man, back when I was a 15 year old I was a bit ignorant but now I’ve grown up a little.
I’ve made many mistakes in the past here and there, but the main point is that I just want to apologize for the last message I’ve sent six months ago, If you already read the message I sent before or might read in the future, please don’t become upset, I just ask for your forgiveness and hope that you can get past it all, I was ignorant and angry but I just wrote this message today to explain I’m deeply sorry! I have played the last two Ratchet and Clank games in the classic Trilogy and found that it was a lot of fun, and have grown used to it and soon discovered how much it suits you voicing him, you did a great job doing Ratchet, and the movie would’ve been great but because of the galactic rangers who crashed it, but the PS4 remake was alright and that was good at bringing back the original game, but they should of put in all of the planets from the first game, James Arnold Taylor is a great actor and played Ratchet really well and he is the true and main voice of Ratchet and while Mikey Kelley is just the original voice of Ratchet which is still my favourite out of Ratchet’s actor. But I was clear of what I said abouts that female actor but I shouldn’t of spoke so offensive, that girl does only work for the money and has lack of knowledge about Ratchet and Clank, she’ll gets what’s coming to her, anyway I just want to also say that it was cool that both Ratchet’s actors were in the same movie which was TMNT, with James Arnold Taylor playing Leonardo and Mikey Kelley playing Michelangelo and both the turtles act like the two different Ratchets, even the director Kevin Munroe who directed that TMNT movie who also directed this Ratchet and Clank movie. Once again I ask for you to forgive me, and move on from it, there a lot of phony cast and crew members in there, but your not one of them along with Kevin Munroe who is a wise man, I will write down the cast for the second game and wish you the best and that you keep playing Ratchet. 2nd original cast:
Ratchet – James Arnold Taylor
Clank – David Kaye
Angela – Kath Soucie
Qwark – Jim Ward
We will remember them, lest we forget!
I would just like to say that Clank is not my favourite character. I never really liked this guy I just pretended to like him. I really like Naughty Dog’s games like Jak and Daxter and Uncharted. I just wanted to address this so everyone knows.