The Deadbolt Interview - Spreading Animated Cheer with Chris Rock for Merry Madagascar

Spreading Animated Cheer with Chris Rock for Merry Madagascar
by Troy Rogers

Chris Rock Merry Madagascar Although most fans know Chris Rock from his hilarious stand-up specials or long career in live action movies, an entire generation of younger kids grew up with Rock after hearing his voice in such animated films as Osmosis Jones, Bee Movie and the Madagascar movies in the role of Marty the zebra.

With Christmas just around the corner, Chris Rock reunites with Ben Stiller, David Schwimmer, and Jada Pinkett Smith, plus Madagascar newcomer Cedric the Entertainer to usher in the upcoming holiday season with Merry Madagascar, the latest Madagascar project that sees Santa Claus (Carl Reiner) unexpectedly crash on the island, giving the jolly gentleman a case of amnesia. With Christmas presents in jeopardy, Chris Rock as Marty and his Madagascar zoo mates help Santa get off the island to ensure merry order is restored to Christmas eve.

Last week we joined a conference call with Chris Rock to learn more about Merry Madagascar, which airs Wednesday, November 18 at 8pm on NBC, how he spends his holiday season with his kids, stepping back into the voice role of Marty, and why he loves the Madagascar movies.

So it seems like nowadays a lot more adult content comedians are jumping into family projects. What for you is the appeal in doing a crossover like this?

CHRIS ROCK: Well I'm obviously already in with DreamWorks and Jeffrey and all that. I just want to work with the people. They do really good stuff. Kind of gets you with a younger [crowd]. I mean, you get some of that Hannah Montana money. So you get in with the kids and that definitely can't hurt.

Are there certain holiday traditions that you have or particular shows that you like to watch this time of year?

ROCK: I like the Grinch that Stole Christmas and I like the Charlie Brown Christmas thing.

The voice work has always been kind of good for you. You did Little Penny way back, didn't you?

ROCK: I did Little Penny, yes.

And that one just turned out to be wildly popular; it was all over the place. Did you find out that doing voice work is just a fun thing and a productive thing to do or?

ROCK: Well, yeah. I mean, you can do as much as you want. Sometimes on a movie, on a set, you've got other people you have to worry about and sometimes they need to get to the next shot. But in voice work, you can {be like}, "Hey, let's do it again." It doesn't take any time. It doesn't cost them more money for you to do thirty takes or seven takes.

Your girls now are like seven and five, I guess, now.

ROCK: Yeah.

How have they liked the Madagascar thing? When it first came out, were they able to watch it or was the youngest one too young and what do they think about it now?

ROCK: Oh, the youngest one was probably too young but the oldest one loved it. And they loved number two and they're looking forward to this one. I haven't let them watch it even though I got a little advance screening tape. So they'll watch it on TV like everybody else.

With the films, and even with the special, is there much room for you guys to ad-lib or do you pretty much just stick to a script?

ROCK: Oh no, they hire you to ad-lib. Why would you hire me to not ad-lib, you know? You know, Don Cheadle is a much better actor than me. I might be able to ad-lib a joke a little better. So, yeah, there's a lot of ad-lib. But the script is really good so you don't have to do that much.

Do you think there will be more TV specials coming down the pike since this was done pretty much for TV?

ROCK: You know, all that's up to Jeffrey. See, I mean, I think they've announced were doing number three. So I think Madagascar 3 is the next in the Madagascar world.

Do you have any other TV projects coming up since Everybody Hates Chris is not on right now?

ROCK: Nothing. I need a new one, man. That was a good weekly check. But I'm scaling back now.

Chris, you've got a book coming out I think next year sometime. What's it called and what's it about?

ROCK: I think it's going to be on negative thinking. Right now the tentative title is The Secret Sucks, so whatever I get out of that. Still working though, still working.

How much have you gotten done with it so far?

ROCK: Not enough. I've been filming back-to-back movies this year; two movies and I've just been pushing Good Hair for the last couple of months.

Now a lot of comedians are coming out with books lately; Paul Mooney and Kathy Griffin, David Cross, Jeffrey Ross, and Sarah Silverman has one coming out next year as well. What you think is prompting all these comedians like yourself to write books?

ROCK: I don't know. I guess some of them are selling. I mean, especially when we put our mind to it, we can be funny people. That Steve Harvey book I'm sure is triggering most of this, you know? His book is so big, so whatever, you know? If some midget wrote a good book, a bestseller, they'd be making a lot of midget books all of a sudden.

How are you going to make your book stand out among so many others that are out there written by comedians?

ROCK: Just the same way you make yourself stand out. You have a different sense of humor. I like what Steve did. He made a book about one thing. I think that's why that worked where most comedian books are kind of like Dumbo. So it's a little bit of picture book. It's a little bit of biography. It's a little short story, you know? But Steve's book stuck to one thing.

Does having kids of your own have anything to do with your involvement in this series? Did you want something?

ROCK: It's weird. I started the first Madagascar - Me and Ben [Stiller], started the first Madagascar with no kids. We didn't have kids when the movie started. And I don't even think we were even thinking about kids, to tell you the truth, the couple times we were in the studio together. Cut to: The movie comes out, we both have kids. Cut to: Madagascar 2, he's got three and I've got two. It just turns out that way.

Are there any holiday specials that are tradition in your household, or any you particularly want to show your kids?

ROCK: I like the Grinch, that's my favorite. The Grinch, and I like the Charlie Brown one, those are my two all-time. You know what? The Mr. McGoo Christmas Carol is pretty good.

So earlier you were mentioning it's kind of good to get in with the kids with these kinds of movies. One of your interactions with kids has been Madagascar. Do they recognize your voice as Marty when they meet you or have you had any encounters like that?

ROCK: They totally recognize my voice and sometimes they don't. It's because it's not really like my actual speaking voice so I kind of turn it on. And just the looks on their faces, it's like, "Wow, I can't believe it's ...

That's awesome. I bet you they get so excited.

ROCK: They get very excited. And my youngest daughter, Zahra, is a bragger. She's very quick to tell people her daddy is Marty the zebra.

Do your girls ever make you just say things in Marty's voice? You know, tell them to go like take a bath in Marty's voice or anything like that?

ROCK: You know, it's weird. The voice they like the most, and it's kind of the same voice, they like the mosquito from Bee Movie. They love that mosquito.

So they want you to turn that one on at home sometimes?

ROCK: I literally have to do the mosquito all the time - "Mooseblood, Mooseblood."

With the Madagascar movies, has your love for animals flourished? Do you find yourself more into animals at the zoo or anything?

ROCK: You know what? It's just weird. By happenstance or coincidence, I had never been to Africa before Madagascar before doing the movie. I've gone since and now I go on Safari almost every year.

When you hear people talk about influential comedians over the past ten, fifteen years, your name often comes up. I wonder are you the type of person who takes that to heart and thinks about it, or are you too modest and you don't like thinking about stuff like that? You're very highly thought of in terms of being ground breaking; how do you take that compliment?

ROCK: Really? Really? Really? I'll take it. I mean, I don't try to give it that much thought. It's not good. It's not good for you, you know what Derek Jeter can't be thinking of, "Oh, you're an iconic Yankee," when he's up to bat. Put it this way: It's great and I'm happy more for my parents than me. You know what I mean? My parents, my brothers, sister, whatever, my family can really enjoy stuff like that. Me, I have to work.

Does hearing stuff like that make you uncomfortable?

ROCK: A little bit. I mean, a little uncomfortable. At the same time, I've been doing it a long time, so it's nice to have some mark there when somebody says that. I'm just like, "Oh, I hope my aunt hears this. I hope my mother hears this." You know what I mean? Because they get a kick out of it. But the audience doesn't care when I get on stage.

Generally speaking do you think that comedy is in better shape now than when you started or worse shape?

ROCK: I mean, it's a good. It's in much better shape. When I started, there's no Comedy Central, there's no all these great shows they do. And forget being a black comic. My God, it was superstar or bust. You know what I mean? It was just like Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Bill Cosby; there was nowhere to be like the black Paul Reiser. There was, you had to be a superstar or you didn't work. Now there's all sorts of levels of comedians that you didn't have before; it's great.

When it comes to voiceover work, is there something about it that makes you jump out and say I want to do this kind of project? Is it a character? Is it the actual theme of the story?

ROCK: Really, I'm always looking for a project that's good enough that it doesn't even need me. Like, are they going to make a good movie even if I'm not involved in this? Yes? Then I really want to be involved. But if the project hinges on me then I kind of don't want to be involved. Jeffrey Katzenberg does quality, quality work. DreamWorks does quality, quality work. So when I agreed to the first Madagascar, I had no idea who else was going to be in it. But I trusted Jeffrey and we got a great cast.

-- Troy Rogers