John Michael Higgins ("Pitch Perfect," "Best in Show") is one of my favorite actors, so I was delighted to hear that he has joined the cast of the clever and often surprisingly pointed Netflix series "All Hail King Julien!" Higgins and Anjelica Huston play the parents of the impetuous king of the lemurs. In an interview, Higgins talked about the challenges of providing the voice for an animated character and what makes King Julien, a breakout star originally a minor character from the "Madagascar" movies, so appealing. The Emmy-winning series returns for a third season today on Netflix.
So, King Julien has parents!
Yes, I'm the father of King Julien. It's odd because I was talking with one of the producing people and I said, "If I'm the father of King Julian why aren't I King?" It just occurred to me -- Did I abdicate the throne? I don't think they know. So I think in Madagascar the character King Julien just existed. He had no back-story per se but they thought, wouldn't it have been funny if all of his crazy psychological problems which are numerous and hilarious, wouldn't it be great if we got to see where they came from? They came up with parents.
And his mother is Anjelica Huston?
Yes, indeed. It is Anjelica and fortunately we were able to do all of our sessions together. She is awesome. She is like a force of nature and she is a great actress and hilarious comedian. I don't know if people are aware of that she has really been funny in a lot of movies but she has ferocious comic instincts and great voice capabilities. She can do almost anything with her voice. We do very strange accents as these two characters. Their voices are kind of half English, half kind of Long Island lockjaw; it's perhaps another half Boston Brahmin. It's kind of peculiar and we made it up ourselves and it's funny. We created it, so I'll turn to her and I'll say, "How do we say the word popcorn?" and she'll ask me about another word, even though it's completely made up. I don't even know how we can be experts in an accent which doesn't even exist.
If you're doing animated things it's always nice to have one of the other voice talents in the room with you. It rarely happens that way. We have a big relationship in the series, too. We are always together, talking to each other. So it's very useful to have us in the same room together and I think DreamWorks was very aware of that so they figured it out. It's kind of a luxury and it makes it possible for us to play off of each other. They did the voices first, too, so in case anything super clever or silly happens in the room, they can animate it.
What is it like coming into a storyline with characters that have been developing for two seasons already?
The good news for me and other actors going into something that is going on is that you don't have to do their learning curve for them. By the time I walk into it, it's a hot rod. They have worked out the kinks. So it was a complete pleasure. The writing was so tight and everyone was working together so well. It is always nice when a show has had a couple of seasons behind it; it just feels very easy to do.
You bring a wonderful physical energy to your live action roles. How do you create a full performance just with voice?
It's a good question! I'm a little surprised myself that I do as much voice work as I do mostly because of what you just said. I'm a stage actor and all my training was for that. I did that for 20 something years before I did any film or television. And I consider all my performances to be physical performances. In other words, it's always body first for me and even speaking is a physical activity. It relies less on intellect and thought than most young actors think. It's not that I don't put a lot of thought into these performances. It's just that they are based on the physical life I always find for the character. So when I do voice stuff, first of all I'm bouncing all over the room. To get the voice right, it's still just working on our muscles and vocal chords and it has to be manipulated and moved around in just a certain way to get the effect you are looking for. I appreciate the challenge, and it's a little bit like acting with your hands tied around your back.
King Julien appeared in just one scene in the original "Madagascar" movie, but he has become a star -- what makes him so appealing?
I say hooray for the character actors! I am one myself so we are always looking for incidences where character actors are really stealing the thunder a little bit which is what I consider my job to be. Generally they hire me for that, they hire me to be the guy who comes on two or three times in a movie and does something strange.
They have been writing characters like Julien from 16th century. It's a completely free ego, a free emotional and physical life that answers only to itself. So you get a very quote dramatic unquote character, meaning it's full drama all the time. Every moment is alive, every single moment. The present is always the most alive thing. It's almost like a baby. Daffy Duck is this way, but Bugs Bunny is not. Bugs is very intellectual and sorts of hangs back and connects. Daffy feels every moment and every one either tortures or delights him. And Julien is one of those. That's why the character is so appealing. Audiences love to see people who are freed up from all the odd things that the audience can't free themselves from.
We all have to hold things in, we have to be social animals, we have to hide our feelings, and make sure we don't hurt someone or offend someone. It's a constant struggle to keep yourself from being freed. That's what it is to be an adult basically. These characters like Julien just take a crowbar to all of that -- "I'm an adult but I'm going to feel everything that happens, I'm going to say exactly what running through my head in this moment," and it's delightful.
(Photo: DreamWorks Animation "All Hail King Julien © 2016 DreamWorks Animation LLC. All Rights Reserved.")