Spellbounds John Lithgow Recalls Being Cut from 2 Disney Movies Before Shrek Success

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As a die-hard fan of John Lithgow‘s captivating performances, I can attest to his remarkable talent and versatility in both live-action and animated roles. His unique voice and ability to breathe life into even the most sinister characters has made him an unforgettable presence on our screens for decades.

It’s fair to point out that John Lithgow stands out uniquely, thanks to his distinctive, vintage Hollywood-esque voice that has given life to countless memorable villains, as well as heroes. However, despite an impressive career and extensive background in voice acting, Lithgow is no stranger to the pain of being replaced – a feeling he recently pondered over following his work on the latest Skydance animated production.

With two Oscar nominations and iconic roles like Lord Farquaad from the 2001 film “Shrek” under his belt, John Lithgow has made quite an impact in the animation world. His latest accomplishment, a humorous role in the fantasy adventure movie “Spellbound,” premiered on Netflix yesterday, demonstrating that Lithgow remains a notable figure even after more than four decades in acting. However, when speaking about his part in “Spellbound,” Lithgow admitted feelings of apprehension, fearing that his character might not make it to the final cut. In an interview with ScreenRant, Lithgow reminisced: “‘I hadn’t heard from them for so long that I thought they might have replaced my character with someone else’s voice. That has happened to me a couple of times.’

Though he refrained from mentioning the specific roles in which he was recast, a few seconds of Internet sleuthing reveal that Lithgow was likely referring to Hades in Disney’s Hercules and Poppa in The Good Dinosaur. For both roles, Lithgow recorded full performances only to be replaced by another voice actor in the final cut due to significant changes in the story or production. As a seasoned professional, Lithgow acknowledged that this is a frequent phenomenon in the animation industry, since it’s much easier to re-record lines than to reshoot entire scenes, as required by live-action films. However, the sudden shock of being replaced still caused Lithgow a great deal of anxiety when pursuing other voice acting roles. You can read his full quote about the experience below:

It frequently occurs that voices can be substituted since they are interchangeable and can be altered whenever necessary. For instance, originally, the character Shrek wasn’t portrayed by Mike Myers; instead, it was Chris Farley who tragically passed away before completing the project. Consequently, Mike Myers took on the entire role for Shrek, but later they decided that he should have a subtle Scottish accent, so Mike Myers re-recorded all of his lines to achieve this effect. This is a common practice in voice acting.

In two animated movies where I provided all the voices, I discovered later that they didn’t think my performance was quite up to the mark and replaced me with James Woods and Jeffrey Wright. It’s been a secret I’ve kept hidden from everyone, even though I understand their decision, it still stings a bit.

Despite Losing Major Roles, John Lithgow is Here to Stay

Although John Lithgow might have felt slightly overlooked when he missed out on significant roles, he appears to grasp that such decisions aren’t always a reflection of his talent. Interestingly, both “Hercules” and “The Good Dinosaur” underwent substantial alterations during production. For instance, “Hercules” opted for a comedic twist instead of Lithgow’s planned dark, villainous portrayal, while “The Good Dinosaur” recast several roles due to changes in the main character’s age. These challenging situations seem to be common among voice actors regardless of their fame or achievements. What sets Lithgow apart is his professionalism and commitment, demonstrated by his decision to keep pursuing voice acting opportunities despite the nervousness that often comes with them.

It’s fortunate that for Lithgow, the experience with Spellbound turned out to be quite the opposite of what was initially planned. At first, his role in the film was intended to be minor, but as the story progressed, his impact grew significantly. As he himself put it, “The experience got better and better as it went along.” By the end of production, Lithgow’s part in Spellbound had nearly doubled, and he even sang a song of his own. For those who have been waiting to see more of Lithgow on screen, Spellbound is now available for streaming exclusively on Netflix.

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2024-11-24 19:33