Chris Rock Says Voicing Animated Characters: “The easiest job in the world”

By the time most franchises reach the third film, audiences are either sure they've seen enough (does anyone really want to see a Men in Black 4?) or still clamoring more. In the case of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, which topped the box office this past weekend, the franchise might still have legs.

chris-rock-madagascar-3By the time most franchises reach the third film, audiences are either sure they’ve seen enough (does anyone really want to see a Men in Black 4?) or still clamoring more.  In the case of : Europe’s Most Wanted, which topped the box office this past weekend, the franchise might still have legs.

That will be good news for star , who voices Marty the zebra in the series.  Rock memorably joked about voicing a cartoon character as “the easiest job in the world” while presenting the Best Animated Oscar at this year’s Academy Awards.  As evidence, he said, “I go in a booth and I say, ‘What’s the line?’ And a guy goes, ‘It’s time to go to the store.’ And then I say, ‘It’s time to go to the store !’ And then I go, ‘What’s the next line?’ ‘ It’s getting dark outside.’ So I go, ‘It’s getting dark outside!’…And then, they give me a million dollars!”

Rock continued to joke about how “easy” it is to voice a character in an animated film in an interview with New York Daily News.  He jokes, “Yeah, I didn’t have to go to Monaco and live with zebras. But when I say it’s not work, I’m comparing it to actual work.”  He then says to the reporter, “We’re in a hotel room that someone has to clean up later. [That person] would not think my animated job — me getting into a recording booth — was work!”

Whether or not it was “work,” the recording sessions for Madagascar 3 took place over a two year period.  So while it may not be as tough as memorizing pages of dialogue for a film (or for a Broadway show, as Rock had to do when he starred in The Motherf****r with the Hat last year), it’s probably not the walk in the park Rock describes it as.

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