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Ed O’Neill is Hank
By LINDA M. LINONIS
Ed O’Neill, Valley native and a star of “Modern Family,” voices Hank, an octopus, in the widely anticipated “Finding Dory,” the follow-up to the 2003 hit, “Finding Nemo.” Actually, Hank is a septopus, an octopus missing one tentacle.
In a phone interview this week, O’Neill said he was preparing to get a flight to New York to appear on a multitude of shows including “The View,” “Seth Meyers,” “The Chew” and “Live” with Kelly Ripa to promote the animated film that is being released today. O’Neill said the actors are promoting “Finding Dory” worldwide.
On Monday, he was a guest on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” with the talk-show host who voiced the title character, Dory.
O’Neill had nothing but positive remarks about Pixar and the creative process that produced the two animated films. He described the animation as “mesmerizing” and praised the technical expertise that puts the actor’s voices in the mouths of the animated characters, resulting in such an entertaining product.
“Finding Nemo” is the endearing story of a clown fish named Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks), who lives in the Great Barrier Reef with his son, Nemo. The young fish is netted by a diver and ends up in a tank in dentist’s office. On his quest to find his son, Marlin meets a blue tang fish named Dory (voiced by DeGeneres), who suffers from short-term memory loss. The companions travel a great distance, encountering dangerous sea creatures to rescue Nemo (voiced by Hayden Rolence). In the meantime, Nemo and the other sea animals in the dentist’s fish tank plot a way to return to Sydney Harbor to live free again. In “Finding Dory,” Marlin and Nemo help Dory find her parents, voiced by Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy.
O’Neill said John Lasseter, chief creative officer of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, sometimes “shows up for table reads” on the “Modern Family” set. The sitcom airs on ABC, which is owned by Disney. “He gets a kick out of it,” O’Neill said. “I’m guessing that’s how I got offered the part.”
O’Neill shared that the actors involved had worked on the movie for some three years. The action in the animated film takes place a year after Nemo’s adventure.“At first, I thought my part was a cameo ... a small part,” he said. “But as things were going along, it got bigger.”
Dory meets Hank when she ends up at the Marine Life Institute, where he is an escape artist with camouflaging capabilities. O’Neill characterized Hank as an octopus who “wants to be left alone” and “not be touched.” He’s angling to be moved to another facility where he can live in solitude.
O’Neill said voicing a part differs greatly from acting roles. “This really involves imagination,” he said. “I think of it like being a kid in a sandbox playing ... you have to use your imagination. It’s a whole different approach,” the actor said.
He explained he worked in a sound booth alone with no other actors there; someone on the production team might read the other actors’ lines. The actors who voiced the ocean-dwelling characters came together for promotional events. That included Austin Pendleton, also a Valley native, who voices “Gurgle” in “Finding Dory.”
Before recording sessions, he said, he would look over “sides,” (portions of the script) and then work from two to four hours. Sessions weren’t day to day but every three to four months.
“A production team works with you ... offering suggestions,” O’Neill said. “But it’s pretty straightforward.”
While only using one’s voice might seem easy, O’Neill admitted “you need a lot of energy for this.” He cited diction, elocution, enunciation and clarity as important elements in voice acting. O’Neill also has done voice work in “Kick Buttowski, Suburban Daredevil,” a TV cartoon, and Mr. Litwak in “Wreck-It Ralph,” a Disney feature film.
O’Neill admitted he liked doing voice work and seeing the end result. But, “working with real people ... that’s my first love,” he said.
Filming for the eighth season of “Modern Family” begins in August, O’Neill said. He also has a role in an independent move,” Sun Dogs,” a family drama, in which he plays the husband of Allison Janney. “I’m working on Father’s Day to finish my part,” he said.