Will Arnett is certain he had the easiest job of any of the voice talent who worked on The Lego Movie because he takes on the one character most people will recognise: a pint-sized version of Batman.
Asked about the inspiration, Arnett says he read the Old Testament repeatedly. Then he offers a more serious answer. Finding the voice started during the first meetings with The Lego Movie directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.
“We came up with the idea of looking at all of the Batmans who have come before — back to the Batman before the original dinosaurs — and trying to see what would make us laugh,” Arnett says. “The first couple of (recording) sessions we spent a lot of time finding that voice and what was working and what wasn’t working.”
The fun of playing the role for Arnett was getting to change the rules when giving voice to the traditionally dark and brooding character and creating a version of Batman that doesn’t follow a typical path. What Arnett and the directors decided was that the more serious Batman tried to take himself, the funnier the character became.
One of the ways they made Batman funnier was to have Arnett sing a Batman song. Arnett sarcastically says it was “a treat” to do because he doesn’t have what’s considered a traditional singing voice.
Arnett, who is chiefly known for his on-screen work — from Arrested Development to his current CBS comedy series, The Millers — has plenty of voice work experience. Along with The Lego Movie, he’s the voice of the squirrel Surly in the film The Nut Job. He’s also been a voice talent in The Simpsons, The Cleveland Show, The Secret World of Arrietty, Despicable Me, Sit Down Shut Up, Monsters vs Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space and Ratatouille. Arnett also has a new animated series in the works for Netflix.
Voice work was a way Arnett could pay the bills when he was starting out. Now, it’s become what Arnett calls “a fancy second job” he looks forward to doing. “It’s such a fun world. I love doing voice work because it’s such a fun process,” Arnett says. “I like it because you can go and be in a different world.”
The worlds couldn’t be much different with the two movies now in theatres, where he goes from self-centered squirrel to self-confident superhero. And both voice jobs are much different than the work he’s doing on the CBS sitcom The Millers, where he plays a newly single television reporter whose mother (Margo Martindale) moves in with him.
The comic chemistry between Arnett and Martindale has helped make The Millers a top-rated new comedy. Arnett says the series just happened to have the right cast and writing to give him a hit.
Not only does voice work help pay the bills, but being in The Lego Movie has won him some added adulation from his 3-year-old son.
“He keeps calling it The Lego/Batman Movie,” Arnett says. — By Rick Bentley, The Fresno Bee, MCT


Tom Cruise sued for $1bn

Hollywood actor Tom Cruise has been sued for $1bn by screenwriter Timothy Patrick McLanahan for the script of 2011 movie Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol.
McLanahan filed legal documents in December claiming the script of the movie came from his script Head On. Paramount Pictures is also named in the suit, reports radaronline.com.
“In 1998 I had written a screenplay called Head On. After submitting it to the US Copyright Office, Head On received a copyright certificate protecting its material and author from unauthorised use,” McLanahan wrote in legal documents obtained by Radar.
The writer then detailed the trail the script went through, starting with William Morris Agency, which sent it to CAA (Creative Artists Agency), where Cruise, 51, is a client. McLanahan is claiming his script was put in front of Cruise’s agent Rick Nicita, who is married to the star’s production partner Paula Wagner.
In 2011 when Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol came out, McLanahan thought it seemed familiar.
“I immediately recognised that the scripts for this movie had been illegally written and produced from Head On’s 1998 copyright,” the writer claimed in documents.
McLanahan came to the $1bn amount after adding up ticket sales ($694,710,000), DVD and blue ray sales ($144.5mn), and movie rentals and subscription sales and budget ($145mn), according to the site. — IANS

Sofia Vergara unsure of wedding plan


Actress Sofia Vergara says she is confused about her wedding ceremony. The 41-year-old is set to marry businessman Nick Loeb. “We have been engaged for over a year and we still haven’t decided what we want to do for our wedding. He’s letting me handle things and I’m not sure if I want to do something big like I did for my 40th birthday. It was so much fun but takes a lot of time and planning,” femalefirst.co.uk quoted Vergara as saying. “I haven’t made up my mind yet but I can see myself doing something very small and intimate with my closest relatives and friends,” she added. — IANS

Depp wants Rolling Stones to perform at his wedding

Actor Johnny Depp is keen on having The Rolling Stones rock band perform at his wedding. Depp, who is close to band member Keith Richards, is said to have asked him to perform and might even be joining him in the performance. “The wedding plans are at an early stage. But the one thing Johnny does know is he wants Keith and the guys there. He might even ask to join them on a track or two,” contactmusic.com quoted the 50-year-old as saying. He had proposed to his girlfriend Amber Heard in December last year, however, the date for their wedding has not been set as yet. — IANS


Katie Holmes dating Jamie Foxx?

Actress Katie Holmes once again sparked rumours of dating actor Jamie Foxx after the two were spotted spending time together during Super Bowl weekend in New York.
Holmes, 35, and Foxx, 46, have reportedly been seeing each other since last summer and also spent time together at his mansion in California recently, reports nypost.com.
They are keeping their relationship under wraps out of respect for Holmes’ ex-husband Tom Cruise, a source said.
Another source said that they are being careful because Cruise is a friend of Foxx. The two actors featured in the 2004 crime thriller Collateral.
Cruise and Holmes parted ways in July 2012 after about six years of marriage. Holmes and Foxx were first romantically linked after they were spotted dancing together at Ron Perelman’s Apollo theatre in the Hamptons gala in August last year. However both strongly denied the rumours that time. — IANS