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Award-winning actor Colm Feore recalls it was a wintry day when he walked into the Kitchener, Ont., studio of Fred Smith to record voices for the Oscar nominated stop-motion feature The Girl Who Cried Pearls.
“I play almost everyone,” the film and stage actor said in an interview with CBC News. “There is one young girl whose voice obviously has to be a young girl. But all the other voices, I do.”
Feore, who lives in Stratford, Ont., with his wife Donna who works at the Stratford Festival, says he remembers saying he would do the voices for the 17-minute film if he could do it at Smith’s studio.
Smith’s studio is used for movie, documentary and TV voiceovers, corporate audio projects including commercials as well as by bands and musicians.
Smith says he and Feore have worked on a number of projects and he always comes ready to work.
“Colm always comes in super prepared. It’s almost like he’s already had the script memorized. That’s how good he is,” Smith said.
Smith says the session to record the voices for this film wasn’t more than a couple of hours “and that includes social time and lots of laughs and lots of fun.”
He adds Feore often impresses because on the first take, Smith will look over at the directors or producers “and their jaws are on the floor because Colm just seems to grab on to exactly what they’re looking for right away.”
Smith found out about the film’s Oscar nomination after receiving a text from Feore.
“That’s pretty cool,” Smith said. “I’ve been doing this for a long time and I’m just always joyful that I still get to do what I love to do the most. And never think about any of this kind of stuff. So when it comes along, it’s quite remarkable. It’s nice.”
WATCH Colm Feore performs the voice of the old man:
‘We went after him’
The stop-motion animated film created by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski takes place in early 20th century Montreal and tells the story of a poor boy who falls in love with a young girl whose tears turn into pearls.
Lavis and Szczerbowski say Feore — known to many for his vast number of film and TV roles including in Chicago, Thor, Bon Cop, Bad Cop, the TV series Landman, and for his work on the Stratford Festival stage — was a must-have for their film.
“We went after him. He was the number one guy we wanted for the voice. I mean, he’s played Richard III and Laufey, father of Loki, in the MCU [Marvel Cinematic Universe],” Lavis told the industry media outlet Deadline. “He’s just one of those actors who can handle any type of material.”
In the studio, Feore talked to Lavis and Szczerbowski about their vision for the characters he voiced.
“[The voices] were a close collaboration with creators Chris and Maciek and asking them, what do they need from these other characters,” Feore said.
“The text was so good, but there were a few nuances that I wanted to know whether to lean into or to back away from.”
Feore says while recording the voices, he also performed the mannerisms of the characters while watching the movie.
“There’s a moment where the character waves his arm around and talks about ‘This whole room. How did you pick this one little thing?’ And you’ll see me in the studio waving my arms around, getting up, sitting down, grunting, you know, like an old person,” Feore said.
“What we’re really trying to convey here is a living, breathing creature who happens to be a stop-motion animated puppet. So how do we do that? If I perform those actions well, my breathing is likely to be correct for a senior citizen trying to sit down or wave his arms around.”
This is the second Oscar nomination Montreal-based animators Lavis and Szczerbowski have received. Their first was for the 2007 NFB short Madame Tutli-Putli.
“We’re thrilled to be representing the country of Canada and the National Film Board of Canada at this year’s Academy Awards celebration,” Lavis and Szczerbowski said in a joint statement to CBC News.
Asked if he’ll attend the Oscars, Feore said if invited he will attend.
He added he plans to be at the Screen Actors Guild awards ceremony on March 1, where the series Landman, where he plays the character Nathan, is nominated in the category of performance by an ensemble in a drama.
The Girl Who Cried Pearls is nominated in the best animated short film category at the Academy Awards. The awards will be handed out March 15.
The Morning Edition – K-W7:47Local connection to National Film Board animated short nominated for Oscar
The ‘Girl Who Cried Pearls’ has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Short. The stop-motion animated film tells the story of a poor boy who falls in love with a girl whose tears turn into pearls. There is a local connection to the National Film Board production. CBC K-W’s Joe Pavia spoke with actor Colm Feore about his role in the short.