Here’s a crossover nobody saw coming. George Lucas, the legendary creator of Star Wars, is lending his voice to a character in Illumination’s Minions & Monsters, hitting theaters July 1. The reveal comes from a new interview Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri gave to Collider, where he opened up about how exactly they convinced one of Hollywood’s biggest names to step into a recording booth for an animated comedy.
As it turns out, Lucas is a genuine fan of the franchise. Meledandri shared that he first met Lucas about two years ago and learned that Lucas loves Illumination’s movies, especially Despicable Me and the Minions films specifically. When a character idea came up during development of the new movie, Meledandri floated the idea of bringing Lucas in to voice it to director Pierre Coffin, co writer Brian Lynch, and producer Bill Ryan. He admitted he wasn’t sure what kind of response to expect, but the yes came back fast.
The actual recording session has a fun story behind it too. Since much of Illumination’s animation work happens out of Paris, the timing lined up perfectly when Lucas happened to be there with his wife, Mellody Hobson. Coffin met Lucas at a Paris recording studio and got the whole thing done in one session. Even better, Lucas’ scene also includes an animated version of Orson Welles, a touch Meledandri said means a lot to him personally thanks to an early Hollywood memory of his own. And it sounds like this might not be a one time thing either, Meledandri mentioned that Lucas is already talking with him about what role he might want to play in the next Minions movie.
Lucas joins a stacked voice cast for Minions & Monsters that includes Jeff Bridges, Allison Janney, Trey Parker, and Christoph Waltz, with Pierre Coffin once again voicing the Minions themselves. The film, the third standalone Minions movie, sends the Minions into the world of 1920s Hollywood filmmaking, with plenty of monster mayhem along the way. It premieres at the Annecy Film Festival this weekend before opening wide on July 1. Were you expecting to see the mind behind Star Wars pop up in a Minions movie? Let us know in the comments.
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