Wreck-It Ralph himself, John C. Reilly, is visiting with Movie Fanatic in Las Vegas for CinemaCon exclusively to talk about his new Disney animated film. The story follows Wreck-It Ralph, an 8-bit video game villain, who after three decades terrorizing the game’s hero wants something more. Reilly can relate.
“It’s funny. I’m getting up there in age. I’m not a kid anymore, what struck me is this search for meaning in your life. After doing a job, I often reflect. I’ve made 60 movies now. This thing that happens to my character in the movie is deep,” Reilly said. “He’s a video game character, a bad guy. He’s an outcast, He starts to fell like, ‘Is this all there is to life? Can I win a prize one time?’ He sets off on this journey where he tries to find himself and become a more heroic version of himself. He’s shocked.”
The actor found inspiration for the character’s journey from the most unlikely of sources. “Joe Girardi, the manager of the Yankees once said, ‘There’s two kinds of people in the world -- those who have been humbled and those who are about to be humbled.’ Ralph is both of those by the end of the movie,” Reilly said.
He didn’t find too much of a difference making an animated film versus the live action variety. Most live action films require ADR where the actor returns to record lines not picked up on set.
“Acting is this process of stepping across into the looking glass and imagining yourself as another character. I’ve done a lot of this in a way when I do ADR for films,” Reilly said. “You’re projecting everything you would normally use your whole body for through your voice. Using it on Wreck-It Ralph has been a really fun, creative and collaborative process.”