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The other day we linked to a funny recording of William Shatner giving some voiceover directors the business. In the comments someone made reference to a similar Orson Welles voiceover outtake, which you can hear here. This is both hilarious and heartbreaking. Hilarious in hearing the great Welles talk about canned peas, and call the material “unrewarding,” as he squabbles with the directors who are clearly just desperate to get the eccentric genius to read something through.
Heartbreaking because the man who at age 25 directed what some still consider the greatest American movie ever made would never again finish anything in vaguely the way he intended, and was reduced to talking about canned peas for a living for decades. And yet the spirit is there. Observe how this epic man gives the two words “great shoals” an entire history, lore and mystery just by saying them aloud.
Anyway, this recording is so famous that it was recreated verbatim for an episode of ANIMANIACS.
Animaniacs.
Does anyone remember that?
We are alive, with a sore throat still…or again…or something. We intend to live on green tea and blueberries for the next week or so. We are happy about many things, but sad about others. Sad that PAN’S LABYRINTH didn’t win Best Foreign Film Oscar. (Yes I know it won three, so no real tears.) And sad that CHILDREN OF MEN didn’t win any. Do you want to know why everyone says CHILDREN OF MEN is the modern day BLADE RUNNER?
It’s a compendium of the video advertisement and other source material that the agency Foreign Office created for the film, and they are both mundane and chilling and beautiful. Go watch and make them all in-jokes. That’s what the internet is for.
Anyway, one good weekend of sleep and we’ll be back in the saddle. Sleep. Beautiful, precious sleep.
Yes, I do remember that episode of Animaniacs.
I remember it was the same voice as the guy who voiced Brain.
And I remember (since i was fairly young at the time) wondering who the heck Orson Wells was.
But either way, i found his peas jokes quite funny.
Was it Animaniacs, or was it The Critic? Because Maurice Lamarche definitely did this on the Critic?
“Rosebud froze peas. Full of country goodness and green peaness. Peaness! That’s horrible!”
Cool to see all the Children of Men background ads all in one place.
Children of Men was excellence on a stick. Seeing those all those ads are brilliant. And yes, scary.
I believe the Animaniacs short was called “Yes, Always” – can anyone confirm?
My dance mix version of the Welles session is here:
http://urbaniak.livejournal.com/80109.html
(also scroll down in comments for a link to the Animaniacs episode)
Maurice LaMarche’s approach to his voice for the Brain was very much rooted in his Welles impersonation. He discusses that, and the Welles tape (the first time I had heard of it) in this interview:
http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/?p=1153
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkMVFv3wuxw
:-)
I actually went to see Children of Men last weekend since I couldn’t get into the NYCC Saturday. I may have come out the better for that deal. What a hideously wonderful film that is. It made my heart ache something fierce. (n.b.: If you haven’t seen the film yet, the linked reel contains a SPOILER, though for something that occurs within the first half of the film.)
And that episode of ANIMANIACS is pure gold. “What the hell is a ‘gonk’? Can anyone tell me, please?”