I love hearing stories about how people managed to get the parts in films. Like how Megan Fox got the gig in Transformers by washing Michael Bay’s car like a pornstar, or how TJ Miller was hired to play Ranger Smith in the Yogi and Booboo film by auditioning with a real bear…
Wait… what?
Worst Previews shares:
It was recently announced that Warner Bros was moving forward with a “Yogi Bear” movie, which will be a mix of animation and live-action. The part of Yogi went to Dan Aykroyd, while his sidekick Boo-Boo will be voiced by Justin Timberlake.
In the recent weeks, the studio has been auditioning people for the part of Ranger [Smith] (live-action), eventually deciding on TJ Miller (Cloverfield, Extract) after seeing his audition reel in which Miller reads his lines with a real bear.
His performance with the bear is nothing special, and he just riffs and improves with a bear in front of him. But its fun and clearly got their attention, and subsequently the job.
I have no idea how they are going to do a live action/CG mixed film with Yogi, but I will be curious to see what they come up with on this. And the voice casting for Yogi and Booboo just raises a puzzling eyebrow. I can see Akroyd nailing Yogi’s smooth charm, but Timberlake is doing Booboo? Wow.
There is only so much Pic-a-nic basket theft gags they can do in 90 minutes.
