The Knocturnal attended a press conference where Jesse Tyler Fergusson and Keke Palmer, stars of ‘Ice Age: Collision Course’, talked about changes, challenges, and Broadway. The film hits theaters this Friday.
What was the hardest change in your life?
JTF: Marriage for me was a great change. Not hard, but it was a lovely change to take that leap with someone. It’s a marker in my life. There’s before marriage and after marriage and I prefer after marriage.
KP: For me it was growing up. Starting out as an entertainer as a child. That was such a big transition because so many people want you to remain a child because that’s what they got comfortable with. So that transition from me growing up into a woman was probably the most difficult and delicate transition in my life so far.
Which came first this or the play (Fully Committed)?
JTF: This started 2 years ago. I don’t think I knew about Fully Committed at that point. In Fully Committed I play 40 different characters. I’m a French guy and a British woman. It’s fun playing with all those voices and I feel I could have gone back and given the Shangra Llama extra flare with some of the accents I discovered.
Can you talk about the challenges of working with such a large ensemble of talented people?
KP: The challenge is always how am I going to get my voice where it needs to be. They are always so awesome with that here. Whether we do some remote type of thing. That’s the most difficult thing. What I’ve learned with Ice Age is it spans a large amount of time. That’s the biggest challenge of figuring out what we are going to do and how I’m going to get my voice on it.
Did you get any advice from any fellow cast members?
KP: Queen Latifah has been a huge mentor of mine for my entire career so she was just like “have fun with it.” Her advice is that it’s fun and have a good time. They allow you to explore these rooms in a way you don’t get on a TV or film set. You get to just play.
You had to be an obstacle to the heroes but still be likable and fun.
JTF: It’s tricky. Knowing where you fit in the puzzle. If someone asked me before seeing the movie what Ice Age: Collision Course is about I’d say “so it’s about this llama.” [laughs] You sort of live in your own little bubble in the world, so that was hard for me to figure out. They tell you what the movie is about but you don’t have a script, you don’t know where you fit it. That was challenging for me.
KP: The efforts are always really challenging. When they say things like ‘you are falling down a cliff and as you hit the ground the world starts to shake.’ And I’m like that’s a really difficult thing. You are just like “uhhhh ahhhh” and you feel like an idiot. But there so supportive. Like “that’s great” give me some more. When you laugh they are like “that laugh is great but give me a little squeak at the end.”
Ice Age: Collision Course is in theaters on July 22nd. Check out our exclusive interview with Director Mike Thurmeier here.
