Finding Nemo saved my life
SHE’S long campaigned for a sequel to the Oscarwinning Finding Nemo, but even Ellen DeGeneres – who voiced blue tang Dory in the 2003 underwater animation – never imagined that when it did eventually happen, she’d be the main character.
“It really just became content for my show,” the 58-year-old says of her 13-year-long crusade, which she made no secret of on her popular syndicated talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “Every sequel that came out for every other movie, it was just like, ‘Oh my God, are you kidding me?’ And then it just became a running joke.”
After a pause, teasing, she adds: “He ruined it,” referring to director and Pixar veteran Andrew Stanton. “My joke is over, because he did (make a sequel). Now I have no more jokes.”
Ellen career is riding high, but that’s not always been the case, though. Before landing her hit talk show, now in its 13th season, just a few months after Finding Nemo opened in cinemas, the Louisiana-born host, comedian, actress and writer wasn’t working after her second sitcom, The Ellen Show, was cancelled in 2002.
Finding Nemo, she says, “certainly saved my life in many ways”.
“And just the confidence Andrew had (in me),” she adds. “I don’t know if he was even aware of my situation because he’s so immersed in his world; he probably didn’t realise I wasn’t working and that I wasn’t desirable.”
Far from just good timing, Ellen shone as the upbeat, friendly blue fish, who captured the audience’s heart with her short-term memory loss and quirky lines (‘Just keep swimming!’), and deserves to take centre sea in its 3D computer-animated follow-up.
A tale of selfacceptance, the movie catches up with Dory one year on, and finds her living happily in the reef with Marlin (Albert Brooks) and Nemo (Hayden Rolence). The tide turns, however, when she suddenly remembers she has a family, and embarks on a life-changing adventure across the ocean in a bid to find them.
“It’s amazing to me that Dory has resonated with people so much,” muses Ellen of the film-makers’ decision to focus on Dory’s past,” concludes Ellen, who married her long-time girlfriend, Ally McBeal and Scandal actress Portia de Rossi, in 2008. The presenter – who looks younger than her years with her elfin blonde crop and preppy blue and white shirt, trousers and white hi-tops combo – is reflective when it comes to the film’s message.
“I think it’s important that this supposed disability is her strength,” she enthuses.
“She’s spontaneous, she’s non-judgemental, and no matter what mood somebody else is in, it doesn’t impact her and doesn’t take it personally.
“It’s what I say on my show every day: be kind to one another. That’s what Dory does,” she explains, adding that the character’s ‘Just keep swimming’ mantra is one she’s applied in her own life too.
But is there anything she would rather forget?
“No, it seems corny and clichéd, but every single thing that has happened has either been a beautiful blessing or a lesson, so I look at everything as a guide post,” she says with a smile. Ellen has a real soft spot for Dory Finding Dory is in cinemas now. Nathan Bevan returns next week