Dane Cook tones down his standup comedy to voice Dusty Crophopper in Disney movie Planes
Bawdy comic punches up Dusty Crophopper in Disney cartoon
The bawdy standup comedy of Dane Cook doesn’t really belong in the wonderful world of Disney. But he made the necessary adjustments when the studio came calling.
The Mouse House wanted him to voice the Dusty Crophopper character in the 3-D animated motion picture Planes.
The 41-year-old said yes almost immediately.
“I understood Disney wanted to capitalize on attracting my fans, who now have kids,” Cook said during an interview at a Santa Monica hotel.
“I knew they wanted to make the experience light, airy and fun, but (Disney) also wanted my character to have a voice that showed some grit and edge and not be golly-geeaw-shucks.”
In the spinoff of Cars and Cars 2, Planes is the underdog story of Cook’s Dusty, an insecure Cessna yearning to become an international air racer.
A few things stand in his way, however. Dusty lacks speed and has a fear of heights.
When experienced Corsair aviator Skipper Riley (Stacy Keach) gets Dusty into racing shape, the upstart ends up facing off with the conniving defending champ Ripslinger (Roger Craig Smith).
As usual, a crazy mix of characters rounds out the ensemble.
There is the sleek Pan-Asian champ Ishani, voiced by Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra.
Teri Hatcher voices the forklift Dottie. Brad Garrett is the fuel truck Chug. Julia LouisDreyfus does the Québécois racer Rochelle. Val Kilmer is Super Hornet fighter Bravo and John Cleese is the de Havilland Comet Bulldog, among many others.
It is the lovable Dusty that drives Planes, which graduated from a direct-to-DVD production to a major theatrical release after positive reviews from test audiences last year.
Support from John Lasseter, the head of Disney and Pixar animation studios (and the director of Cars and the sequel) also helped push for the upgrade and change the movie’s flight path.
“With John it’s all about the quality,” Planes director Klay Hall said. “He’s amazing and inspiring and there was a pressure to spinning off one of his movies, but it was all good pressure.”
Certainly, casting Cook was an off-the-wall choice but it was embraced by all involved.
“We were familiar with Dane’s standup routines,” Hall said. “But we also understood that he has a lot of heart and soul, and when that came through in the recording sessions it was like magic happening.”
In fact, Cook was a lastminute Dusty replacement when Jon Cryer dropped out, even as the animated production side of things was close to completion.
“It came together pretty quickly,” Cook said of being hired. “But I had been looking for a family-friendly adventure and this was perfect.”
Any doubts he had about achieving his goals were quickly eliminated by experiencing the attention to detail that came from Hall, Lasseter and the Disney-Pixar “brain trust.”
“Klay knew distinctly what he wanted, and I got to see the Planes blueprint of it,” Cook said. “And as long as I was painting within the lines, I could fit in some of my enthusiasm into a scene.”
As a voice actor, the highenergy performer was also relieved he didn’t need to be stationary during the sessions.
“The technology is so incredible now you don’t always have to stand and deliver like you used to,” Cook said. “As Dusty, I was always roaring around the sound booth. Sometimes, I would even pretend to fly up to mic to get in the mood.”
It helped him avoid being complacent, which he soon realized would become problematic.
“When you are using just your voice you would think it should be a more casual atmosphere, but it’s not,” Cook said.
It’s a good thing Cook’s all about extra effort. He has been since the early 1990s when he was trying to start a standup career in New York comedy clubs.
In 1998, he introduced himself to a wider audience on Comedy Central’s Premium Blend, which led to some specials then his massive 2003 hit comedy album and tour Harmful If Swallowed.
A string of successful comedy tours and albums followed. So did co-starring roles in movies, including notable appearances in Employee of the Month, Good Luck Chuck (a starring role), Dan in Real Life and My Best Friend’s Girl.