On fall menu: Owen, Woody as turkeys
Keep the stuffing. Free the turkey. That’s the idea behind the animated buddy comedy “Free Birds” (out Nov. 1), which finds two turkeys (voiced by Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson) time-traveling back to the Pilgrim era to save turkeykind from the Thanksgiving menu forever.
“It’s one of those ideas that instantly makes you laugh,” says Wilson, who plays Reggie, a modernday turkey spared from the plate via presidential pardon. Thus rejected by his flock, he’s living the good life at Camp David, where he’s addicted to pizza and telenovelas.
“I wouldn’t say he’s selfish, but he’s just looking out for No. 1,” says Wilson.
Harrelson plays Jake, the president of the Turkeys Liberation Front “and the only member,” laughs Harrelson. Jake enlists Reggie in traveling to the first Thanksgiving via a hijacked time machine, where they encounter wild turkeys living underground in fear, including the smart, sarcastic Jenny (Amy Poehler).
“Free Birds” also gives Wilson a chance to make a film his 2-year-old son can see. “This idea was floating around before Ford even existed,” he says. “It is nice to think that it will be suitable for him.”
As for Harrelson developing a new sympathy for roasters: “I’ve been studying for this part for a long time because I’ve been a vegan for 23 years,” he says. “I had an instinct a long time ago: Don’t eat turkeys. Eventually you’re going to play one.”