The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Silverman has deep connection to ‘Ralph’ character
Comedian says voice role allows her to channel inner child.
LOS ANGELES — Sarah Silverman has loved the opportunities her unique voice has given her to work on animated projects such as “The Simpsons,” “Drawn Together,” “American Dad!” and “Futurama.”
Nothing compared to the chance to step behind the microphone for the 2012 Disney animated feature “Wreck-It Ralph” to speak for the spunky arcade game character Vanellope von Schweetz. And, she feels even happier to return to the role for the sequel, “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” which opened Wednesday.
“I had done voice-over work, but this character was really special,” Silverman says. “This is a character that feels really close because I am playing my own inner child. In the first movie, she was a glitch and she made that her superpower.
“That is a lot like when I wrote the book, ‘The Bed Wetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee’ (Harper Perennial), that talks about the humiliation
of being a bedwetter and thinking that would be the deepest, darkest secret of my life. Then I grew up to be a comedian and it became this rock, this piece of strength in me because if people are going to boo me or hate me, I already know what humiliation feels like.”
Silverman’s character is facing a new challenge. There’s a restlessness in Vanellope that she doesn’t quite understand until she and fellow arcade character Wreck-It Ralph ( John C. Reilly) have to go into the internet to find a way to keep Vanellope’s “Sugar Rush” game going. While searching for the solution, Vanellope discovers a much more exciting driving game, “Slaughter Race,” and begins to look at a different kind of future.
This is all done while Vanellope and Ralph share a deep bond forged through their first adventure but tested in the new film. The way the two characters connect comes from how much Silverman and Reilly put into their recording sessions. Generally actors will be alone in the booth, but “Ralph Breaks the Internet” directors Rich Moore and Phil Johnston allowed the two actors to record together.
Silverman found getting to record with Reilly gave them more freedom to improvise. They had so much fun together the recording sessions would run at least an hour longer than expected, plus they resulted in a lot of R-rated material that didn’t make the film.
Reilly called it a treat to be in the recording studio with Silverman again.
“In a way, like our friendship has aged five years since the last film. So it tracks in a way with Ralph and Vanellope. It was a real treat to be able to start at a place of intimacy with Sarah and with Phil and Rich and everybody,” Reilly says. “We learned how to work together on the first film. And we built these characters and the story together, so that when it came time to start this one, we could start from a very advanced place in terms of the kind of conversations we could have about the relationships and all that. And you can really see that in the film.”
The pair got together numerous times as with all scripts for animated projects, scenes were rewritten through a large part of the process. Silverman didn’t mind because of how much she likes working with Reilly and because each change made the script come across to her as more layered.
Another reason Silverman loved working on “Ralph Breaks the Internet” was the opportunity to sing a tune composed by Alan Menken. One of Silverman’s favorite musicals is “Little Shop of Horrors,” which Menken wrote with Howard Ashman. The tune Menken wrote for “Ralph Breaks the Internet” is part of the storyline where Vanellope is told she’s not entirely a Disney princess until she has her own song where she croons about what she wants in life.
As for what her reaction would be if the song got nominated for an Oscar for Best Song and she had to perform “A Place Called Slaughter Race,” Silverman laughs and says she’s ready. In fact, when she was originally recording the number, Silverman kept talking about when she performs at the Oscars which notes will have to be sweetened because she would not be able to hit the high notes.
The nonmusical humor in “Ralph Breaks the Internet” is aimed at the internet. The material was familiar to Silverman because she looks at the online world as a great place to try out jokes.
“Then it became the place where I take in my news. And now I want only (to) look back on the times when I was funny on it. I think there’s a lot of good in the internet. It’s brought the world a lot closer. It’s made it a lot smaller. And then of course there are terrible things about it,” Silverman says.
One of the really good parts for Silverman is it was the springboard for her to be a voice in an animated Disney movie.