How sweet it is for 8-bit brute
John C. Reilly couldn’t have cherry-picked a better role
He’s bad, and that’s not good.
At least that’s what the Hulk-size video-game villain believes as he suffers an identity crisis in Wreck-It Ralph, Disney’s 52nd animated feature powering up in theaters this fall.
As voiced by John C. Reilly ( Chicago, Step Brothers), Ralph is a vintage 8-bit brute who has been bashing buildings for 30 years, only to have the well-mannered namesake hero of Fix-It Felix, Jr. ( 30 Rock’s Jack McBrayer) constantly repair all his demolition handiwork.
After attending a support group for arcade evildoers (which allows for cameos by such classic foes as Dr. Robotnik from Sonic the Hedgehog and Zangief the wrestler in Street Fighter II), Ralph decides to travel through a power strip and enter other games to prove he can be a good guy.
Reilly, 47, is no stranger to Ralph’s universe. “In the early ’80s, when my expendable income were the quarters in my pocket, I played such first-generation games as Space Invaders, Asteroids and Donkey Kong,” he says.
He compares his character’s situation to basketball superstar Michael Jordan’s sudden decision to try baseball in the early ’90s. “We all thought, ‘Michael, what are you doing? You have to come back.’ The same thing happens with Ralph. He is the greatest guy at destroying things ever, but then he heads off to be a soldier in a first-person shooter game.”
Director Rich Moore (TV’s The Simpsons, Futurama) says Reilly earned the right to be Ralph because of his Everyman qualities. “I’ve been a fan of John’s ever since I saw him in Hard Eight,” a 1996 crime thriller. “He brings so much humanity to his characters and does it with a sense of humor. You want him to achieve whatever goal he has.”
Other voices in the cast include Glee’s Jane Lynch, whose tough-as-nails Sgt. Calhoun finds she has company when Ralph joins her in annihilating alien invad-
ers in the Halo- like game Hero’s Duty. And, in candythemed game Sugar Rush, comic Sarah Silverman brings her usual sweet yet sassy attitude as the girlish Vanellope von Schweetz.
Of course, there will be video-game tie-ins with the film. “There better be,” says Moore. “On top of a Wreck-It Ralph game, there will be an arcade version of Fix-It Felix, Jr. that will pop up around the country, including your favorite pizza parlor.”