By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter
Two of Hollywood's funniest stars, Ben Stiller and Chris Rock, were in Seoul Wednesday to promote the animated sequel ``Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa."
``I'm very happy to be in Seoul for the first time in my life. It's very cool and refreshing here," Stiller said, during a press conference at the Shilla Hotel, Wednesday.
Rock took the chance to thank his Korean fans for their support. ``I just want to say hello to all my Korean fans. Thank you for supporting me throughout the years, through the good and the bad stuff. I'm glad we're here. We're back with `Madagascar 2'," he said.
In the film, Stiller and Rock lend their voices to best friends Alex the lion and Marty the zebra. The sequel to the 2005 box office hit shows Alex, Marty and the rest of the zoo animals attempting to return to New York, only to have their plane make a crash landing in Africa.
Stiller said the sequel is better than the original film, and expressed hope it will become a big hit when it opens in Korea in January. ``We hope we can break the `Transformers' (box office) record (in Korea), and I hope `Night at the Museum 2' will break the `Madagascar 2' record. And we would keep going forever and ever," he said, mentioning his other up-coming film ``Night at the Museum 2."
Both comedians enjoyed doing the voices of Alex and Marty. ``I think voice acting is real acting. You don't have to wash or shave but the thing about voice acting over real acting, is that you're encouraged to overact in voice acting, you can make it as big as possible. There are some light moments, but for the most part, its `Wrrr wrrr wrrr' (makes loud noises)," Rock explained.
Stiller said voice acting can be lonely since the actors usually record their voices alone. On the other hand, he says actors can try different techniques and improvise a lot during voice acting.
Stiller and Rock kept the atmosphere at the press conference light, joking and bantering with each other. They also expressed admiration for each other's work.
``I would give Chris' voice acting the highest marks, an A or A+ because he's very funny. He has real facility to come up with funny lines on his own," Stiller said.
Likewise, Rock only had good words to say about Stiller. ``Ben Stiller is one of the big talents we have not just in comedy, but also in cinema today. You know, I'd much rather see a Ben Stiller movie than any other movie… I am honored and excited as a fan," Rock said, with a deadpan expression.
To which, Stiller quipped: ``I paid him money to say that."
Stiller's son Quinlin does a bit of voice acting as the younger Alex in the film. At that time, his son was only 2-and-a-half years old. ``After two minutes, he didn't really want to do it anymore and he started crying. Luckily, he had to be crying in the movie, so we used that. I don't know if that's good or bad, but it's real crying in the movie. He's pretty funny on his own. He didn't really need any advice from me," Stiller said.
Comedian Bernie Mac, who unexpectedly passed away last August, lent his voice to a new character Zuba, who turns out to be Alex's father.
``Bernie Mac added so much to the movie. He played my father in the movie. Besides being funny, he added so much warmth and humanity to the film. I think we're lucky to have him in the film. It's a real loss for everyone," Stiller said.
Aside from Stiller, Rock and Mac, the film also features the voices of Jada Pinkett Smith, David Schwimmer, Sacha Baron Cohen, Will.i.am and Alec Baldwin.
``Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" hits movie screens in Korea in January.