Interview: Mary Costa of Disney’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’

Posted on October 5, 2008 at 8:00 am

I spoke to Mary Costa, who played the title role in the animated Disney classic “Sleeping Beauty,” about making the film and the new 50th anniversary DVD release. As Ms. Costa told me the story of her favorite scene, she recited it from memory and her voice became again exactly the voice of the young princess who has just met her one true love, the one she once danced with once upon a dream. You can get a glimpse of this scene and hear Mary Costa’s voice in the clip below from the DVD extras.

How were you cast in the role of Briar Rose/Princess Aurora?

I was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and moved to California with my parents. I attended Glendale High School and appeared in the school operetta. I was invited to a dinner party with some people from the industry and people began singing. I sang “When I Fall in Love.” One of the other guests was Walter Shuman who said, “I’ve been looking for three years and I think you are it. Can you audition tomorrow morning?” The next day, I came to the studio and there was a booth with everyone I would be working with for the next three years. They asked me to sing and do a bird call. But I had a Southern accent. So they said, “Do you think you could talk with a British accent?” “Oh yes, I could!” . My father and I loved to pretend we had British accents. The next day, the phone rang and everyone in my family raced to get it. It was Walt Disney and he said, “You have been hiding the Princess Aurora in Glendale!” I had the job.

Did Walt Disney advise you about the role?

He was involved in every single detail about the movie. He said this story was the most inspirational of all the fairy tales. And he told me, “I want you to know your character so well that you have memorized everything so you can drop all of those colors into your vocal palate and paint with your voice.” He said that in the forest scenes I should let the forest caress me.

Were you working mostly by yourself in a booth or interacting with the other performers?

I worked with the godmothers a couple of times and I worked with the prince, Bill Shirley. We all had our crushes on him! The woman who played Maleficent was a petite woman but she sounded like she was nine feet tall. Verna Felton, who played one of the godmothers, was so funny.

How does it look in its newly restored edition?
For the first time I really feel I have seen this movie. The depths of color and quality of sound with this technology! The people in the audience were oo-ing and ah-ing. You will be enveloped by the sound and see things you have never seen before.

Do you have a favorite scene?

I love every scene. But one I think is the essence of romance is when Princess Aurora and the Prince are in the forest and he asks her when he can see her again.

Prince Phillip: But when will I see you again?
Princess Aurora: Oh never, never!
Prince Phillip: Never?
Princess Aurora: Well, maybe someday.
Prince Phillip: When, tomorrow?
Princess Aurora: Oh no, this evening!
Prince Phillip: Where?
Princess Aurora: At the cottage… in the glen.

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Animation Interview

Interview: Irena Salina of ‘FLOW’

Posted on September 18, 2008 at 4:00 pm

Director Irena Salina talked to me about her new documentary, “FLOW: For Love of Water,” about the problems of contamination and scarcity in water systems throughout the world.
What kind of water do you drink?
Tap water! We need to get back to fall in love with tap water. If you’re concerned about chemicals, until we put state of the art filtration in place, look at the “get the tap back” information at Food and Water Watch.
What led you to this project?
My first film was “Ghost Bird: The Life and Art of Judith Deim.” She was a painter who lived in a remote village in Mexico and had known John Steinbeck when he was young and lived with gypsies in Spain. She was an inspiration to her daughters and granddaughters. I had been collecting articles about this issue. I heard Robert Kennedy, Jr. speak with Riverkeepers about fighting companies dumping chemicals in the Hudson. I responded to this like a mother, the idea of those chemicals coming into our bodies.
Then I saw an article in The Nation: “Who Owns Water?” by Tony Clarke and Maude Barlow. They asked, “Is water going to be the oil of the 21st century — could it become a monopoly?” Within the article was a small story about New Orleans, the biggest privatization project in the US and I decided to cover it. US Filter and United Water, Mayor Nagan, ACORN, a labor guy — every civil society representative was there. I brought a good friend with a camera. I covered the whole story interviewed everyone — it will be on the DVD extras. I contacted Steven Starr in LA and said, “I want to make a documentary about water.” He immediately believed in it. Then off I was going to Japan and the World Water Council, meeting all the players and the people, doing the sound, camera, everything. Next, Steven was giving me his mileage to go to Bolivia. Five years, on and off, and now it is here.
How do you convey the seriousness of the issue without leaving people in despair?
What was really, really important was to have some characters who really moved me. I thought, “Wow, this man has such an effect on me, what he is doing for the poorest of the poor, maybe there’s a chance he will go through the guts of people.” Scientists talking, I was yawning! If “An Inconvenient Truth” didn’t have Al Gore but some professor, it would not have worked. I tried to find people to be inspired by. Not just boring talking heads, yes this is a serious subject, there are young activists who scream but what I loved about Maude Barlow was she could be your aunt, a middle class grandmother could relate to her. She was very passionate about what she does. We had tears in our eyes listening to Ashok Gadgil.
What resources are you making available to people who want to know/do more?
We are working on our website. We will have maps of the US. And people can also go to Food and Water Watch for more information.
What do you most want people to get from this film?
I love what Peter Gleick from the Pacific Institute says about how the World Bank knows how to spend $100 million but it does not know how to spend $1000 a million times. For me, that is the essence of the problem. That could not describe better what I’ve seen around the world.
What is the best advice you ever got?
Plant the seed little by little, one step at a time, with simplicity but at the same time reaching slowly from one place to another.
What inspires you?
Anything that gets me, deep, on a heart level, on a gut level, whether it’s a little woman who inspired me in Mexico, the story of water, equality, people, justice. My grandfather was in the resistance from Nice. He has an avenue under his name. He was always for the people. He view was: You had to be there, to do it, you did not even ask.
My next project is something that sort of grew on me over the last two years, planted its roots and not letting me cut it, the story of the farmers in India who are in desperate circumstances due to pesticides. I will treat it as a fiction film but explore as a documentary. I don’t know if I was Indian in a past life but there is a connection with the earth. It is not an expose but a love story. It is not “we hate Monsanto” but the story of a grandmother conserving the seeds for the next year and the next generation.

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Documentary Interview

Interview: Ron Pearson of ‘Apostles of Comedy’

Posted on September 8, 2008 at 8:00 am

Ron Pearson of the new DVD Apostles of Comedy answered some of my questions about his tour. Pearson starred for several years on “Malcolm & Eddie,” guest starred on “The Drew Carey Show,” “Two Guys and a Girl,” “The George Lopez Show,” and appeared in a recurring on “That 70s Show.” As a comedian Ron has made numerous late night appearances from “The Late Late Show,” to “The Dennis Miller Show,” and “Comedy Central.” The DVD has Pearson and three other top Christian comics at home and in performance.
What is the most important thing for a comedian to know about his or her audience?
There is a phrase in comedy that says, “Know your audience!” That in itself is the second most important thing in comedy. Everyone laughs at a joke that is based on a truth, but not everyone’s experiences are the same. Talking to a group of teens it wouldn’t be that funny to them talking about the problems of a large mortgage. Or the same talking to a bunch of Amish about troubles with the computer!
If you understand who you are talking to, you can find the common ground and break down the barriers! It’s all about knowing the audience.

What inspires you?
What a broad question–What inspires you? So many things. A great movie makes me want to do better work. Seeing a great play, and a song by Baz Luhrmann, the film director, called ‘Everyone is Free to Wear Sunscreen” inspired me to write a one man comedy show. Some parts of it are actually in the Apostles of Comedy film. However, the biggest inspiration for me is an empty bank account!

What makes you laugh?
Everyday life! Life’s a lot easier if you can laugh at it! My wife, kids and myself are constantly doing and saying funny things. It’s my job to capture that and put it in a looking glass of words for others to relate too. For example, my family was going to a lacrosse game recently and we were right on the edge of being late and the emergency brake cable in the truck snapped off.
I wanted to get to the game so bad, I was frustrated, wasn’t sure who
to call, so I yelled to my wife in frustration to “call General Motors.” My wife said, ”Really, General motors has someone standing by on a Sunday night to fix your
emergency brake!”
Now every so often one of the kids will just yell, “Call General Motors!” Much to my chagrin, it’s been hours of laughter for my family! But, That’s life and life is funny!
I laugh at just about everything! Have you ever noticed that even at a funeral, you get some of the
biggest and deepest laughs? Also, great jokes and great comedians make me laugh!
You know how I make God laugh? I tell him my plans.
My Godson, Beckett makes me laugh. He’s almost 3 years old and just listening to him talk cracks me up!
Can you be reverent and irreverent at the same time?
Another great question! Life is full of oxymorons, I’m just a moron! Yes, I think you can in a weird way be reverent and irreverent at the same time. The reason is, comedy is based on truth and sometimes the truth is ugly. So often, making a joke about a topic that people don’t want to talk about, or won’t acknowledge because of some predisposition, is the best way for people to relate to something difficult for them. The fact that you base it on truth is the important part. That keeps it reverent because God is truth.
Do you have a favorite Bible passage about the importance of laughter?
The funniest thing in the Bible to me is the story of Noah! Here’s a guy who preached for 100 years and didn’t have a single convert! He could barely get his own family on the ark! I can relate to this guy! The frustrated dad. The passage that also hits home is James 4:9 Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom! JUST KIDDING. Actually it’s Proverbs 17:22–A cheerful heart makes good medicine.
Laughter is therapeutic!
What’s the best advice you ever got?
The best advice I ever got was to treat a woman with respect. Oh, you mean about comedy. The best advice was from the actor Peter Scolari. When I first came to Los Angeles, I considered him to be my mentor. He told me that you can make an audience laugh and laugh, but if you show them your heart they will never forget you. This is all about being vulnerable onstage. It’s a very hard thing to do but it is the same thing we can do as Christians. When you allow yourself to be vulnerable to others, it draws them in.
Is stand-up a kind of testimony or preaching? How?
I don’t know if I’d call comedy preaching. I’ve not changed the world or cured cancer from the stage, but comedy is based on truth. Preaching is based on the Bible and that is truth, God is truth. So maybe in a weird way through stand up, some people might look at the world a little differently! I guess that’s my hope. I want my audience to be uplifted. So much of comedy is very dark, but I want the audience to be floating on cloud 9 when they leave. The truth of God’s
word takes the weight of the world off your shoulders. What I try to do is take that same weight off and maybe, just maybe my, life could be a testimony to someone in need!

Interview: Jodi Benson of ‘The Little Mermaid’

Posted on August 26, 2008 at 8:00 am

It was a great pleasure to speak again with Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel in “The Little Mermaid.” Jodi returns to the role for a new DVD called “The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning,” in stores this week.
Tell me a little bit about the new DVD and what it was like to return to the character you created for the original film.
This story is about the essence of who she is when she is a little girl from age five to the original movie. it has the backstory of her mother, father, sisters, her issue with her mom, all of her relationships. It’s great to do this again because it’s in my blood. It’s been 20 plus years. Throughout the time in between the movies I have worked on a lot of a products, the princess DVDs, singalongs and story books, so she gets to live on between the years. Its nice that there’s not a huge lapse for me, but you really get to delve into it when it’s a movie. The people at Disney really gave their hearts to this project so that made it extra special for me.
How were you cast in the original film?
I was doing a Broadway show called “Smile” in 1984. It closed very quickly, which was quite sad for everybody. But Howard Ashman had established this relationship with Disney — Mickey Mouse came to the opening night party — and they invited all the girls in the cast to audition for “The Little Mermaid.” It was kind of like a consolation prize, About a year to a year and half later I got a call that my tape had been selected. I had never done voiceover work before, but Howard told them, “She won’t be difficult.” It was challenging because I had to learn to use the microphone correctly. I was nervous the first couple of days. He really directed me through the project like it was a stage show.

I know your spiritual life and religious devotion are very important to you and your family.
I am a follower of Jesus. My husband really brought me to the Lord when I was 18 and I am so lucky to have a platform through the studio. They have been so kind and loving and supportive. I homeschool so the start of the day is reading Bible scripture, memorization and prayer. It is the number one thing in our lives for our family. It sends us every way. That makes it less pressure for me because I don’t have that stress, knowing I am just led by the Lord. We have tried to make our lives a blessing and tried to be an open vessel to pour out whenever the Lord gives us the opportunity. When I share a song or walk the red carpet, I always say, “let us do the loving thing.” My husband has a gift for reaching out to people in need. I always look over and see him connecting to someone who needs to talk or needs some support. The important thing is telationships, making connections, loving on them. We live in a broken world and we are here to help it heal.
Is there a passage of scripture that is especially significant for you?
John 15:5 — “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” It is so true. I can’t sing, perform, do anything apart from Christ. I have no power or strength of my own. The scripture for this week is Psalm 46:10 — “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” That is such a good thought for where I am right now.

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Interview

BDK interviews Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer

Posted on August 20, 2008 at 8:00 pm

Kevin McCarthy reviews films as “BDK” and hosts a weekly radio broadcast. Check out his interview of Hans Zimmer, whose score is one of the defining elements of the year’s biggest movie, The Dark Knight. Zimmer’s discussion of the development of the music for that film and others, including the Oscar-winning score of Gladiator is fascinating and highly entertaining as well.

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Composers Interview Music