Ratchet and Clank Interviews ⋆ Life With Heidi

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Ratchet and Clank Interviews

I received an all expenses paid trip to Los Angeles with Focus Features and a copy of the Ratchet and Clank game in order to provide coverage. Regardless, all opinions are 100% my own as always.

Heading out to Los Angeles is always a great time and one of the things that I enjoy the most while being out there is interviewing talent. I’ve been very fortunate enough to interview lots of people over the last few years, but I have to admit this last LA trip was amazing. We had the chance to screen the movie Ratchet and Clank based on the game as well as interview some amazing people. This time around we had a chance to sit down with Writer/Director Kevin Munroe, James Arnold Taylor (Voice of Ratchet) and of course Bella Thorne (Voice of Cora) and all three of them were amazing.

At first, we had the chance to sit down and chat with Kevin Munroe who is the writer/director behind Ratchet and Clank while we waited on the other two to arrive. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to get to sit down and get to know him and what makes him work so hard on the movies. One of his biggest inspirations was the time he spent working side by side with George Lucas. Just being able to work with him was a learning experience but also one that was an incredible four years of his life. But Kevin really enjoys storytelling because it is a “directors medium” and allows them to work on visuals, words, music and color and combining all things to make the perfect film. But I think that the thing that I appreciate the most is that Kevin went above and beyond to keep Ratchet and Clank truly family friendly. No innuendos, and the raciest thing that is said it,

“Kick Some Asteroids.”

We stayed true to Ratchet and Clank and made it all about the kids. We could have made it PG-13 but you don’t need it.

After a few minutes of chatting with just Kevin, Bella and James joined in the conversation. Check out James’ YouTube Video of the behind the scenes footage of his day! (There are LOTS of bloggers in one room with them which is pretty cool too!)

PS!! The next Ratchet and Clank will be a spin off staring Ratchet and Cora according to Kevin Munroe, or maybe it was because they were in the room!) Or maybe it will be The Odd Couple, only time will tell.

But I think the highlight of my day was when James broke out into character voices. He is extremely talented and has done lots of impressive character work. He did tell us that his approach for recording video games and films are different but he considers himself lucky to have been able to both. When recording for video games, you’re isolated in a little padded room, talking to yourself with the director feeding you lines. But for Ratchet and Clank they got to work together especially with David who voiced Clank. Take a listen to this man’s talent!!

His goal since he was four years old was to be a voice talent actor. He think it’s a wonderful theme that kids, and families can go together and see this movie. And they can see that sometimes your heroes aren’t exactly what they thought, and you can still pursue your dreams, and be the good guy, and save the day.

I’ve had the opportunity to interview Bella Thorne before, but she is still amazing!! She told us that the most fun thing about playing Cora was playing a Bad Ass female!” Along with getting to stretch her personality to it’s limits, because it was a totally different character for her to voice. But what is even better is she identified with Cora because in her personal life she is super tomboy. She’s not afraid to boss Ratchet and she really just wants what is best for the team.

It was a super cool experience to set down and chat with these three amazing individuals and will always be one of my favorite memories. Each one of them is very talented and brings heart to the movie making it one of the best truly family friendly movies I’ve seen in a long time. Be sure you head to the theater on 4/29/16 to watch this movie!

Check out the hashtag: #RatchetandClank , follow them on their site, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram too!

Voice Cast includes: Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, Bella Thorne, Rosario Dawson, Jim Ward, James Arnold Taylor, David Kaye, Armin Shimerman, and Sylvester Stallone

Directed by: Kevin Munroe

Written by: T.J. Fixman, Kevin Munroe, Gerry Swallow

Produced by: Kim Dent Wilder, Brad Foxhoven, David Wohl

Release Date: Nationwide from Gramercy Pictures on April 29, 2016