Igor Cast Interviews

Go behind the scenes of Igor with John Cusack, Tony Leondis , Christian Slater and Molly Shannon.

Throughout movie history, Igor has traditionally been a stereotypical sidekick to evil villains everywhere. He originally rose to fame in the first Frankenstein film in 1931. Although he was originally named Fritz, his name evolved to Ygor for the sequels ‘Son Of Frankenstein’ in 1939 and ‘Ghost of Frankenstein’ in 1942. Now the hunch-backed lab assistant returns again in the animated movie ‘Igor’, with the vocal talents of John Cusack, Molly Shannon and Christian Slater.

We have some sound-bites from a recent press conference with the cast and crew…. first up is director Tony Leondis…

 

TONY LEONDIS (DIRECTOR)

Q: Tell us about the character of Igor and the setting of the movie

Igor is a movie that takes place in a country called Malaria. In Malaria they’ve made their economy evil adventures, so evil scientists make all these horrible inventions and then they blackmail the world with them. So in this world Evil is good.

Our Igor is born with a hunch on his back which leaves him no choice but to become an Igor so he has to become a slave to a mad scientist even though he’s a real scientist himself.

Something happens to the scientist that he works for and Igor actually gets to create his most incredible invention ever, a horrible hideous monster that is sure to scare the whole world. Unfortunately when he creates this monster he discovers that she doesn’t want to be a vicious evil creature she wants to be an actress!

 

What was the ultimate message that you wanted to get across?

If you have weapons of power they should be used to create a world of love, not fear and that there comes a time in everyone’s life where they have to stand up for what they believe in even if they have a hunch on their back. That’s what Igor’s challenge is. He has to go against what the world believes in and stand up for what’s right with the help of this monster that he’s created

 

What was it like working with John Cusack?

John Cusack is such a great actor and has such a great voice with all these little nuances to it that we really wanted the animators to pick up on, so we filmed him. We really wanted the animators to rely on the actors because I feel like it brings a really fresh take on animation.

 

 

JOHN CUSACK (IGOR)

What attracted you to the part of IGOR?

Well, they sent me the script and it was really funny so I thought it would be a fun thing to do. You know, it’s like playing a classic part, an undiscovered classic. It was great, great fun. My nephews’ will love it.

 

Tell us a little bit about the story?

Igor is one of many servants. There are a lot of Igors and a lot of evil scientists in the world that the film creates. He’s an Igor looking to become an evil scientist, trying to climb the ladder.

 

The animation style of IGOR is very unique. Do you think this sets it apart from other kid’s films?

Yeah it’s fantastic. You can definitely tell that there are a bunch of great European animators in there. You know, it’s intricate and kind of abstract and very, very different. I guess it’s a bit like some of the classic stuff you see in America, but it definitely has its own feel to it.

 

Do you think the film will appeal to adults as well as kids?

I think animated films appeal when you see these things done well. When people are entertained and exhilarated, they just feel like they’re transported to a magical world. The humour is fun for kids, but it’s also not so childish that the adults can’t have fun, so it has that great fantasy appeal where a really smart twelve year old and an adult are both loving the same stuff.

 

 

More cast and crew interviews on Page 2.