Wish is the latest Disney Animaton film not only celebrate Disney’s 100th anniversary, but will ask the question, “how did the wishing star, which so many Disney characters wished upon, come to be?”. Its an interesting premise that will undoubtedly honour the company that changed movies forever. At a junket for Wish, we spoke to Disney mainstay Alan Tyduk about the pressure of working on a film celebrating this massive milestone, the animation style, his favourite Disney characters, and more!

OTN: You’ve voiced a character in every WDAS (Walt Disney Animation Studios) movie for the last decade or so but Wish is a very different movie, due to its sentimentality and emotion. Was their more pressure going into this film?

A.T: For me, the only pressure was that [Valentino] was a goat that spoke. I’ve done roles for Disney that are animals that don’t talk so you kinda just have to find the way a chicken, for example, would sound (makes Hey-Hey noise). Valentino having a voice begged the question of what he’d sound like. [Disney] is so generous, since I’ve been voicing their characters for over a decade, and they came to me saying “we’ve got a really good role for you this time” and before I accepted I wanted to make sure I could do it well. So, we went in and tried some higher voices and scratchier voices, even a spunky kinda kid. But then, I said (switching up to Valentino’s voice) “what if he sounds like this? What if he’s Valentino!” and the directors loved it and it’s worked out.

OTN: It works out wonderfully and I love the Patrick Stewart-esuqe thing with the voice. Going back to your time with Disney, who is your favourite character you’ve gotten to voice?

A.T: (in character) King Candy, from Wreck-It Ralph! He’s a ridiculous little funny man who turned out to be deeply bad, then was turned into a bug, and was immolated in a huge Dr. Pepper/mentos volcano.

OTN: I’m curious, for you, as a voice actor, if you could go through every WDAS film made over the last 100 years, which one would you have liked to do work on and why?

A.T: Ooh, that’s a good question…I do love The Jungle Book so I’ll say that, mainly because I would’ve met Louis Prima, who plated the perfectly named King Louis. I don’t know who I’d play because they’re all voiced wonderfully and I don’t wanna take anyone’s role away from them.

OTN: Would you create a new character for yourself?

A.T: Yes, I would! In the jungle, I would have been a titmouse, there’s just not enough of that in the movie. You know, a character that can whisper in your hear and go (in character) “Hey man!” once in a while. I don’t know, clean the gnats or something like that. I’ll workshop it!

OTN: Again, I love your work, even outside of Disney. You’ve done K-2SO for Rogue One and you’re gonna be Doctor Phosphorus in Creature Commandos for DC-

A.T: Creature Commandos is gonna be a really good show man, I’m so excited for it.

OTN: Oh, I’m so pumped for it too. Anyways, even though you’ve done work for so many other studios, what is it about whenever Disney calls saying “hey, we got a role for you” that makes you say yes every time?

A.T: They’re the best in animation, they really are. They have defined animation for so long. There are new studios now, seems like everyone has their own animation studio now, and they’re all striving to be as good as Disney, because they’re the best. They’re also very generous as far as their creative process. I get a lot of opportunity to play around with lines. Even just coming in when they say “we have a character for you”, is great. I don’t do my own voice like some people either, who get hired to do their voice and you know what you’re getting. Disney calls me because they have a character and they don’t know what it’s gonna sound like, so they leave the ball in my court. They trust that its gonna be good and that’s unheard of in this business.

OTN: You know what, it’s worked out for you so far and you seem to have no signs of stopping. Last question, what are you hoping audiences take away from this movie?

A.T: The feeling of hope that I felt after watching Wish. It’s such a feel-good movie without it being cheesy. It just works. I went into Wish not having the thought that our wishes really define us in a really positive way. They’re our hopes, our dreams, that aspirational part of ourselves. It didn’t click for me until I saw this movie. I hope people go and see it and feel that magic of wishing that we all have. We’ve all done it and still do it, we all have these dreams and wishes. I hope that this movie touches a little bit of that joy after seeing this film.

You can see Alan as Valentino in Wish, now playing in theatres. Check out our interview with director Fawn Veerasunthorn and producer Peter Del Vecho!