Bee Movie

Bee Movie

Bee Movie is the latest creation from the animation genius of Dreamworks and it promises to have the kids flocking to the cinema this Christmas. Female First caught up with star of the film Renee Zellweger and creators Jerry Seinfeld, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Director Simon J Smith.Bee Movie is predictably all about Bees. Having just graduated from college, a bee by the name of Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld) finds himself disillusioned with the prospect of having only one career choice - honey. As he ventures outside of the hive for the first time, he breaks one of the cardinal rules of the bee world and talks to a human, a New York City florist named Vanessa (Renée Zellweger). He is shocked to discover that the humans have been stealing and eating the bees' honey for centuries, and ultimately realizes that his true calling in life is to set the world right by suing the human race for stealing their precious honey.Jerry Seinfeld and Jeffrey Katzenberg told us how they first came up with the crazy idea to make a movie about bees.....

Jeffrey, is it true that the movie came about after a phonecall from one of your old mates Mr. Spielberg who was having a lunch with Jerry Seinfeld?

Jeffrey Katzenberg : So, you know, for nine years every week, like tens of millions of people all over the world -

Jerry Seinfeld: I thought you were going to say you called me every week...

JK: I should've, then maybe we'd have been here earlier. So every week I would watch Jerry's television show and I don't think there's anything that I got more laughter out of for more years. So I started calling him. It was really great, I'd pick up the phone, I'd call and here's the first thing about it, the moment I called you always took the call.

JS: Jeffery Katzenberg is calling of course I'm going to take the call!

JK: I didn't think you'd take the call. So I go "Hi Jerry, I have an idea" and you went "Good, tell me." That's not what you expect from the other end of the phone, like ok tell me what your idea is. And I would say well maybe we could get together and he'd say no, just tell me. And so I would awkwardly pitch an idea for a movie and he would listen and he would say... no. For years... no.

  JS: And then you would start coming in with charts and graphs and pictures...

JK: Four years ago I came to his office in New York and I figured this time I'm not doing any phone call I'm really gonna put the full move on here. So I had pictures and drawings and characters and he was incredibly patient and he listened and when I was done I remember you actually got up walked to the window and looked out over Central Park, you looked down there then you turned around and you went... no. I like to think there was just that moment of hesitation and that's when the seed was planted.

JS: That was for dramatic effect.

JK: Six months later I get a phonecall, you know from Spielberg and he's outside a restaurant, it's very noisy, I can't hear him, it's one of those horrible things you know, "I'm just having dinner with Jerry Seinfeld, he's just pitched me an idea, it's a bee movie, you know, there's bees, it's great... so call him." That was it.

JS: Simple as that. It was just a remark that Bee Movie would be a funny title for a movie about bees, it wasn't a pitch like, I think that you should really consider this, it wasn't anything like that, you know, I thought I was just making jaunty conversation. And he goes "That's a great idea for a movie" which I think he says no matter what you say to him. You know, "Good morning Stephen." "That's a great idea for a movie."

Simon, the bee up until now has been a neglected creature as far as Hollywood's concerned, so did you guys have to enter into a kind of bee world before you could begin work on the animation?

SJS: Yeah, I think there's a mantra in the story which is thinking bee and we got an expert in from MIT to educate us everything about bees. As you can see in the movie we threw out about 90% of it because it wasn't very funny but he was a lovely chap and we did learn a lot about them and Jerry had a fascination with bees beforehand and so we definitely got engrossed in the bee world. And what happened to me was that we had facts like it takes 12 bee lives to make one teaspoon of honey and it's quite disturbing when you put that in your tea, you kind of feel very guilty. And in fact I haven't eaten any honey since.

JS: Haven't you, haven't you eaten any honey?

SJS: No I can't, I can't do it. It's really weird, it's just like I feel really guilty about it.

JS: But don't you feel like you've brought all this wonderful attention to them and everyone will look at them differently now and they're more respectful of them now? They owe you some honey for that.

SJS: I guess that's true. Maybe I could go back.

JK: I'll send you some  

Renee, you're becoming quite an old hand at this DreamWorks caper after Sharktail, so does it get easy, or easier to do animation for the actor?

Renee Zellweger: With these guys no way! No way, are you kidding me. At least when I go to work on a traditional film I'm pretty certain of what's expected of me that day, with these guys there's curveballs, fastballs coming from everywhere. You have to bring your A game with this team, you just do. There's no slacking and showing up and not just, you know, I have to really be prepared to not read the lines that they've given me the night before to memorise and prepare.

You know it's funny, it's a different thing than I had expected, you feel really exposed, I didn't expect that. I thought it was going to be liberating, it's just us and the microphone and that's the trick, it's just you and the microphone and if you can't do it it's just because you have no talent, there's no excuse. But the first experience I had with Jeffery on the Sharktail movie was delightful, so much fun. It was my introduction to that world and very educational and, you know, just a great bit of fun. And then this was completely different. Hard work! Years and years... four years of hard work. No, it was wonderful because we were in the room together all the time, so it was ever-changing and ever-evolving because he can't help himself, because he has these ideas and he has to throw them out there and see what works, and he still does it, in fact. I understand you're still changing the film even though you can't do anything about it, right Jerry?

JS: I am changing a lot, this was Jeffery's present to me. I had one line and I asked him if I could change it for the DVD and he said "You can't change it, the movie's in the theatre, how are you going to change it?" So I say "How about the DVD?" So he says yes and so the DVD's going to be one line different. and I'm not going to tell you what the line is because that's how we're going to sell you the DVD. But it's going to say 'Special Jerry Seinfeld cut, one line.'  

Jerry, does the big screen really hold much of an attraction for you, are you quite happy being what you are, a television comedian?

 

JS: I am, I am. Nothing really holds much interest for me because it all requires a lot of work, and erm... but I did definitely not want to conventionally take the path of TV series now the movies, it was just... I had a different experience doing the TV series is one reason, and also I just always try to go a little bit my own way.

 

Simon, when you got the script for Bee Movie did you think it would be a successful film?

 

SJS: Well you always hope it's going to be a successful film, obviously Jerry had the idea, and I heard about Jerry writing a script for DreamWorks animation where I was working and the idea of Jerry's idiosyncratic observations of our society funnelled through the eyes of a bee seemed like a really fun idea. And after I met Jerry, he was a really delightful chap, and I though this is going to be a really fun time. So I couldn't wait to start on the movie, it seemed like a really fun time.

  JK: Have you noticed how strangely he's talked since we've gotten here? Idiosyncratic... chap...

  SJS: Hah, but no, it seemed like a really fun time to have to make this sort of movie and you always want people to enjoy it, that's the main thing, that people go into the theatre and have a great time and come out feeling great.  

Jerry, I gather that during the course of your research for the movie you actually got stung on the nose, can I ask why and how that happened?

JS: Well I can't give you the why, but I can give you the how. I don't know what's in the mind of a bee, as much as I pretended that I do. I went to a beehive, which is the wooden boxes, the man-made beehives that farmer's use all over to make the crops grow and pollenate and that's how a lot of farming is done - with bees. And I thought I could maybe see what bees look like and learn a bit about bees from a bee keeper. And this bee keeper, a French chap by the way, was like "You don't need any protective stuff, gear, if you just handle the bees properly"

?

What I neglected to consider was that even bee keepers want to impress celebrities. And so as we're looking at the bees he says "Would you like to see the queen?" And I said "Well, ok, I don't know." So he starts rifling through these, what do you call them,.. frames. The wooden frames that all the bees live in. And he's picking them out "No queen there, no queen there, there must be a queen..." And of course the bees get a little irritated and when they get irritated there's a sound, because they all work together.

This is the beauty of the bees is that they're very harmonious. And so all the bees, in unison, go from hmm-hmm to HMM-HMM-HMM. So there's this really scary HMMMMMM-HMMMM, like an opera. So he looks at me, and the two of us are standing there in T-shirts and shorts, you know, you don't even have a ring on to protect you, and he says, "maybe we should get going, in fact, you should go right now." So I did.

JK: Not fast enough obviously?

JS: Not fast enough. And there was a little bee who was given the mission statement: get that guy. So I'm running across this field with my hat, I take my hat, and I'm swatting at the bee with this hat and no matter where I run or where I go, he's quick. And he eventually got me in the end. He went 'pink' right on the end of my nose and stung me.

So does this spot of research now go down on the list of things I wish I'd never done?

JS: No, because it's good for promotion.<.p>

Jerry, what it was like locked in a room, locked in a room and voicing an animated character can actually be a lonely experience, did you thirst for the audience recognition?

JS: Yeah it's different, I don't think they ever locked me, I think I was pretty much free to go when I wanted to. Although I did hear a little click a lot of the time... ready to record and 'click!' I was never alone, well we did some sessions alone, but every line that every other actor in the movie had I would perform with them and we would go in the booth together and play with it. It just seemed more fun that way. I think we hoped maybe that fun would come across in the performances.

But, as you said Renee you did work together when doing the voices, which is fairly unusual in animation. In Shark Tale you worked on your own. How was this different?

RZ: Well you can deviate from the script, because it's his idea and he's coming up with the ideas, well they just come flying. And it beats just reading from the thing. Very selfishly, it was a great time. I mean Jeffery would probably have preferred if we didn't though because it would have been much less expensive in terms of studio time wasted for us indulging our own laughter and things. But it was a great time because of it.

SJS: Also you get these lovely spoils and rich performances coming out that you wouldn't get if Renee was on her own, and I think it is unusual and it was great because Jerry was with us the whole time.

Is this one of those films where you've got much more stuff already for the DVD when it comes out because the nature of the making of it, and Simon said they ditched some of the material earlier, didn't he?

 JS: We did write and create so many scenes for the movie in experimentation that we didn't use. Now I don't know if it's more than average or about average.

JK: I think there was maybe a bit more than average because having the writer and the performer in the room there was opportunity of improvisational work on it and I think that's part of what was unique about the film. I think there's a lot of moments and... Renee, you can talk about it... like that coffee scene...

RZ: Hmmm... hmmm...

JK: ...where there is just tremendous improvisation or just moments created there where, I think when Renee was talking about how quick she had to be and how challenged she was, what it is for the two of them. They were able to have that, you don't get that in animation usually.

Jerry is it the writing of the gag or the delivery of it, which is more important for you personally?

JS: That's a tough question, they're both different. Both are extremely exciting and addictively, you know, it's almost like a drug high when you think of something that you think will work, or when you perform something and you feel that it does work, and they're different stages of the same experience but they are different. I don't really know which is better but you need both, that's for sure.

How surprised was Ray Liotta to find himself re-imagined as a honey mogul?

JS: Erm, you know he was just completely, he walked in like this was normal, you know? That's he's going to come in, as himself. I don't think he's ever played himself in anything and not only play himself but play a buffoon version of himself, to be totally made fun of. And he was just totally thought this was a fantastic thing to do and that was our great good fortune that you have someone that has a sense of humour. As everyone knows not everyone does. So, he didn't seem at all surprised or thrown, he just came in and said "Yeah let's do this, this is great."

SJS: Yeah he couldn't wait to do it, he went in with full gusto. It was phenomenal.

JS: He was sweating. He was performing with such energy when he was doing the laughs for us. He said "Do you want to Goodfellas laugh?" You know that famous scene that everybody knows

  SJS: He was fantastic. You know I'm sure you got a little... when he was shouting at you at one point you got a little bit scared. Very intense at one point.  

And did John Travolta and String share this lovely sense of humour about having themselves mocked?

 JS: Sting was in the film, it's his voice, so he was into it. And John I have to call.

?

Jeffery, the whole business of animation if just growing and growing and growing and it begs the question, just how many is enough?

JK: Well I think last year we sort of saw the peak with about 15, 16 movies released, it's about half that this year. But when you step back and you see that, the most popular movies, certainly on a worldwide basis, three of the top 10 movies this year, top 12, are animated films and so these are no longer cartoons that are being made for some small portion of the audience, they're made for everybody, and I think this is as good a representation of how an animated movie can be made by adults for adults and at the same time be wildly popular with kids.

I think it's one of the great fun surprises for Jerry is he made this movie for himself and with his sensibility to it, and yet it's amazing to see how much fun it is for the kids and how much they get. It's surprising in a way. You know, these films are very mainstream and so when you say how many is enough, I don't know, there are five hundred movies made every year and 10 animated movies, so not very many.

: Renee, what do you love most about being in big films?

RZ: Oh that's a good question isn't it? Erm, the boys, the boys. I mean this year alone we had plenty, look at this row right here. Not bad. I would encourage you to look into it, it's an excellent, excellent profession with regards to that. No, it's just, its the work. I love the work. And I don't know what that says because if you knew what the day entailed you'd think I was absolutely insane because you usually start, a lot of the time, at four in the morning and you don't end until right around that time the next day. And I love it. I love the day on the set, the collaboration, I love watching this thing come together with this co-operative effort behind it. I love the creative opportunities that I have, the people that I meet, travelling. I learn a lot - I never stop learning, and I think that's probably what I love most about this job.

Simon, what's next for you?

SJS: I'd love to do something else. Honestly, I haven't really had a chance to think about it because we've been promoting the film in different places. And after three and a half years on one film I'd quite like a little vacation perhaps. So maybe at the beginning of next year I'll start thinking about it but I haven't really had a chance to think about it.

But honestly, what been amazing for me is going from whatever I was doing before directing, it's a huge change. Because I was used to being told "Can you do this?" And I'd say "Yeah sure." Then all of a sudden  you become a director and they say "What would you want to do?" And it's like, "Well whatever you want" "Well what do you like?" "Well I like everything, I like all sorts of movies, I like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, I like Toy Story, what do you want?" And it's like no, you have to decide what you fall in love you and I think it's very much like finding a mate. You have to find a script you fall in love with because you have to commit. You have to commit fully to it because you know you're not going to have a great relationship with it unless you fully commit. So I guess I'll be going on the dating circuit with a few scripts in January I think.

Renee, what are we going to see you in next?

RZ: I think what comes out first is Leatherheads with George Clooney which he wrote, directed and starred in. A lot of underachievers in my life, they should work on that. And, let's see, then there's Case 39 which comes out, I don't know, I'm probably boring you to death with this information. Then there's Appaloosa which I just finished a couple of days ago with Ed Harris who also wrote and directed and produced and starred in it.

 

The usual busy busy busy. Finally, Jerry, have you now got the busy busy fever upon you?

JS: Erm, not really. Next year I'm going to be performing my stand-up comedy show in the States and Las Vegas so I'm going to be writing and developing a bunch of new things to do with that show and taking it around the country and that's actually a kind of relaxation for me.

Caz Moss- Female FirstBee Movie is the latest creation from the animation genius of Dreamworks and it promises to have the kids flocking to the cinema this Christmas. Female First caught up with star of the film Renee Zellweger and creators Jerry Seinfeld, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Director Simon J Smith.Bee Movie is predictably all about Bees. Having just graduated from college, a bee by the name of Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld) finds himself disillusioned with the prospect of having only one career choice - honey. As he ventures outside of the hive for the first time, he breaks one of the cardinal rules of the bee world and talks to a human, a New York City florist named Vanessa (Renée Zellweger). He is shocked to discover that the humans have been stealing and eating the bees' honey for centuries, and ultimately realizes that his true calling in life is to set the world right by suing the human race for stealing their precious honey.Jerry Seinfeld and Jeffrey Katzenberg told us how they first came up with the crazy idea to make a movie about bees.....

Jeffrey, is it true that the movie came about after a phonecall from one of your old mates Mr. Spielberg who was having a lunch with Jerry Seinfeld?

Jeffrey Katzenberg : So, you know, for nine years every week, like tens of millions of people all over the world -

Jerry Seinfeld: I thought you were going to say you called me every week...

JK: I should've, then maybe we'd have been here earlier. So every week I would watch Jerry's television show and I don't think there's anything that I got more laughter out of for more years. So I started calling him. It was really great, I'd pick up the phone, I'd call and here's the first thing about it, the moment I called you always took the call.

JS: Jeffery Katzenberg is calling of course I'm going to take the call!

JK: I didn't think you'd take the call. So I go "Hi Jerry, I have an idea" and you went "Good, tell me." That's not what you expect from the other end of the phone, like ok tell me what your idea is. And I would say well maybe we could get together and he'd say no, just tell me. And so I would awkwardly pitch an idea for a movie and he would listen and he would say... no. For years... no.

  JS: And then you would start coming in with charts and graphs and pictures...

JK: Four years ago I came to his office in New York and I figured this time I'm not doing any phone call I'm really gonna put the full move on here. So I had pictures and drawings and characters and he was incredibly patient and he listened and when I was done I remember you actually got up walked to the window and looked out over Central Park, you looked down there then you turned around and you went... no. I like to think there was just that moment of hesitation and that's when the seed was planted.

JS: That was for dramatic effect.

JK: Six months later I get a phonecall, you know from Spielberg and he's outside a restaurant, it's very noisy, I can't hear him, it's one of those horrible things you know, "I'm just having dinner with Jerry Seinfeld, he's just pitched me an idea, it's a bee movie, you know, there's bees, it's great... so call him." That was it.

JS: Simple as that. It was just a remark that Bee Movie would be a funny title for a movie about bees, it wasn't a pitch like, I think that you should really consider this, it wasn't anything like that, you know, I thought I was just making jaunty conversation. And he goes "That's a great idea for a movie" which I think he says no matter what you say to him. You know, "Good morning Stephen." "That's a great idea for a movie."

Simon, the bee up until now has been a neglected creature as far as Hollywood's concerned, so did you guys have to enter into a kind of bee world before you could begin work on the animation?

SJS: Yeah, I think there's a mantra in the story which is thinking bee and we got an expert in from MIT to educate us everything about bees. As you can see in the movie we threw out about 90% of it because it wasn't very funny but he was a lovely chap and we did learn a lot about them and Jerry had a fascination with bees beforehand and so we definitely got engrossed in the bee world. And what happened to me was that we had facts like it takes 12 bee lives to make one teaspoon of honey and it's quite disturbing when you put that in your tea, you kind of feel very guilty. And in fact I haven't eaten any honey since.

JS: Haven't you, haven't you eaten any honey?

SJS: No I can't, I can't do it. It's really weird, it's just like I feel really guilty about it.

JS: But don't you feel like you've brought all this wonderful attention to them and everyone will look at them differently now and they're more respectful of them now? They owe you some honey for that.

SJS: I guess that's true. Maybe I could go back.

JK: I'll send you some  

Renee, you're becoming quite an old hand at this DreamWorks caper after Sharktail, so does it get easy, or easier to do animation for the actor?

Renee Zellweger: With these guys no way! No way, are you kidding me. At least when I go to work on a traditional film I'm pretty certain of what's expected of me that day, with these guys there's curveballs, fastballs coming from everywhere. You have to bring your A game with this team, you just do. There's no slacking and showing up and not just, you know, I have to really be prepared to not read the lines that they've given me the night before to memorise and prepare.

You know it's funny, it's a different thing than I had expected, you feel really exposed, I didn't expect that. I thought it was going to be liberating, it's just us and the microphone and that's the trick, it's just you and the microphone and if you can't do it it's just because you have no talent, there's no excuse. But the first experience I had with Jeffery on the Sharktail movie was delightful, so much fun. It was my introduction to that world and very educational and, you know, just a great bit of fun. And then this was completely different. Hard work! Years and years... four years of hard work. No, it was wonderful because we were in the room together all the time, so it was ever-changing and ever-evolving because he can't help himself, because he has these ideas and he has to throw them out there and see what works, and he still does it, in fact. I understand you're still changing the film even though you can't do anything about it, right Jerry?

JS: I am changing a lot, this was Jeffery's present to me. I had one line and I asked him if I could change it for the DVD and he said "You can't change it, the movie's in the theatre, how are you going to change it?" So I say "How about the DVD?" So he says yes and so the DVD's going to be one line different. and I'm not going to tell you what the line is because that's how we're going to sell you the DVD. But it's going to say 'Special Jerry Seinfeld cut, one line.'  

Jerry, does the big screen really hold much of an attraction for you, are you quite happy being what you are, a television comedian?

 

JS: I am, I am. Nothing really holds much interest for me because it all requires a lot of work, and erm... but I did definitely not want to conventionally take the path of TV series now the movies, it was just... I had a different experience doing the TV series is one reason, and also I just always try to go a little bit my own way.

 

Simon, when you got the script for Bee Movie did you think it would be a successful film?

 

SJS: Well you always hope it's going to be a successful film, obviously Jerry had the idea, and I heard about Jerry writing a script for DreamWorks animation where I was working and the idea of Jerry's idiosyncratic observations of our society funnelled through the eyes of a bee seemed like a really fun idea. And after I met Jerry, he was a really delightful chap, and I though this is going to be a really fun time. So I couldn't wait to start on the movie, it seemed like a really fun time.

  JK: Have you noticed how strangely he's talked since we've gotten here? Idiosyncratic... chap...

  SJS: Hah, but no, it seemed like a really fun time to have to make this sort of movie and you always want people to enjoy it, that's the main thing, that people go into the theatre and have a great time and come out feeling great.  

Jerry, I gather that during the course of your research for the movie you actually got stung on the nose, can I ask why and how that happened?

JS: Well I can't give you the why, but I can give you the how. I don't know what's in the mind of a bee, as much as I pretended that I do. I went to a beehive, which is the wooden boxes, the man-made beehives that farmer's use all over to make the crops grow and pollenate and that's how a lot of farming is done - with bees. And I thought I could maybe see what bees look like and learn a bit about bees from a bee keeper. And this bee keeper, a French chap by the way, was like "You don't need any protective stuff, gear, if you just handle the bees properly"

?

What I neglected to consider was that even bee keepers want to impress celebrities. And so as we're looking at the bees he says "Would you like to see the queen?" And I said "Well, ok, I don't know." So he starts rifling through these, what do you call them,.. frames. The wooden frames that all the bees live in. And he's picking them out "No queen there, no queen there, there must be a queen..." And of course the bees get a little irritated and when they get irritated there's a sound, because they all work together.

This is the beauty of the bees is that they're very harmonious. And so all the bees, in unison, go from hmm-hmm to HMM-HMM-HMM. So there's this really scary HMMMMMM-HMMMM, like an opera. So he looks at me, and the two of us are standing there in T-shirts and shorts, you know, you don't even have a ring on to protect you, and he says, "maybe we should get going, in fact, you should go right now." So I did.

JK: Not fast enough obviously?

JS: Not fast enough. And there was a little bee who was given the mission statement: get that guy. So I'm running across this field with my hat, I take my hat, and I'm swatting at the bee with this hat and no matter where I run or where I go, he's quick. And he eventually got me in the end. He went 'pink' right on the end of my nose and stung me.

So does this spot of research now go down on the list of things I wish I'd never done?

JS: No, because it's good for promotion.<.p>

Jerry, what it was like locked in a room, locked in a room and voicing an animated character can actually be a lonely experience, did you thirst for the audience recognition?

JS: Yeah it's different, I don't think they ever locked me, I think I was pretty much free to go when I wanted to. Although I did hear a little click a lot of the time... ready to record and 'click!' I was never alone, well we did some sessions alone, but every line that every other actor in the movie had I would perform with them and we would go in the booth together and play with it. It just seemed more fun that way. I think we hoped maybe that fun would come across in the performances.

But, as you said Renee you did work together when doing the voices, which is fairly unusual in animation. In Shark Tale you worked on your own. How was this different?

RZ: Well you can deviate from the script, because it's his idea and he's coming up with the ideas, well they just come flying. And it beats just reading from the thing. Very selfishly, it was a great time. I mean Jeffery would probably have preferred if we didn't though because it would have been much less expensive in terms of studio time wasted for us indulging our own laughter and things. But it was a great time because of it.

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