'Flora & Ulysses' cast talks superhero squirrels and playing the villain
Flora & Ulysses is an unlikely superhero movie in that its superhero is neither man nor woman but squirrel, specifically one named Ulysses. The cast of the film (Ben Schwartz, Danny Pudi, and Alyson Hannigan) recently spoke with Yahoo Entertainment about what led them to this unique project.
Schwartz praised the performance of Matilda Lawler, who plays Flora. "The special part ... was to watch Matilda act in this thing," he said.
Pudi recalled a traumatic past experience he had with a squirrel. "After college, I did summer stock theater in Northern Wisconsin, and I woke up one day with a squirrel in my bed," he said. "It was terrifying!"
Watch the full interview above.
Video Transcript
- He's a superhero.
- But.
- Do you have any enemies?
- I'm here about the squirrel.
- Danger lurks everywhere.
KEVIN: Congrats on this movie, guys. It is really funny. It is really cute. I watched it with my daughters yesterday. They both absolutely loved it. Uh, is this everyone's first superhero squirrel movie?
ALYSON: I believe it is.
DANNY: Everyone? On camera, yes.
BEN: I did a, I did a superhero type hedgehog movie, but this is a little bit of--
DANNY: Oh, Yeah.
BEN: Close, to the first.
KEVIN: What felt special about this movie for you guys? Alison, let's start with you.
ALYSON: Oh, my goodness. My daughters and I, we feel the same way that your family does about how Ulysses turned out. And I just, I still, like, now I'm, I'm looking for Ulysses out in the world. Like, every squirrel I say I'm like, Ulysses? I'm just hoping. I am hoping one day he's going to show up to my house.
BEN: I got the script from Brad Copeland, who wrote an Arrested Development and also wrote this movie that I did a while back. And I thought it was so good. And I was like, man, this movie could be great if they get a Flora that can handle these words because the words are incredible for a young kid. And the special part of it was, it was, like, this, the cast was gorgeous. Then to watch Matilda act in this thing is just I was, like, oh, this will be special. I could feel, like, she's just so good.
DANNY: This is the first time I get to play like a villainous character, and it was very exciting to be doing things I've never done before as an actor. So I read the script, I loved it. I love this world. I thought it was something so fun I could dive into, but also share it with my family. I have a nine-year-old daughter and a nine-year-old son and I knew right away this would be something we'd all enjoy together. They're going to love watching me get destroyed by a squirrel.
KEVIN: You're the animal control guy, and any time there's an animal control guy and a cute animal movie, you know he's the bad guy. Are you, are you prepared to be deeply disliked by children across the world as they watch this movie? Are you prepared for the hate mail that inevitably is going to come with this film?
DANNY: You know, um, I'm hoping this actually humanizes all the, uh, you know, people out there who are trying to protect. Because in my mind, Miller is just trying to protect his town. He's trying to keep it safe.
BEN: Wow.
DANNY: That's all I'm trying to do. After college I did summer stock theater in northern Wisconsin, and I woke up one day with a squirrel in my bed. That day I decided to start building, like, squirrel traps around our dwelling, which was, like, in the woods. So I that's what my research was for this role. I was looking back at it. And I wasn't a villain then. I was just trying to keep us all safe. And I think that's what Miller is trying to do in this movie. He's just trying to keep people safe. So I'm prepared for it, but in my mind Miller is not the villain here is. It's these guys over here.
KEVIN: Not, not to dig, not to dig too deep here, but how traumatic was that to wake up with a squirrel in your bed?
DANNY: Oh, I was terrified. It's still the scariest thing that ever happened to me in my like.
LARRY KING: Coffee and socks are not a luxury.
DANNY: All right. Give me a luxury. Which, what luxury should I have?
LARRY KING: Private plane. Larry, I'm on DuckTales.
KEVIN: Danny, while I have you, I must ask you about that Larry King clip that went viral a few weeks ago, especially in the wake of Mr. King's passing. Well, I mean, but what was that like to have that, I feel like seemingly, sort of, explode overnight?
DANNY: Yeah, well, I mean, first of all my thoughts with Larry's family. Condolences. You know, Ben and I have shared this experience. I've had a few interviews with Larry, and each time he has been so welcoming. And there's never any direction planned, and it just such a lovely spontaneous conversation every time with him. And yeah, so it was just funny to see, you know. I got a bunch, a flood of texts that morning. I think Ben was one of them. And I was worried because I was, like, what is happening here? What? I haven't done anything a little while. It's like, I'm worried. And then I saw that clip from the interview went out. So it was just nice to share a little bit of fun, something funny with the world in this time, and I'm just thankful for that.
