Ed O'Neill of 'Finding Dory' on How Hank the Septopus Went From Bit Player to Featured Character

Ed O’Neill has been a TV staple for decades, thanks to his starring turns on Fox’s long-running Married…With Children and ABC’s hit Modern Family. Nonetheless, he recently navigated back to movie theaters this past summer as Hank, the grouchy septopus who helps amnesiac fish Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) find her family in Disney’s blockbuster Finding Dory. It’s a vocal part that plays to O’Neill’s unique, cantankerous-but-sweet strengths. However, on the eve of the film’s home-video release (on digital HD Oct. 25; Blu-ray and DVD on Nov. 15) — and in celebration of today’s “Septopus Day” (a Disney-concocted holiday ahead of tomorrow’s “World Octopus Day”) — the 70-year-old star confesses to us that he didn’t originally know the extent of his role in the underwater saga. Read on for more and watch an exclusive clip above about how Pixar developed Hank.

When was the first time you saw Hank? Did you think he looked anything like you?
I first saw him in Anaheim. They have a thing down there called D23 Expo — a big meeting of everybody, including [Pixar exec] John Lasseter. They showed some scenes from the movie that were finished, and that was the first time I saw Hank. We were out onstage, and I wasn’t thinking it looked like me or anything — I mean, somebody said that later, and I was like, “What, does that look like me?” Well, it has blue eyes.

I was blown away by the way it moved. I thought, Wow, what a great job they did. That’s what really impressed me the most, right off the bat.

Given that Pixar didn’t show you Hank until late in the process, how did the studio prep you at the outset of working on Finding Dory?
There’s very little prep. It was just a real cursory history: He’d been born into captivity, he wasn’t a happy camper, he’d lost one of his tentacles — and there was no story there; I didn’t know how [he lost it]. And he wanted out, because he was somewhat phobic and didn’t like to be touched, and they kept putting him in that petting pool. He wanted to get to Cleveland, where he had somehow discovered that they don’t have a petting pool there — they leave you more or less alone. That’s all he wanted — to be left alone. That’s all I knew, and that’s all I really needed to know.

So when he meets Dory, it’s a meeting of two people who realize they need each other, for different reasons.

I’ve read that when you first signed on, you didn’t know that Hank was one of the main characters.
Yeah, and I don’t think anybody did. They hired me as a session player, which is basically a cameo. I wasn’t a contract player, you know? I was paid by the session, which usually means one or two, and that’s it. I’d done that on Wreck-It Ralph. I don’t think they had the animation in on Hank yet; I don’t think they knew how much of a role Hank was going to play in the movie. Then, I think when they started to see the results of the animation — now this is just my own theory; nobody ever told me anything about this — they realized they could move [Dory] around the exhibit with Hank, because he could shape-shift, and he didn’t need to be in water all the time like the fish did. So then they thought, Well, he can take Dory all over the place. And so he became, arguably, one of the main characters, as it turned out. But it was just luck! I credit the animation department — I don’t take any credit for that.

Does that mean the film is constantly being revised while you’re working on it?
Well, for a while, I thought it was like Groundhog Day. They kept calling me back in, and I thought, Well, maybe they’re just scrapping the session before, and we’re starting over again. Because they mentioned to me that, a lot of times, things don’t work, and they rewrite. I thought maybe they just weren’t happy. Then, after a year [laughing], I said to Andrew [Stanton, the director], “Hey, what’s going on with this? Is this a major role?” And he said, “Oh, yeah.” I guess I didn’t have to know — it’s not going to affect what you do. But it was a little strange. I never had another job like that before, ever.

How long did you work, in total, on Finding Dory?
Honest to God, I don’t remember, because the sessions were spread apart, on average, between roughly a three-month period. You’d go in, and you’d do between two to four hours alone — when I say alone, I mean minus actors; the producers and writers were there. I didn’t have contact with anybody else, so I really didn’t know anything. I didn’t know what the other characters were doing in their storylines, I had no clue where the story was going because there was no script. After a while, I pieced together some of the story and how it related to me and Dory. And I thought, Well, all my stuff’s with Dory — that can’t be bad!

Right — it’s called Finding Dory.
Exactly! So eventually, I realized that this was one of the lead roles.

I read something Tom Hanks said about how tiring it is to voice Toy Story’s Woody…
I saw that — that’s a YouTube video, and that’s hilariously funny. I’ve actually stolen it a few times and actually told that story, putting myself in that story as a substitute for Tom Hanks.

Does it really take a lot out of you?
It does. This character was always under pressure and was sneaking around and being in danger of being caught, and it was very frenetic. You’re all by yourself, so it’s kind of like being a kid in a sandbox, amusing himself with these made-up stories.

I live in Brentwood, and the Disney studio is in Burbank, which is quite a long drive on a couple of different freeways. I’d be driving to work, and I’d be scheduled for four hours that day, and you’d have this feeling of dread, like “Oh my God, this is hard.” [Laughing] You come out of there like you’ve been in some sort of a physical athletic event.

I guess it keeps you in good cardio shape.
Yeah, you have to keep charging yourself up. And you have to be careful to not overuse your voice, because you know, four hours — you have no voice. So you drink a lot of water, you might have some tea, you don’t eat too much. You try to modulate your sound, so it’s not always one note. There’s a lot to think about.

When you realized that Hank was a main role — in this sequel to a big, beloved Pixar hit, no less — did you suddenly feel more pressure?
That’s a good question, because it certainly should have affected me that way. But it didn’t, because I don’t think that way anymore. No matter what is going on, I still have to do the same thing when I go in there, you know what I mean? You have to do the best you can no matter what.

After Finding Dory, you returned to Modern Family, which has now been on the air since 2009. Did you think when you signed on that it had the potential to have this sort of staying power?
The reason I signed on was because I was convinced it was going to be a hit show. I read it, and I thought it had all the potential to be a hit show. Not to say that it definitely would be, since anything can go wrong. But I thought, if they cast this right, these guys are good — because I knew [co-creators Steven] Levitan and [Christopher] Lloyd’s track record.

Has Jay Pritchett now supplanted Married…With Children’s Al Bundy as the character you’re most recognized for?
You know, it’s funny, because I think it’s two different audiences. The audience that loved Married…With Children is not really the audience that loves Modern Family, if that makes any sense. If you go to Vegas and you’re playing a slot machine, you’re much more likely to run into Al Bundy fans — you know, in jumpsuits, in leisure suits, carrying a big beer, with three or four kids hanging off of them. But if you go to the Brentwood Country Club, you’re much more likely to meet people who are driving Audis, and they love Modern Family.

You’re spanning the socio-economic spectrum.
Right. It’s funny, because when they cast me — I wasn’t the first choice. Again, I don’t know the ins and outs of this — they certainly never were going to tell me — but they wanted, what’s his name, he played Coach on TV…

Craig T. Nelson.
Craig T. Nelson — yes, they offered it to him. I met with them the year before they wrote it, Levitan and Lloyd, and I told them I wasn’t interested in doing another sitcom, because I had done Married…With Children for 11 years. It was a courtesy meeting that my manager said to go to, because they wanted to meet me. And I said, “Well, tell them I’m not going to do it — it’s a sitcom.” I told them that, and they laughed, as they should have, and then they said, “When we write it, will you read it?” I said, “Sure, I’ll read it. Of course.” So then I read it, and I called my manager and said, “I think I have to do this; this is going to be a hit.” And he said, “It’s too late — they’re out to Craig T. Nelson.”

I thought, well, that makes sense. I told them I didn’t want to do it, and Craig and I have been up for many, many of the same roles over the years. Some I get, some he gets. So I said, “OK, fine. I get it.” A week later, my manager called me and said, “They’re back to you,” because Craig had apparently passed, and I said, “Make the deal.” He said, “They’re not going to pay you your quote. They’re under your quote.” And I said, “Don’t worry about my quote. This is going to be a hit show, and we’ll get the quote back later.” They made the deal! That’s how sure I was. It’s very, very risky to work for less than your quote, because everybody finds out about that — “Hey, he works for nothing.” But then when the show’s a hit, you’re a genius.

I’m sure you’ve now made back your quote. Are you signed on for additional years, past this one?
This is our last contracted year, and I think that they’re starting to get into that, “what are we going to do now?” negotiation stuff, for a couple more years. But we have to wait and see how that goes.

But you expect the show to continue?
Listen, if I was going to bet, I’d bet two more years. And I’d probably lay a large amount of money on that. Not to say it’ll happen, but that gives you an idea.