As much as audiences loved Manny, Diego and Sid – and the actors who voice them – the real breakout star of “Ice Age” was Scrat, whose squeaks, screams and other strange utterances happened to be voiced by that film’s director, Chris Wedge. Says the filmmaker, who is one of the founders of Blue Sky Studios: “Scrat as a character is like someone dancing in front of everyone wearing only his underpants. He’s just hapless.”
Wedge was delighted with the audience reaction to the character, while expecting even bigger laughs with the character’s expanded role in ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN. “Audiences tuned into Scrat right away,” he says, “because everyone relates to an underdog. Now that we’ve given him new dimensions for the second film, we expect an even bigger response to Scrat.”
At the end of “Ice Age,” Manny, Sid, Diego had come together to form a family, albeit a dysfunctional one. In ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN, the stakes are raised as the trio meets new characters – who may join them to create a new, larger family.
As Manny wrestles with the idea that he’s the last mammoth on earth, he meets Ellie, a female woolly mammoth. Now that he’s finally met a female mammoth, nothing can stand in the way of true love – except, perhaps, the fact that Ellie has identity issues: she thinks she’s a possum. According to Lori Forte, that creates an interesting and fun dynamic between the two characters. “You couldn’t just have Manny and Ellie come together and have them fall in love right away,” she points out. “The more conflict there is, the funnier it is.”
To differentiate Ellie from Manny, and give her a more feminine quality, the filmmakers gave her rounder shapes, less bulk, a fun hairdo and a lighter, reddish color tone. Saldanha and the animators created a strong physical dynamic between Manny’s laconic style and Ellie’s more frenetic personality.
In casting Ellie, the filmmakers searched for a voice that was rich with personality – not just an actress with a big personality. “We had to consider how she would sound opposite Ray Romano,” says Saldanha. “In addition, we wanted someone with a voice that had strength, independence, empathy and humor. Queen Latifah embodied all these qualities.”
Latifah, who makes her animated feature film debut in ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN, enjoyed exploring Ellie’s “complications.” “Ellie is just the sweetest, lovable lump that you've ever seen. But she’s…well…she’s a little strange. A little aloof. And a little confused about her identity. You see, Ellie thinks she's a possum. But she’s really a woolly mammoth. That’s real confusion!”
The actress/musician has had several on-screen romances, but none compare to the stakes in Ellie’s relationship with Manny. “Manny thinks he's the last woolly mammoth on earth, until he meets Ellie,” she explains. “There's a potential to save the species, if only Ellie would realize who she is: a mammoth, and not a possum.”
Latifah says her background as a hip hop artist was a big factor in helping her create a voice performance for Ellie. “I think one of the reasons I enjoyed working on this film was because of the innate vocal rhythm I have as a musician. You catch things off that rhythm and you hear things a bit differently. So it was interesting for me to get Ellie’s vocal inflections and make sure they worked for the character.” Joining Ellie on her journey are her two “brothers,” possums Crash and Eddie. They are wild and crazy – daredevils and pranksters – whose charm comes out of their love for and protectiveness toward their sister Ellie. Seann William Scott, who starred as the incorrigible ‘Stiffler’ in the “American Pie” trilogy, voices Crash, and Josh Peck, from Nickelodeon’s hit series “Drake and Josh,” voices Eddie.
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