Don't Be a Chicken!

Aardman Animations. Despite never getting the mainstream recognition of, say, Studio Ghibli or Pixar, thanks largely to their niche storytelling, they still have an excellent track-record. Whether it’s their character models having jovial faces constantly, their British humour, or even tackling bizarre concepts in fun ways, Aardman’s mastered Claymation. Which is why it hurts to be critical of them when they make bad decisions. Case in point: Chicken Run.

Those who’ve followed me since ScrewAttack’s heyday will know that Chicken Run’s one of my favourite animated films. I even included it in a Top 15 list that, sadly, no longer exists. It’s a great movie, and it pays homage to one of the greatest chase movies ever made, The Great Escape. Yet it never crossed my mind that a sequel could be milked from its premise, as it ended conclusively. But having discovered some upsetting news, I’m not sure I want one anymore.

See, Chicken Run recently had a sequel green-lit. The idea’s curious enough, but then there was the announcement that its leads, Mel Gibson and Julia Sawalha, wouldn’t be returning as Rocky and Ginger. For Gibson, this makes sense, as his behaviour in the years since has been questionable, and Aardman would rather not be associated with that. But Sawalha not returning raises eyebrows, as the reason given, that she’s “too old”, doesn’t add up.

Let me explain.

Voice acting, unlike in-person acting, is tricky. It’s not as appearance-oriented, as your voice is what matters, but it’s equally as demanding. If Tom Hanks is indication, it might be more demanding, as all of your energy has to go into your voice. If you’re not giving it your all vocally, it’ll show.

In that sense, I can see why Aardman wanted to replace Sawalha; after all, she’s in her 50’s, and voices do age. Considering the strain of voice acting, it’s not unreasonable to want one that’s capable of the stresses of the microphone. Especially since a lot can happen in 20 years to a person’s vocal cords. It’s bad enough when you strain it once, let-alone constantly!

But I have to still call bullocks. For one, even when factoring in the aforementioned, VAs are capable of voicing characters at advanced ages. The late-June Foray was voicing Rocky the raccoon well into her 90’s. Even in mainstream animation, Jessie was voiced by Joan Cusack for over 20 years, while Elastigirl survived two movies with Holly Hunter. Even Mark Hamill has been doing The Joker off-and-on since the early-90’s, and his voice has considerably changed since then! So Sawalha being “too old” feels disingenuous.

Two, older VAs have voiced younger characters before. Older woman have even voiced children, boys in particular. Wendy Lee was the original dub voice for Takeru, an 8 year-old. Brianne Brozey was the official dub voice for Tomoki, a 9 year-old. And let’s not forget Tara Strong, who’s been voicing Timmy Turner since the early-2000’s. Considering the ages of these three women when they started their work on these characters, it’s disingenuous that Sawalha’s age was a factor here.

Three, we live in an age of technology. Voices have been scrubbed over and cleaned up for decades, like when one of the voice actors in Animaniacs hit puberty. And given that some voices can be artificially replicated for VAs who can’t make a session, it’s not like there aren’t ways to fix aging voices. Couldn’t Sawalha record her lines and have Aardman polish them in post? Is this impossible? I don’t get it.

Four, and this is especially important, I don’t think Sawalha’s voice has changed that much. She recently shared herself rerecording her lines online, and the change was really subtle. Sure, there might’ve been a slight difference, but it’s nothing that couldn’t be fixed in post. If anything, her rerecording’s the best argument against being recast as is!

I understand wanting to recast someone. It happens in Hollywood for a variety of reasons-health, puberty, scheduling conflicts, scandals, death-and it happens constantly. I also don’t think that Sawalha owns Ginger, even if she helped create her. But that doesn’t mean she can’t still voice her because she’s “too old”. She’s in her early 50’s, for crying out loud!

It’s also not like Sawalha’s committing vocal blackface. She’s not. Ginger’s not a person, she’s a hen. Unless hens become personified and can think independently, I don’t think she’s breaking any moral boundaries, either. So why does it matter if she’s 20 years older?

I wouldn’t be annoyed if this reasoning didn’t hamper plenty of actresses. It seems like adult actresses are only good for a few years, fall into a black hole, and then resurface years later as mothers or grandmothers. And that’s sexist. I mean, is that all women are good for? Being single for a while, then being maternal figures later? This isn’t something they asked for, right?

There’s not much I can really do, sadly. Sawalha has already written a statement, which you can find here, so it’s not like this went by unnoticed by her. I only wish Aardman had given a better reason than her age, especially considering how voice acting actually works. And who knows? Maybe they’ll reconsider? Only time will tell!