Behind the Scenes with Ray Romano and Queen Latifah in ICE AGE: COLLISION COURSE #IceAge #CollisionCourse

(Editor’s Note: Along Comes Mary was invited to experience all of this Ice Age fun. This is a guest post by Mary K. Tran, on behalf of Along Comes Mary. )

ICE AGE: COLLISION COURSE, the fifth installment of the ICE AGE movies is coming to theaters July 22nd! We went to a pre-screening hosted by 20th Century Fox to learn more about the film and the characters behind the voice. Do you recall a moment in the first film about them stumbling upon a spaceship in a block of ice? The writers have always wanted to go back and revisit that. In this film, Scrat accidentally falls into the spaceship and sets off a series of chain reactions due to his obsession with the acorn. It’s his version of the Big Bang. It’s catastrophic but his version is pretty hilarious. As a result, a meteor shower threatens the Ice Age World so Manny and his friends have to find a way to save themselves. Meanwhile, Manny is having a hard time with Peaches wanting to move away after she marries her fiance. That’s all I want to say. You’ll have to watch the rest to see what happens.

At the press junket, Ray Romano (Manny) talks about being a Dad and the process of recording. He can totally relate to what’s going on in the story because he too has a daughter that is around the same age as Peaches (Keke Palmer). It’s pretty fun to see Queen Latifah (Ellie) and Ray Romano in the same room because the actors usually don’t even see each other in the recording studio. Ray explains there is no one to play off of, and they’re in a booth. It’s pretty interesting how they do it. Both Ray and Queen Latifah agreed that the best part is they don’t have to get all dressed up for it. It’s not always in chronological order and they have to match the intensity.

Ray Romano: “The Director will read the other line to you, but I don’t hear her voice, no. It’s all done in such piecework, you know.”

Queen Latifah: “And sometimes instead of just having the Director, maybe they will start to read the scene, and then I’ll just start doing it by myself. I’ll just hit my lines. And then, maybe I’ll do a line three times in a row. Because I hear it in a few different ways. And that’s where we as actors are. That’s what we’re hired for to do it our style and kind of bring to it what we bring to it.”

Ray Romano: “Right. And a lot of times they’ll say, ‘Okay, you’re falling down the cliff now, and so we need to scream -Ahhhh. And I’ll tell them we’ve done five movies. You have me screaming 5,000 times. Can’t you just take one of those? Obviously you can’t, no.”

You know how Ray Romano has a daughter so he can relate to the story in ICE AGE. I think any parent can relate to the story, because no is every good enough for our children.

“I have a daughter who’s around the same age as Peaches. As a dad it’s bittersweet. You want your daughter to be happy to find somebody special, and yet you think whoever she does find isn’t going to be good enough for her. And that’s who Manny is. He knows that Julian is not a bad guy, but that doesn’t mean he gets to marry Peaches. Julian has to prove himself to Manny, and Manny has to learn to accept that his daughter is moving on to this next phase of her life. And it’s not easy – I know that from experience.”

I loved when Queen Latifah talks about kids these days. It’s a bit lengthy but I think she said it perfectly.

“I think it’s always important that kids see themselves reflected in the stories they see, so anything that speaks to being okay with being yourself, with being different–being different, being normal–being different is normal. Kids are trying to figure things out. Sometimes things should not be that deep. They should really be kind of simple, they should be fun. I mean, kids’ lives are about innocence and learning and growing and making lots of mistakes.

And so, anything that makes them have to be perfectionists–it’s okay to strive for that, but if you fall a little short, life is not over because they’re kids. And so, there has to be some redemption in things or second chances in things, so the kids know, “Hey, you’re okay. You made a mistake, own it, whatever. But, get up, and dust yourself off, and try again,” all those life lessons I think that are important.

I just think that today we are smarter than we’re behaving as human beings. And I think we could show much more compassion, I think we could show much more inclusiveness. I think we can completely disagree respectfully, and we should see what that it looks like to not agree with someone at all but yet not kill them, not take their head off, you know, not bully them, you know. So, it’s not to say those things don’t exist.

It’s just that we’re trying to teach kids at the same time and show them that there is a better way, better than what we even did, better than what our parents did. And we’re supposed to grow. So, I mean, I like to see those stories told. But, at the end of the day, if you sit a kid down, and they tell you what they feel, that’s the truth. And you have to hear them on that.

So, it’s not about you trying to tell them what they feel and think. Just hear where they’re coming from because it’s going to be honest, more honest than us in this room. Kids will be honest because they haven’t learned to lie like we have or to cover things up. So, I just think it’s important to hear where they are coming from and then also show them the way, so to speak, and then let them take over.”

My family love ICE AGE movies and the new movie makes a great addition to the series. My kids loved all the cool features of the spaceship. I loved the new world that they found, and the parts of Manny with this new future son-in-law. It’s overall a pretty good movie.

Mary
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This is a post written by Mary K. Tran. Mary is a super active mom of two boys who likes to blog about her adventures in Orange County. You can learn more about Mary at www.LetsPlayOC.com.

Ice Age Encounters at La Brea Tar Pits Museum!

Experience a multimedia performance where we dig into the past to uncover the mysteries of some of the extinct creatures who roamed Ice Age Los Angeles over 10,000 years ago. This dynamic, 15-minute show features a life-size adult Saber-toothed Cat puppet, a live performance and film projections that bring the distant past to life.

The La Brea Tar Pits and Museum
5801 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA

(213) 763-3499
www.tarpits.org/museum/programming/ice-age-encounters

Saturdays and Sundays at 11 am, 1 pm, and 2 pm.
Fridays at 10:30 am, 11:15 am, and 12 pm
$4 Adults, Seniors, Students
$3 Children 3-12
Children 2 years and under FREE
Members FREE