Speaking with Albert Brooks & Hayden Rolence – AKA Marlin & Nemo!! #FindingDoryEvent

What Finding Dory Press Junket would be complete without talking to Nemo and his dad Marlin – also known as Hayden Rolence, new to the cast for Finding Dory, and returning as Marlin is Albert Brooks.  

Seeing as Marlin is such a worrier as a parent in Finding Nemo and Finding Dory, we were wondering if you are able to relate to this as a parent, or if you have a different style?

Well when my children were younger I worried more.  Now I worry less and I pay more. I’m a worrier but I mean not as much as Marlin, nobody can worry as much as Marlin.

It has been 13 years since Finding Nemo – so was it hard to fall back into the role again.

I’m telling you it happens in about twenty seconds.  Because the character itself they didn’t age the character, so, if it’s a year later, you start.  You’ve created the character.  As long as you’ve got your wits about you, you can do it.  It’s like no time passed.

Al continued, joking that if they planned on making a 3^rd movie they better hurry up as Hayden won’t have a job and he’d have to have a wheelchair.

Hayden was asked if he was a fan of Finding Nemo, considering he wasn’t born yet when it came out, which made me feel rather old.  He let us know that he most definitely was. 

This was followed up with asking Hayden what his favorite part was about being able to voice Nemo and what his biggest challenge.

I love being able to meet everybody that worked on the film.  I just love being able to meet everyone. 

The biggest challenge was probably knowing that he was art- that Nemo was already a character and knowing that I wanted to do him justice.  And I didn’t want any disappointment. 

Of course there was a resounding approval of his role from us mommy bloggers.  Having seen the movie, as I am sure you have now too, Hayden most definitely completed his role as Nemo very successfully and there is absolutely no disappointment.

It seems the question of, “What is your favorite scene” comes up often.  I can say that I can think of a few scenes that totally moved me, and others that made me literally laugh out loud.  One that was often mentioned during our interviews, as it was from Albert, was the scene where Dory finds her parents, where she follows the shells they’ve left for her.  

The scene is emotional and beautiful; it leads up to this magical moment we’ve all been waiting for, for so long.  The moment where Dory finally finds her parents and they’re reunited.

Seeing as Hayden is so young, very mature and oh so talented, but nonetheless young, he was asked what he thought of the red carpet experience the night before.

This was my first premier so I was really excited but I was also a little bit nervous.  Again, because I wanted to do Nemo justice and I was just really excited to see the movie for the first time. 

Albert poked a little fun at Hayden saying that no other premieres are like the Finding Dory premiere was the night before.  Continuing that they never usually take over whole streets like it did the night before, click HERE for a recap of my red carpet experience, telling the story of how Hollywood Blvd was shut down after the movie for the after party etc.

Speaking to their initial thoughts of the movie, Hayden had seen it for the first time the night before; they spoke of their excitement to see the finished product.  As a voice over actor they’re only really seeing their part in the movie so having it all come together, as a finished product, is amazing.

Both actors speoke to all the people included to bring a Pixar movie to the big screen.  The credits are longer than most movies as there’s just so many people involved.

AB: It’s sort of this magic trick.  I was surprised; I was sort of surprised at what I bought into. I mean, I’m watching this octopus drive a truck, and I’m going look out.  Then I’m going, why am I saying look out, I know what’s going on.  It’s just crazy, you just start going no-no-no turn left. 

It feels we often look to a message that a movie can leave us with, and this question is often asked of the talent; “What message do you hope the audience takes from the movie?” 

Albert however has a different take on this;

I’m not a big message person because I think that you sort of fail if you try to do a message. Here’s the thing about the movie this really is a movie that you can take kids to and you’ll sit through and enjoy.  It’s the ultimate children’s movie but it’s enjoyable.  I don’t think I’ve seen a movie like that for a while.  And it’s, it’s funny without being sarcastic.  It’s heartwarming without being schmaltzy and I think people will- I think people will be surprised that there’s more maybe more feeling than they thought. 

I can definitely see Albert’s viewpoint here, but I also think that I can see the connections/meanings behind Dory’s short term memory loss, and how that is been portrayed as having a special needs child.  How Charlie and Jenny work with Dory on what makes her different from her friends, but also how she can embrace that difference. 

There definitely is two ways to look at this, neither is right or wrong, either way you’ll LOVE the movie and want to go watch it again and again.              

What preparation went into preparing for your role as Nemo, did you watch Finding Nemo?

I did watch Finding Nemo, a lot, just to get myself prepared for trying to make my voice sound like Nemo.  I live in Illinois so I had to send in a tape, rather than a traditional audition, so I was able to just watch the movie, then practice the scene, and watch the movie and practice the scene.  And I did that over and over again.  And then finally I was able to make my voice sort of sound like Nemo.

In speaking to child actors it is always interesting to me just how grown up and mature they are, but at the same time they’re just kids.  When asked what his reaction was to earning the role of Nemo, Hayden explained that he was actually in school when his agent called his parents to let them know.

I was actually at school when my parents got the call from my agency, and my parents told me that I had like an audition that day.  So my dad got out the camera [to catch his reaction on camera] and then they told me the news.  And I was sort of in disbelief at the beginning, I’m like you guys are joking with me right, then once I realized that that they weren’t actually joking with me, I was like astonished, I couldn’t believe it. 

Interviewing Albert along with Hayden was an absolute treat.  Albert is extremely funny and he really draws Hayden out of his shell, which I am sure he was only ‘in’ because he was sitting in front of 25 moms shooting questions at him.

As I have stated before, and I am stating again, GO WATCH Finding Dory NOW!!  As the weekend box office shows, with a record for an animated movie, bringing in $136.2M in it’s opening weekend, you will not be disappointed in this movie.

Follow along via social media, there are a lot of fun things going on;

• Like FINDING DORY on Facebook 

• Follow FINDING DORY on Twitter 

• Follow Disney/Pixar on Instagram 

• Follow Disney Studios on Pinterest 

• Visit the official website here 

Disclosure: Disney provided me with an all expenses paid trip to Los Angeles including travel, accommodations and activities. All thoughts and opinions are my own.