Sir Ben Kingsley made his very first trip to the San Diego Comic Con in support of The Boxtrolls, a gorgeous animated film from the creators of ParaNorman and Coraline that Kingsley says he’s proud to promote. Although the Oscar-winning actor hasn’t yet seen the finished film, he loves the look of The Boxtrolls as well as the film’s message. “It explores vulnerability, it explores separation, it explores triumph, it explores absurdity, vanity, ambition. It’s very human. It has loads of human layers to it that so many people can engage with and study, and be amused by. I was very, very impressed with the detail of the animation and the psychological layers of the character.”
Kingsley’s had only minor roles in animated movies before, but he finds the experience very freeing. In order to echo the movements of his character (‘Archibald Snatcher’) on screen, Kingsley played with his voice, starting from a very relaxed starting point. “I actually was lying down for most of my recordings,” revealed Kingsley during our interview at Comic Con. “I know the recording studio quite well and I’ve got some good mates who work there, and they rigged me up this sort of reclining chair that was almost horizontal. I would do all my recording like that because I wanted to come from a very relaxed part of me.”
During our extensive interview, Sir Ben Kingsley also talked about his career choices, Gandhi, and what family audiences will get out of checking out The Boxtrolls.
Focus Features and LAIKA will release The Boxtrolls in theaters on September 26, 2014.
The Plot:
The Boxtrolls is a family event movie that introduces audiences to a new breed of family – The Boxtrolls, a community of quirky, mischievous creatures who have lovingly raised an orphaned human boy named Eggs (voiced by Isaac Hempstead-Wright) in the amazing cavernous home they’ve built beneath the streets of Cheesebridge. When the town’s villain, Archibald Snatcher (Ben Kingsley), comes up with a plot to get rid of the Boxtrolls, Eggs decides to venture above ground, “into the light,” where he meets and teams up with fabulously feisty Winnie (Elle Fanning). Together, they devise a daring plan to save Eggs’ family.
– By Fred Topel
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