T.J. Miller -- perhaps best known to movie fans as Hud from Cloverfield -- just wants to make sure you give his new film Yogi Bear a fair shake before you judge it. Then again, Miller, who in 2008 was named one of the 12 rising stars in comedy by Entertainment Weekly, has a bit at stake for this film considering that he theoretically could have been eaten by a real bear during his audition.
Miller stars as Ranger Jones in this week's CGI/live-action adventure, the 29-year-old's fourth of five releases in 2010, including supporting roles in She's Out of My League, How to Train Your Dragon, Unstoppable and the forthcoming Gulliver's Travels. Not shy about defending Yogi against a culture that has seemingly had its knives sharpened for months, Miller spoke to Movieline his famed audition tape, explains why Justin Timberlake should stop avoiding talking about his role as Boo-Boo and delivers his real-time reaction to the now infamous Yogi Bear-Jesse James viral video.
It's interesting timing that we're talking since that Assassination of Jesse James-Yogi Bear video has gone viral. Have you seen it?
What? I haven't seen that. I'll look at that right now.
It's basically the ending to The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Boo-Boo shoots Yogi in the head.
Oh, God. That sounds awful.
I'm not explaining it well, but, yeah, I'm not sure it's meant for the target audience.
I'm letting it load. You know, Neil Hamburger declared war on Yogi Bear over Twitter and I got involved in that. We're already making arrangements for Neil's funeral on Saturday after Yogi comes out, if it opens well. You know, I'm a pretty staunch defender of it as a piece of groundbreaking cinema.
Explain that.
Well, it's the first live action 3-D hybrid film that was shot completely in a live environment. Even James Cameron didn't do that. [Avatar] was all in studio. And, also, it's a pretty epic everyman tale and the characters go through some real journeys. So, if people would pay attention to it instead of writing it off as this stupid family kids movie, or try to compare it to Alvin and the Chipmunks and those other movies, it's more the caliber of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Well, Justin Timberlake doesn't seem to be doing your film any favors. He seems to be in full on Oscar mode for The Social Network...
Yeah, I heard that he's doing a big campaign.
If Yogi Bear is brought up -- because that is his new movie -- he quickly tries to change the subject.
I think his work in Alpha Dog and The Social Network speak for him as an actor. But I'll say that I think he did great in Yogi. Let me just say this: I hope that he understands, comedically, how well he did in this film. Because he really, really did.
That's the problem: We wouldn't know because he's not talking about it. And that leads to speculation about the film.
It's got to be the Oscar campaign. I think he would be smarter to try to push for an Oscar as Boo-Boo.
His chances would seem slim considering the amount of actors who have been nominated for voice-over work.
Yeah, but he could be the first.
To be fair to Yogi Bear, I really didn't want to see another movie you were in, Unstoppable, and it wound up being very entertaining.
Yeah, the studio does this huge marketing push for the American masses, so that turns off a lot of cinephiles. And it shouldn't. I had the same experience: I was with some people who didn't want to see Unstoppable. Then they end up seeing it, because that's where we ended up, and they loved it. Everybody loved it, it got great reviews because it's a train movie with Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. Some people said, "Oh, I bet that's not that great." It's one of the only movies that doesn't have a villain. How many movies come out now without a terrorist or some sort of arch-villain? That movie isn't about that; it's about ordinary people rising to the occasion. Yeah, it has a train full of kids, but it also has great moments between Chris Pine and Denzel, and the action is impeccable. So what else do you want? I love that movie. And I think Yogi is a really great version of what a Yogi Bear movie could be.
Did you see Saturday Night Live's Unstoppable parody?
Oh, yes. [Laughs] That was super-fun. And if you think about it, everything can be thought of in terms of the Chrysler Building.
When I saw the film, I remember thinking, Wow, she's really specific. Not the Empire State Building. No, the Chrysler Building.
Well, see, that's the size of the train. The Empire State Building would have been not as good of an estimate. We don't want to get out of hand! It's a Chrysler Building situation' let's deal with it as is necessary for that size problem.
They can save the Empire State Building for the sequel. "The last one was the size of the Chrysler Building..."
"This one's the size of the Empire State Building." Totally!
I watched your Yogi Bear audition tape again...
That thing's great because I sent it in as a joke. Online, a lot of people said, "Oh, get a bear and act terribly, that's what you have to do to get into a movie in Hollywood?" I'm going to talk about this on Conan tonight, but I want to be here to tell everybody that I have worked for years and years as a comedian doing open mics, traveling the United States, acted in over 10 studio films. I want to tell everybody who saw that video that, yes, that all you need is a bear. If you hire a bear, you will get a movie. I have very little talent, so to speak, outside of my ability to rent a bear.
Did you hire a bear for My Idiot Brother?
No, I didn't. The part was too small.
And you weren't scared?
A lot of people ask that. I wasn't scared. It was a trained bear, and the animal trainer made it clear that his main job was to make me feel bad about the fact that anything I do could end up having me mauled. He would always say, "No, don't touch the bear; he will rip at your face." So I became scared, but they fed me some marshmallows and I felt a lot better.
How big is your part in Gulliver's Travels?
I mean, it seems like it's big from the previews, but I'm only in about the first 15 or 20 minutes. I'm sort of the catalyst for [Jack Black] to go to the little people land.
So you're his friend before he leaves?
Yeah. I got to be regular size which is the only way I would have agreed to do the film.
Why is that?
I just don't want to be little. I don't want to be in a movie where I'm little.
Is this something we should see?
Yeah, definitely. I mean, it's always fun to watch a Jack Black film.
Have you seen it yet?
I haven't seen that yet. I'm in two movies that I wouldn't necessarily rush to go see, but I think Gulliver's Travels is going to be a great movie for a Jack Black film where he goes and visit little people. Rob Letterman is a really good director, really funny. I thought Monsters and Aliens was hilarious. So I feel good about that film as well. And Yogi I've seen several times. So I know that's really enjoyable if you go into it with an open mind... and an open heart. An open heart is much more important.
Most moviegoers still know you as Hud, the guy who was eaten by Cloverfield. That was a big role considering where you were in your career. How did that happen?
Well, basically, I was in this television show called Carpoolers for a little while.
Was that the one with Jerry O'Connell?
Yes, totally. Which was canceled, so I auditioned for Cloverfield, which I was told was top secret and I couldn't talk about it. And so I basically was like, "All right, let's do it, let's see what happens." And it ended up being pretty great. I thought it was some dumb teenage romance thing, [but] they offered me the film and explained what it was, so I said, "Let's see what happens."
I know you're about to do Conan, but I was hoping to get your reaction to that video before you go.
Oh, yeah, I just loaded it. Let me watch it real quick. [Some moments later] Hey, I love that thing, it's hilarious. But they cut out right before my name would have come up, but that's OK. I just Tweeted it, I think it's hilarious. The idea is that Yogi Bear has a sense of humor about itself and I like that other people have a sense of humor with it. And I'm a comedian, so my thing across the board is that I'm much happier when people don't take something seriously then when they do. This is a great example of people not taking the movie seriously, and we're fine with that. I obviously take the movie very seriously because my performance in it is layered, dynamic and methodical...
Right.
But I'm happy an audience can enjoy it in a way that isn't as devoted as I am. You know, that animation looks pretty dope.
Did they get the end credits song correct?
No, no. They're just making up a full final fake ending. I think it's good and really funny. And I may or may not have funded it from an offshore Cayman Islands bank account, and I may not be allowed to talk about that.