Melman is in Monte Carlo - as are Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Gloria the hippo and the "psychotic" penguins. Following the animated Madagascar (2005) and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008), Melman, the hypochondriac giraffe, and friends are hiding in a circus as they continue trying to return to Central Park Zoo in Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted.
David Schwimmer (45), who voices the hangdog giraffe, knows New York. He was born in Flushing, one of two children of lawyers Arthur Schwimmer and Arlene Colman-Schwimmer, and felt like an outer-borough outsider when his family relocated to California and he attended Beverly Hills High.
Eventually, of course, he hit it big as Ross Geller in the 1994-2004 comedy Friends.
Q How does one find one's inner giraffe?
A I don't know. When [DreamWorks Animation chief executive] Jeffrey Katzenberg first approached me and told me the story about these four "zoo-sters", I was wondering which one he had in mind for me. When he told me it was the giraffe, I was really relieved because I've always honestly had an affinity toward giraffes. And I think it's because I feel they're so vulnerable. Even though they're often very graceful and majestic, I think they're just big easy targets in the animal kingdom.
Q I don't even know how they run on those legs.
A Yeah. They just seem so easy to take down. And what is their defence? They have no defence mechanism.
Q And yet it's always the gazelles getting eaten. Now, with animated films, the cast generally doesn't record at the same time. And yet acting is reacting, as they say. How do you compensate for that when you're alone in an audio booth?
A It's challenging because you're completely alone, so you're really using your imagination to create the whole scene - how would Chris or Jada (Pinkett Smith) or Ben say this line?
Sometimes you have another actor they bring in just to cue you and read the dialogue, but it's never the same. You're not going to get someone as good as Chris Rock to be Chris Rock.
I'm appreciative of them, because it's tough, what they're doing - they're trying to be someone else and that's never really fun. And then we just work.
And my philosophy is, I try to give the directors 10 variations of every line.
Q Have you ever watched a Madagascar movie and heard a line and thought, "Hey, cool, I improvised that!".
A I don't remember specifically lines, but what's amazing to me is when there's a certain take [that is, facial expression] that my character Melman does where I suddenly recognise myself. And then I'm like, "Holy crap! I can't believe they got me!" The good thing about voice work is that they're always videotaping you in the booth, so the animators go back and watch your expressions and, more importantly to me, your timing.
