Friday, November 14, 1997

Part of their world

FILM:

The little mermaid takes the big screen for a whole new generation of movie-goersBy Stephanie Sheh

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Jodi Benson arrives at the Four Seasons Hotel, dressed neatly in a white blouse and red blazer, to share some memories. Her clear, crisp voice fills the large carpeted room, a voice that brought to life a 16-year-old mermaid eight years ago.

"I actually created the voice in the ladies' room right before I went into the audition," Benson recalls. Today, "The Little Mermaid" is back on the big screen for a limited two week engagement. "They had this lounge outside the ladies' room and I just looked in the mirror and I kind of read through it and thought, 'Well, maybe I'll try this voice.'"

Benson beat out hundreds of contenders for the role of Ariel with just that voice. When casting for the free-spirited heroine, the filmmakers did not want to see any of the actress' faces nor did they want to know any of their previous credits. Casting decisions were based on demo tapes that were submitted. This is in stark contrast to the star-studded animated pictures that Disney has produced since.

Benson says that writing and directing team Ron Clements and John Musker told her, "We knew when we heard it that was what we wanted, but we didn't know what we wanted until we heard it."

It took Clements and Musker a long time to decide on Ariel's voice. In fact, Benson didn't even find out she got the role until approximately a year later.

"Then I didn't remember it," Benson admits. "So I said, 'Do you have my tape? 'Cause I don't remember what I did.'"

This was Benson's first time doing any type of character voice work, but with her extensive musical theater background it's no great surprise that she would lend her voice to an animated classic.

"I think when I was a kid, you pretend to be other characters," Benson says. "I would imitate people like Barbra Streisand. They were like huge idols for me, so I would pretend to sing like them."

Since "Mermaid" Benson has voiced characters for several animated television series including "The Little Mermaid," "Pirates of Dark Water" and "P.J. Sparkles." Although working in a recording studio is no longer new to Benson, she's still finds it fun.

"The way I can describe it is that you're led into a room of toys. You are a child (and they're) just like 'OK, go and have fun for the next two hours,'" Benson says. "You are completely uninhibited. The things you do in there you would never do in public. You wouldn't want people to see the faces you make and then what you do with your body. So it's kind of like free playtime.

"And it's really amazing that you get paid to do it," Benson continues. "But that's the funny thing I suppose. I still am like, 'You're going to pay me to go in there and be goofy?'"

Although Benson had a lot of fun working on "The Little Mermaid," it was challenging to only be able to use her voice to express the necessary emotions.

She explains, "You think you've nailed something dead on and you're sobbing and you're crying and you're right there in the moment. And then Ron and John will push the button and they'll say, 'It's really great but when we close our eyes, it's not the right thing. We're not getting it.' And you're like, 'Man, what more can I do?'"

Benson did receive a sketch and a tape recording of one of the songs to aid in her creating the character. The tape had the late lyricist Howard Ashman singing "Part of Your World." Benson says that his interpretation was so perfect that she mimicked every nuance. Ashman also made tapes of other characters' songs.

"You know Pat Carroll (Ursula) would be the first to say that he played a much better Ursula than she could ever imagine to touch on," Benson says. "He really wanted to be all these characters. He's just a visionary in that way. He's really such a creative person. It's just unfortunate that he's not here, to be able to enjoy the (re-release)."

Toward the end of the two-week run of the film's run, Disney will release the Robin Williams film "Flubber," in which Benson's voice makes an appearance.

Benson says that she had been a long admirer of "Flubber" producer and screenwriter John Hughes ("Breakfast Club," "Sixteen Candles"). When got to meet him, she was terrified and intimidated.

"He put me at ease the first minute I walked in, though," Benson recalls. "He said, 'I was looking for this character for quite some time. I watched "The Little Mermaid," turned off the screen, just listened to your voice and said, "That's Weebo." So that's why you're here. So let's go.'"

Voicing Weebo, Williams' flying personal computer, was an experience vastly different from the way Benson was used to working. For "The Little Mermaid," she rehearsed with other actors and the animators didn't start sketching until all the lines had been recorded. With Weebo, it was almost the complete opposite.

"I just walked in the sound studio with the screen and they turned on the mic and John Hughes says, 'Start talking to Robin. Just talk to him,'" Benson says. "I said, 'Do I have lines?' 'You will improvise.'

"I just started talking back to Robin and filling in, playing off of his creation, genius, his comic timing. And then John Hughes developed a script from my character."

The actress is excited about seeing "Flubber" because her voice was manipulated to sound like it came out of a speaker. She is equally excited to see Ariel on the big screen again.

"I think the idea is to remember where you were the first time you saw the movie," Benson says. "So I'm looking forward to remembering the first time I saw it in the screening room and white knuckling the chair, watching it and just going, 'Oh my gosh! This movie's amazing!'"

To veteran actor and comedian Buddy Hackett ("Music Man," "The Love Bug") the re-release means something a bit different.

"I want the people to enjoy it," says Hackett, who provided the voice of Scuttle the sea gull. "There'll be a whole generation of people who haven't seen 'The Little Mermaid.' I want them to go and enjoy it, but then I want them to go buy the tapes. And I want them to rent it, because I get a few cents (from it).

"You people, if you are going to be reading this stuff you got to go out and do it, because they're coming to take the house," Hackett jokes. "Last week they took the lawn. And if you don't buy enough tapes they're going to come and take my house away. I ... have a lot of pussy cats that live in the house with us and they don't understand about banking and foreclosing."

Joking aside though, both actors are excited to see the audience's reaction to Ariel's return to the screen.

"There's a lot of children around my family that have been born in the last seven years who have never seen it," Benson explains. "So I've had to sort of make reservations. I'm sort of their take-out mermaid to go to the movies with them. And just to watch it and kind of look at me and then look up that the screen, I'm really looking forward to it."

FILM: "The LIttle Mermaid" opens today. Come to Kerckhoff 118 to pick up free posters and pins while they last.

Disney Enterprises

(Above) Ariel (Jodi Benson) and Flounder (Jason Marin) eagerly listen as Scuttle (Buddy Hackett), shares some misinformation about objects from the human world. (Below) The denizens of the deep pull out all the stops for their biggest musical number.