Video:Jemaine Clement Interview - Rio and Men in Black III

Transcript:Jemaine Clement Interview - Rio and Men in Black III

Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the LA Premiere of 20th Century Fox's Rio.

Jemaine Clement - 'Nigel' in Rio

First of all, I'm a huge Flight of the Conchords fan...

Jemaine Clement: "Oh, thanks."And I'm very upset that it's not coming back ever.

Jemaine Clement: "Sorry."

Why did you do that to me?

Jemaine Clement: "We did it just to get you. 'I know what's going to annoy Rebecca.'"

But the song in this is very Flight of the Conchords-ish. Did you do that on purpose?

Jemaine Clement: "Flight of the Conchords-esque. No, I guess that's just how I write maybe."

Did they let you just go for it?

Jemaine Clement: "Yeah. And they had some other people help, there's a version in the script and also they had a writer, Yoni Brenner, who was in the studio with me. So when I was recording it, he would suggest other lines and I'd use the lines that I liked of his."

How difficult was it to play an evil bird?

Jemaine Clement: "Not difficult."

You channeled your inner evilness.

Jemaine Clement: "Yeah. I'm 90% evil in real life. It's harder to be good most of the time when I'm only 10% good."

Did you have any input on the character's look?

Jemaine Clement: "No, none. They had already come up with it when I first met them. They said, 'This is what the bird looks like and we're trying to find a voice for him.'"

How difficult was it to find his voice?

Jemaine Clement: "Oh well, they just wanted me to use my normal voice, really. I tried some other things because it's a native of Australia, that particular kind of cockatoo I think. And so I tried an Australian accent but they didn't want it."

I heard that Carlos actually acted out the other birds opposite you. What's he like?

Jemaine Clement: "Yeah. Sometimes he's acting like a female parrot, and sometimes he's acting like a little bulldog. He really gets into it. He throws himself into the part."

Is it hard to take him seriously as a director when he's being a bulldog?

Jemaine Clement: "It's hard to take him seriously as a woman."

Are you a fan of 3D?

Jemaine Clement: "At times. This has some really great 3D parts. Because it's about birds there's lots of flying, and I think that's a good use for 3D."

Do you think your character is going to get his own spin-off?

Jemaine Clement: "No. Maybe. If you talk to Carlos, just suggest it."

And you're working on Men in Black III?

Jemaine Clement: "Yes."

How's that going?

Jemaine Clement: "Great."

Is it still in production because I heard they were shut down for a while?

Jemaine Clement: "We had a long break over the Christmas period, what you guys call the holidays. So we had some long holidays, but we're back at it now."

How does it compare to the first two?

Jemaine Clement: "It has a lot of twists from the first two. But, yeah, it's funny. A lot of action."

And you're not an alien, are you?




Jemaine Clement: "I am an alien."

Are in an alien character mask?

Jemaine Clement: "Right now?"

No, on the set. Yeah, right now.

Jemaine Clement: "Not right now."

Do you have a cool alien costume?

Jemaine Clement: "Yeah, I have prosthetics. I look hideous. Not now."

Why should people go see Rio as opposed to every other family film out there?

Jemaine Clement: "It's the only film on at the moment. There are no other films."

More on Rio:

Rio Photos

Rio Trailers, Posters, Interviews, News and Cast List