Colleen O'Shaughnessey performs Miles "Tails" Prower in "Sonic the Hedgehog 2."Paramount Pictures
Colleen O'Shaughnessey has voiced Tails for the reason that 2014 and reprises the position in "Sonic the Hedgehog 2."
Insider these days spoke with the voice actor about the film, and what it meant to be forged in it.
Warning: Light spoilers for "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" under.
At the end of the first "Sonic the Hedgehog" movie in 2020, the screen of Miles "Tails" Prower blew open fans' expectations for the destiny of the movie collection.
Known in the more "Sonic" universe as a device whiz and the titular hedgehog's high-quality friend, Tails first debuted within the 1992 recreation "Sonic the Hedgehog 2." His brief look in a mid-credits scene throughout the first "Sonic" stay-action movie meant that not simplest became there desire for a sequel, but that it might consist of at the least one — if not extra — traditional "Sonic" characters.
Since that first tease, Tails has been voiced in the "Sonic" movies via voice actor Colleen O'Shaughnessey. She brings with her a huge breadth of revel in, not simply in voiceover paintings, but in voicing Tails especially: O'Shaughnessey has voiced that person since 2014 in suggests like "Sonic Boom" in addition to assorted "Sonic" video game titles.
Despite all her credentials, O'Shaughnessey's casting was extraordinary: As The Atlantic reported in 2011, and Collider in 2021, voice actors are frequently exceeded over for blockbuster animated movie roles in desire of recognizable celebrity skills who can hopefully draw in audiences.
O'Shaughnessey spoke with Insider approximately what that casting intended to her, in addition to recording from her closet during the pandemic and meeting Jim Carrey for the primary time.
Warning: Light spoilers for "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" ahead.
Sonic, Tails, and a propeller plane vs. Doctor Robotnik's Master Emerald-powered mech in "Sonic the Hedgehog 2."Paramount Pictures/Sega of America
Insider: This is not the first "Sonic" film that you've been in — you very in short debuted as Tails on the give up of the first film, in what was maybe one of the most hyped submit-credit scenes I've ever skilled.
Colleen O'Shaughnessey: That changed into crazy. People misplaced their minds, it changed into super.
How did you to begin with get introduced on for that cameo, and what became that reaction like in your stop?
I recorded the credit scene in, I can't consider if it turned into August or September of 2019, but just a few months earlier than the film opened. I failed to recognise something about it till they called and said, "Do you wanna do it?" And I stated, "Of route I do." I failed to comprehend it become gonna be a credit scene both, they made it sound find it irresistible changed into more like a cameo someplace in there. Once I turned into there, I found out it was a credit scene. I'm like, 'That's so cool." I failed to know it turned into gonna be just Tails. I had no concept, because manifestly it wasn't completed yet, so I failed to recognize.
People could ship me films of their theaters exploding in pleasure, humans screaming and leaping out of their chairs. Overwhelming. I mean, I knew humans love Tails. I love Tails. What's now not to love about him? But the quantity to which they were excited, I changed into like, "Wow."
Tails first regarded in a mid-credits scene in "Sonic the Hedgehog."Paramount Pictures
The sequel hadn't even been announced but on the time, however changed into continuing on as Tails something that become at the desk? When did you analyze that you'd be voicing him in the second movie as well?
I had no idea. I do not suppose they knew in the event that they were gonna get to do a second one at that point. So they began manufacturing for the second closing 12 months, I bet. They pumped that out rapid. Everyone's got this weird COVID timeline, it is so impossible to parent out where you are in time.
I did now not realize that I changed into going to get to play him till like, May-ish, June-ish of 2021. You simply never know, and being a voice actor, I actually just assumed they would get a celebrity to do it. And I'm so, so pleased that they didn't.
What did it mean to have this close to-decade body of work as this character recognized, and be capable of keep playing him on this manner?
It without a doubt means so much to me, virtually. It's so tough to explicit in words. I love what I do, and I might select voiceover each unmarried day and two times on Sundays. I've done on-camera stuff, I've executed theater, however at the give up of the day, it's voiceover for me, it's what I love. It's my passion. It is simply the quality activity ever.
But we don't typically get to that level of what this movie is. And for me to do this so far into my profession is simply, I don't know what to say. I do not know what to do with myself because it's just so exciting. You simply don't count on it, and it is not which you assume you cannot do it, it's that it does not manifest.
The outpouring of support and excitement from all of my voiceover friends has just been so, so interesting. They're so excited for me, they are excited for the opportunity for our whole community. It just approach so much to me. I love this person, and that I get to maintain on with him is… I'm so satisfied.
I suppose it approach so much to the enthusiasts too, because they get these characters that they love, and then, their preferred man or woman's gonna be in a film. And while you change the actor, it changes the entirety, and I think sometimes it may be disappointing. So the fans too were overwhelmingly supportive and excited.
You've spoken formerly approximately growing Tails' person over the course of the tv series "Sonic Boom" and different online game titles, however what was it like stepping into an earlier iteration of this man or woman who's just meeting Sonic for the first time in "Sonic 2"?
It became very interesting, because like you said, we are meeting him at the start of this dating instead of a dating it is already been established. It's additionally a far larger scope, it is a cinematic universe. So the performance is clearly more grounded than it's been inside the beyond.
Especially in a video game, all the electricity is manner up right here. And there sincerely are excessive-power, high-stakes moments in this film, but it is a special form of stakes. It's not "I'm trying to win the game" stakes, it is "I'm looking to keep my existence" stakes. And then it became matching that up with the rest of the film, to make certain that the whole lot is fluid and works.
Working with Ben [Schwartz] and locating that courting become actually type of a beautiful factor, because we have been simply mastering every other, and Sonic and Tails are just studying each other. So all of it made feel.
Ben Schwartz and Colleen O'Shaughnessey with Tails at the "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" family day at the Paramount Pictures Studios Lot on April 2, 2022.Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures
You two are going backward and forward a ton in this movie as Sonic and Tails. You each have improv backgrounds, so had been there any in particular memorable moments recording with him that didn't make it into the film?
The high-quality component became recording that scene in Siberia. It became so much amusing, and they simply allow us to https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=kariskuna.pat-patrouille-sans-compte move. We kept honestly proper to the script for more than one passes, after which they had been similar to, "move for it." Especially the components within the center in which we're bumping into every other, we were given to simply actually go for it, and it turned into so much amusing.
Like you said, we both have an improv background, so it become easy. He's just so fantastic, and if you have a great seasoned like that who you get to paintings off of, it simply makes your process even less complicated, you understand?
How many takes do you observed the 2 of you probably did just spitballing there?
Oh my gosh, I do not know. Probably five or six maybe of the whole element, and every so often we would destroy it up, and I suppose I did cross lower back in a few instances to feature a pair things right here and there once they lively. But yeah, it turned into so fun. You're like, "over this manner," "no, that way," or "whoops!"
You've been recording at home and a piece inside the studio throughout the pandemic and in this movie. Has that ever ended in any funny mishaps along with your circle of relatives?
I even have two large puppies who fortuitously are dozing proper now, but a leaf blows by means of and they are like [mimics barking], so there's that. I actually have cats who love to sleep in my closet, and my sales space is my closet. My husband is really presently constructing me a extremely good sales space space, but it's not finished yet, so I'm still in the closet. Sometimes he needs socks, so it is like "Oh, please keep for sock retrieval."
And then for anything motive at some stage in the pandemic, absolutely everyone in the neighborhood had their gardeners coming at the identical day on the identical time, so it become impossible. I might time table around my gardener, however then all the surrounding buddies, all I pay attention is leaf blowers and lawnmowers. Luckily I'm no longer in a flight path or anything, however every every so often then, "oh, they decided to jackhammer the road in the front of my residence."
