Beverly Hills Chihuahua - CIA - Thecia

UNLEASHING THE TALENTCasting Voices, Humans and Virtual CreaturesUNLEASHING THE TALENTWith a cast that included more than 200 dogs, snakes, pigeons, coyotes, a mountain lion, avirtual pack rat and a virtual iguana—and of course talent of the human variety—the “BeverlyHills Chihuahua” filmmakers hadtheir work cut out for them when itcame to filling the roles.“The way that we put the casttogether was very interesting,because it’s a pastiche of animalsand humans and we actually castthem simultaneously,” explainsproducer John Jacobs. “We’d think,‘Who is the perfect Sam?’ And thenwe would think, ‘Who is the perfectanimal counterpart, and how dothey go together?’ Papi is just a hysterically funny, really cool street dog, and is a greatcounterpart to Sam. We wanted to find characters that mirrored each other. The humans hadto be just as exciting as the animals, and the animals had to be as cool as the humans. So wereally did it hand in hand.”A host of talented actors, including some of the biggest Hispanic names in theentertainment world, lend their voices to the canine cast. Says producer Todd Lieberman, “Weknew it was important to get recognizable names for the voices of the animals.”“We have this amazing list of actors who are all movie stars and they’re doing these dogvoices,” says director Raja Gosnell. “But it’s not like we had to go and talk people into it.Everyone responded to the script and they all saw that this is not your regular talking-dogmovie.”Lieberman says one priority was to attract the kind of talent that would uphold the film’slargely Mexican setting. First on the list was George Lopez (“Swing Vote,” TV’s “GeorgeLopez”), tapped to voice the crazy-for-Chloe mix-breed Chihuahua who relentlessly pursueshis corazón south of the border.“Papi may be the funniest character in the whole movie,” says Hoberman. “He’s just anincurable romantic who is in love with Chloe and is never shy about professing his love forher, and does it in some very, very funny ways. He’s the guy who would probably never getthis girl, but because of his persistence, he does at the end. George is just funny and I thinkwe’ve gotten the right Chihuahua to work with him.”Adds Lopez, “Papi is a little bigger than most Chihuahuas. He’s a little masculineChihuahua. When he runs, he hops. I don’t think I’ve seen a Chihuahua hop like a bunnybefore.“Papi is nothing like me,” continues Lopez. “He’s a romantic dog, yet he’s got a little bit ofstreet in him. I got the street, but I don’t really have the romance. So, I admire the dog. Hisface is really expressive, so I wanted to make that face come to life. The dog had already doneso much with that character that I had to up my game to give that dog what he deserved. He’sworking so hard in Mexico that I didn’t want to let him down with the voice. I have three14