From the moment I received the invitation for the Finding Dory Event, I couldn’t wait to find out if we would be interviewing Ellen DeGeneres. So when I found out that we were not only interviewing Ellen but also Ed O’Neill, I may have let out a squeal.
From the moment they walked into the room, we began applauding and their smiles just grew. Ellen even ran around our tables clapping as she does…it was so awesome! They took their seats and as we began asking our questions, their responses made us laugh. For never having worked together before, their banter and comedic dynamic was fun to watch and even cooler to experience.
Here’s what they had to say…
On how Finding Dory came to be
“I mean I take full responsibility that it’s happening, because I made it happen, ’cause I kept saying, “What’s wrong with you people? It won an Academy Award.” It’s a great film, it’s iconic…I didn’t ever imagine that it would be about Dory, I just thought Pixar makes sequels, right? I mean, there’s a Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3, there’s like sequels…and then it just became a joke. I had a talk show, so I had a place to make a joke about it, every time a new sequel came out. It really was just a joke. At a certain point, I just gave up. I just thought, there’s no way. I guess I stopped swimming. I know, it’s sad….so when Andrew called me, he just started with saying “uncle, I give up,”
– Ellen
Seeing Finding Dory for the first time
Although it wasn’t their first time seeing the film (the cast saw an unfinished version of it) they both agreed that watching it at the world premiere offered a completely different energy, especially with everyone else in the theater and seeing their reaction to it.
Their life’s motto
Ellen says that although “Just Keep Swimming” is Dory’s motto, it is actually hers as well. With all that she has gone through in life, she didn’t realize that’s what she was doing but she was. She kept moving forward doing what she could do to make others smile and laugh.
Ed’s motto is “Just Keep Punching”, although he says that’s it’s gotten more difficult to do so with age (LOL)
5 Things we can learn from Dory
- “Never give up.”
- “Be optimistic.”
- “There’s always another way.”
- “No matter what your situation is, it can get better.”
- “Everybody starts from a different place, and some people start with a lot more odds stacked against them but there’s a way out…use whatever you do best to help you.”
– Ellen
On getting the role of Hank
Ed thought it was a cameo in the film, he didn’t know how big of a role it would be. When he signed on there wasn’t even a script.
Researching Their Roles
Ed googled Googled “mimic octopus”
On speaking Whale
If you want to hear Ellen speaking whale, watch the movie because it is not happening otherwise.
At the end of the interview, I boldly asked Ellen if she would dance with us, and she said yes!!! Want to see how all that went down? Click here.
Finding Dory swims into theaters on June 17th
