One of my favorite interviews during the Brave Press Day was with Kelly MacDonald who plays the voice of Merida. She has got to be one of the sweetest people I have ever met and was so down to Earth during all of our questions. We only got to interview her for about 15 minutes but even in this short amount of time I learned so much about her feelings about the movie. Below are a few of my favorite interview questions that were asked during the press day.
Question #1: How did you channel your inner teenager?
Kelly MacDonald : To be honest I didn’t really think about it when I first went in and to — to, you know, when I first went in it wasn’t really like an audition s– situation. They — they asked me to go in and — and read a couple of pages. And, uh, I kinda thought, “I’ll go in and do that.” And I hadn’t really thought about the fact she was a teenager. It was when I got there they told me all about the character. And then I suddenly was in front of a microphone going — and I didn’t quite know what I was gonna do. And then, um, and I think the dialogue just really helped because, you know, she’s — she’s — most of her dialogue is directed to her mom in a — in a very obnoxious teenage way. And so it kind of — as soon as I started saying the word “mom” I was like right back to being a teenager. Which is what happens when I go home as well. So yeah.I’m looking forward to my mother seeing the film. I think she — I think she’ll be a nervous wreck when she comes out. [LAUGHS]
Question #2 : Were you excited to pay homage to Scotland on the screen for us Americans to learn more about your country?
Kelly MacDonald: After the fact I am. I didn’t think about it while I was working. But, um, you know, when I was watching the film I — I kind of despite myself had a sort of swelling of national pride, you know. You can’t help it. It’s like all those, um, movies, you know, uh, especially set in Scotland’s like “Highlander” and “Braveheart” and all these things. They’ve got the music right. And I think the soundtrack really helps you to sort of, you know, feel things.
Question #2: Your playing Pixar’s first heroine, were there any challenges you faced?
Kelly MacDonald: Well I — I kind of didn’t know about it too much– I didn’t think about it very much. And, no, I didn’t know about it. [LAUGHS] Like I — I was just working on a movie. And then it was — it was someway into it someone mentioned, “Oh yeah, she’s the first female Pixar protagonist.” And so it was a bit of a surprise, but it didn’t alter anything for me and the way I felt about the project or — I just — I mean, uh, it slightly took me aback that I for a second I felt a bit of pressure. Like, “Oh no, am I gonna ruin the whole francichise you know, the Pixar. Uh, but I, uh, uh, you know, I think they — they just do such a good job. And — and I’m just really lucky to be a part of — of anything that they do.
Question #3: What do you hope girls will take from this character?
Kelly MacDonald: I think the me– the — the biggest thing — I don’t think about Merida as being a princess particularly. I think that’s just — she happens to be a princess. Um, but it’s not who she — who she is. And I think the biggest thing is that Merida’s, uh, uh, a teenage girl, um, who makes some bad choices. And, um, she doesn’t — she doesn’t need a prince to come in and rescue her and make it all better. Like she — she acknowledges she’s made mistakes. And then she — she sets out to try and, um, repair the damage she’s done. And she apologizes. It’s a big thing, apologizing. Uh, and uh, I think that’s the — I think that’s the real message.
Question #4: Were you able to relate personally to such a strong character?
Kelly MacDonald: Um, well I think something about my personal– I must have quite a strong personality. I don’t — I don’t, um, I’m not overtly sort of, um, I’m not aggressively sort of, uh, [LAUGHS] anything. Um, uh, but I — I kind of — I — I — I’ve known what I wanted to do and I’m doing it. So I must have had some sort of drive. And I think the characters I play have usually it’s like an inner drive. With Merida it’s outwards and she’s very vocal about it. And she’d much more feisty, uh, openly feisty than — than characters that I normally play. Margaret, um, on “Boardwalk Empire” — she started out, uh, you know, you feel like she’s — she’s — she’s this very trustworthy kinda good — goody two– goody two shoes kinda, um, prim woman. And it turns out she’s kinda not. [LAUGHS] She’s not that. And she — she, uh, she’s definitely got an agenda.And she knows what she wants. But she goes about it a different — in a — in a kind of underhand way. So she’s — I’m loving playing Margaret.
Question #5: What was your favorite scene in the movie?
Kelly MacDonald: Well I — I kinda — I love the montage where — where she’s, uh, she’s seeing her mother in a different light. Um, when she’s teaching her mother how to fend for herself in the wild. And her mother — the m– the bear. And, uh, I j– I just think that — that montage is really lovely. And I really liked, um, at the very beginning of the film when she’s saying, “This is my life and this is what I do and this is my perfect day. And she — she gets on Angus and she rides out the castle to — to sort of have her ideal day. And I just think like that kinda made me like tearful for some reason. [LAUGHS] Ohh, you know. Uh, yeah. I like the whole thing. I have to see it again. I can’t wait. [LAUGHS]
Question #6: Do you do the voices with the other actors at all?
Kelly MacDonald: No. You’re completely — you’re not completely on your own. You’ve got the directors like Mark Andrews and the crew director and producer, Steve Purcell. I would read my dialogue with them. And, um, but yeah, they — you’re not in a room with all the ac– it’s very — and it’s like the — it’s not just on this. It’s like that’s — that’s the way it happens. I think when you’re recording voices you would end up talking over each other. And I think maybe in certain situations — certain scenes in certain films — that works if people are improvising. You know, I think John Goodman and Billy Crystal did some of their stuff together, um, just so that they could do a bit of improvisational stuff. But I suspect that they then would have to do — do it separately themselves after they’re done the yeah.
A Big Thank you to Kelly MacDonald for taking time out of her very busy day to answer some of our questions!
Disclosure: Disney/Pixar provided my transportation, accommodations and expenses during this event. All opinions are 100% honest and my own.