MICHAEL SHEEN on
'TINKER BELL AND THE GREAT FAIRY RESCUE'

Interview by Michael J. Lee, Executive Editor for RadioFree.com
August 28, 2010

In the CG animated adventure Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue, Disney's iconic sprite and her friends venture out from Pixie Hollow to the mainland to work their magic on nature. But when Tinker Bell's irrepressible curiosity gets the best of her, she inadvertently reveals herself to the human world and subsequently befriends a lonely little girl with a vivid imagination named Lizzy. Trapped in Lizzy's room due to a sudden rainstorm that prevents her from flying, Tinker Bell teaches her new companion all there is to know about fairies. Meanwhile, Tink's friends, believing she is in imminent danger, band together to mount a daring rescue mission, using their skills and ingenuity to evade all manner of pitfalls along the way.

Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue is the third feature film in the Disney Fairies line. Mae Whitman returns as the voice of the titular fairy, while Kristin Chenoweth, Lucy Liu, Raven-Symone, Pamela Adlon, Jeff Bennett, Rob Paulsen, and Jesse McCartney reprise their roles as Tink's friends. Michael Sheen joins the cast as Lizzy's logical, science-minded father who, despite being initially critical of his daughter's fanciful daydreams, learns to appreciate her unique outlook on life.

While covering the outdoor world premiere of Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue, we had the opportunity to speak to Michael Sheen, who has stealthily built up an impressive resume of films with his uncanny ability to quietly and completely transform himself into a myriad of personas. Consider the fact that he has played a werewolf leader in the Underworld films, former Prime Minister Tony Blair in The Queen, a genius afflicted with cerebral palsy in Music Within, interviewer David Frost in Frost/Nixon, and vampire elder Aro in the Twilight series, and it's clear that he's able to tackle an exceptionally wide range of characters. In this exclusive interview, he talks about working on his first Tinker Bell film and previews an upcoming drama that will screen at the Toronto Film Festival.

Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue makes its Disney Blu-ray/DVD debut on September 21!

RadioFree.com: Given your diverse body of work, you obviously have a wide, varied fan base. Do you find that these are the types of movies that really connect you with the kids?

MICHAEL: Well, I've got my own daughter. She's 12, and she loved the fact that I was in the Twilight films and then Alice in Wonderland and all that. You know, I've worked more children's films over the last 12 years than I have grown-up films, probably. So I've got a huge respect for Disney's films and for Pixar and all those sort of companies, and I think the work that goes into the more family-oriented films is probably way above and beyond the work that goes into a lot of other things. So it's a real honor to be a part of.

When you first came onto this project, were you asked to do a specific voice, or did you throw out a few options for the filmmakers?

Given that they can cast anyone they want, really...I think if they come to you, then it's because there's something about your voice already that they're interested in. So I think they wanted someone who could be as close to a bad guy as you can have in this film, without necessarily being unlikable. So hopefully, I was able to do a bit of that.



Fans are already geared up to see you in TRON: Legacy and Breaking Dawn, but do you have a smaller, independent film you're particularly excited about?

Yeah, there's a film I did called Beautiful Boy which is going to be at the Toronto Film Festival soon. Myself and Maria Bello play the parents of a young teenager who does a shooting in his school and then kills himself, and it's about how the parents are affected, and how their relationship is affected. So that's a very small independent film, and hopefully that will get a bit of attention at the festival, and hopefully people will get to see it.

Is it based on the Columbine shooting?

Kind of...I mean, it's not based on any one particular incident, but something that is typical of a lot of very frightening, very upsetting things that have happened. Tragic.

Thanks for your time.

Thanks very much, Michael.