The last thing Ray Romano wants to hear is that he resembles his cartoon alter ego Manfred in the new animated feature film ICE AGE, co-starring the voices of Dennis Leary and John Leguizamo.
"They did have a camera on me [during vocal sessions] and then they went back and made his trunk bigger," jokes Romano.
More off-putting than looking like a mammoth is sounding like one, whatever that entails. But Romano's vocals - unaltered - were just what director Chris Wedge wanted.
"I don't know if this is an insult or a compliment but I said to Chris, 'What do you want me to do? Do I sound too New York?' And he said, 'Just talk.'"
As easy as it may sound, talking into a microphone even with your God given voice wasn't an easy chore for the Italian, Queens born Romano. If he moved too far away from the mic they wouldn't be able to capture his voice so the very physical actor was left with his hands tied, so to speak.
Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary lend their voices to ICE AGE
© 2002 20th Century Fox
"Technically it was such a strange thing to perform," explains Romano. "To stand in a room and not have any actor and not be able to move away from the microphone. When I tried to get physical they would say, 'Ray you can't move from the mic.' So I felt very restricted."
Also hard getting used to was watching his voice being embodied by a big hairy mammoth, even an animated one. After just a few vocal sessions the animators showed rough sketches of Manfred to the 44-year-old actor to see what his voice spewing out of Manfred would look like.
"It's weird," says Romano. "Hearing your own voice is strange. That's weird alone and then of course to see it in something that isn't me."
In fact, after seeing the drawings combined with his voice he was convinced it was not working. He just didn't think anyone would think that this creature would be believable.
"I could swear I was going to get fired," says Romano.
But eventually Romano got used to the restricted sessions and became accustomed to the woolly mammoth. He even began contributing his own personal mark on some of his lines, which was welcomed he says, by the producers and Wedge.
Manfred races to rescue Diego from a perilous situation in ICE AGE
© 2002 20th Century Fox
"I am not going to take credit for ad-libbing lines but in this case it wasn't like Robin Williams in ALADDIN where he just starts in on a topic and he just riffs and the animators watch that and draw whatever he said," explains Romano. "My character... he's not a riffer, this guy. He's a no nonsense guy who says what's on his mind so there were specific lines and there was no other actors there so there was no bouncing off of, but it was like, 'Okay let's try this.'"
Romano, who says he did no prep work on the Ice Age for the role, felt for his first feature film he needed no method acting but relied on another source for his inspiration.
"I watched my father for two weeks," says Romano. "Manny reminds me of my father, this tough guy who is really pretty good underneath."
And beyond that, he says, he knew and still does know very little about that particular historical phase from nearly 20 thousand years ago.
"I am stupid," jokes Romano. "Didn't you think it was when the dinosaurs were around? Isn't that a common misunderstanding?"
Meet the herd of ICE AGE: (L-R) Diego the saber-toothed tiger; Sid the sloth; and Manfred the woolly mammoth
© 2002 20th Century Fox
What he learned quickly from doing his weekly television show EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, based loosely on his real life events, was how easy it is to offend your real family. When the show first started nearly six years ago Romano says it took his kin awhile to get accustomed to, and it was particularly hard for his policeman brother. But Romano defends his show and the writing, saying it's all good-hearted stuff.
"My brother is very sensitive, " says Romano, "and blows everything out of proportion. But now it's the opposite. Now my brother is this mini-celebrity with his people and I think now in year six even the people he works with realize it's not a documentary, it's a TV show."
What makes Romano most proud of the show is the fact that even with a title like that they still put on a solid, well-written sitcom without having to lower their standards or get dirty.
"It's not flashy, it's not trendy," says Romano. "It doesn't have the word sex in the title. It's not SEX IN THE CITY. It has love in the title. It wasn't a flash in the pan, it grew."
The show, now receiving its best numbers ever, continues to please audiences especially now that people have a chance to catch up with the older episodes in syndication. And because of the show's increasing success people have begun offering Romano feature films, i.e. ICE AGE. But nothing has appealed to Romano just yet. Most are asking him to reprise his TV role on the big screen, something Romano is not the least bit interesting in doing.
The majestic, vast and beautiful frozen landscape of ICE AGE itself is a character in the film
© 2002 20th Century Fox
"I have been waiting for the right one," explains Romano. "The roles offered are either too close to what I already do on TV or too broad. Maybe that's the one thing the public will accept me on screen but I am getting a little picky. It might become a thing where unless I write something for myself... which I don't have the time to do."
Not to be misunderstood, Romano says he would love to do a comedy. At one point he and actor Kevin James hired Jon Favreau to write a script for them but it never panned out. The studio attached put the project on the shelf. But what Romano has set his eyes on now is doing a drama along the lines of A SIMPLE PLAN.
"Something like that kinda appeals to me," reveals Romano. "It isn't funny but I like it to be something grounded in reality and not too big. This average guy who is thrown in this big heavy situation. Then again, if the Farrelly Brothers [offered me] something I would do it. If THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY 2 comes up."
And most certainly he is interested in doing another ICE AGE film.
"I didn't do this for the money that's for sure," laughs Romano. "But my kids are already telling me I have to do ICE AGE 2 if there is one. I am sure there is room for a sequel so we will see how that goes."
In the meantime, Romano's kids will settle for one film with their animated dad spurting out one-liners and soon being reincarnated as a plastic toy at the local fast food restaurant.
"Yeah, it's strange to go through the drive thru and have one of the kids say, 'See if they have you Daddy,'" says Romano.
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