Disney and Pixar are at it again with their new animated feature, Up, starring Ed Asner as the voice of 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen who sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream of seeing the jungles of South Africa by tying thousands of balloons to his home. Right after liftoff, he notices that he is not alone – wilderness explorer, Russell is now his stowaway.

Asner, a  five-time Golden Globe winner, shares what he really thinks about directors Pete Docter and Bob Peterson, and why he doesn’t remember their initial meeting to discuss working on this project.

Q: After reading the character description, what did the directors tell you?

Asner: They didn’t tell me anything. These kind of guys are like the Czar’s men. They never indicated anything. And whatever conveying they had to do was through my agent, and he’s a mute. So, not until I showed up for work did I know what I was going to do.

Q: What was your reaction when you first saw a character sketch for the film?

Asner: They only had a bare bones that was not that different from what you see now, but it was bare bones, scratched out and all. And I figured I could fit into that. And then slowly he (Carl) took on flesh, color and hair. They had to give him hair. Spencer Tracy is their god. It’s Spencer Tracy you’re looking at, not me.

Q: Have you seen any of the other Pixar films?

Asner: Oh yeah. I have seen Ratatouille and WALL-E. And I had seen pieces of Toy Story every time I went over to my daughter’s house. That’s all the grand kids had on. It’s like they wanted to torment me. Oh, Grandpa’s here put on Toy Story. So I think I always saw the same pieces. From the beginning, certainly with WALL-E, I was shocked at the adult thrust and amazed that this was animation. And amazed when the same occurred with Up, or Pu as I like to call it.

Q: What do you think about the directors Pete Docter and Bob Peterson?

Asner: They are very bright. Before they certified me, and I am certainly ready to be certified now, they came to San Francisco to see me in a one-man stage reading as a Holocaust survivor suffering from Dementia. It’s about as far apart from Carl as you could want. That evidently was the last lynch pin for them to choose me too. So I thought if they could make that bridge from Holocaust survivor to Carl, then they must have broad arms and broad shoulders. I think they are very intelligent. They have a sense of what people need and want. They visualize it into their art and thereby deliver through the art, and are intelligent enough to get the voices to support that art. So they come up with the ideas, have the talent to draw them, and the wisdom to pick me. 

Q: Why did you want to work on this film?

Asner: I don’t turn down jobs. I went to see the guys, but I don’t remember any of this, my agent reminded me of the process. I had forgotten that I met them or if I read for them. If I was great, I think that would have registered with me, if they would have signified that, but they didn’t. And then I didn’t hear from them. And when you don’t hear from people, you forget about them and want to put it out of your mind, because then if you dwell on it you start to really feel sorry. So out of the clear blue, I was up for something else at the same time, I remember, and I got confused as to what they were calling me in for. The other one was a piece of drek, as I recall. I actually really meant to do the other thing. So when [my agent] straightened me out, then I allowed myself to gloat and feel good about myself. But not until then. I wasn’t intrigued at all.