Along with this morning’s Toy Story 4 trailer and poster, we now have some names to put with the new faces and voices we’ve been introduced to!
Thanks to an article shared online by Slash Film, we’ve got descriptions of the characters that first appeared officially in today’s trailer, as well as names of their voice actors and statements from the filmmakers to shed further light on their roles.
Duke Caboom
As has been suspected for quite some time, Keanu Reeves is in fact the voice of Duke Caboom. The toy version of Canada’s greatest 1970s stuntman – whose swagger belies the fact that he has failed to actually perform the stunts in his commercial – will be encountered in the antiques store. Here’s what producer Jonas Rivera had to say about Duke:
“The first time Josh [Cooley] and I talked with Keanu about the role, Keanu became Duke Caboom. Keanu was asking great questions that dug deep to find the soul of the character. At one point he stood up on the table in the middle of Pixar’s atrium and struck poses while proclaiming victory. It was so funny. It’s all in the movie and it’s all Keanu.”
Giggle McDimples
Giggle McDimples, voiced by Ally Maki (Wrecked), is a Pet Patrol Officer from an 1980s toy line as well as Bo’s best friend, supporter, and confidante. Director Josh Cooley discussed Giggle’s role in the film:
“Giggle is Bo’s Jiminy Cricket—we’re able to get insight on Bo through their relationship together. Giggle is definitely the smallest toy in the Toy Story universe. She’s been stepped on, vacuumed up, and probably put up a kid’s nose in her time. Giggle McDimples literally pops on the screen because of Ally’s personality and infectious energy. Nobody can laugh like Ally Maki.”
Maki has since taken to Twitter to share her joy in the role:
Gabby Gabby and Benson
Voiced by Christina Hendricks of Mad Men fame, Gabby Gabby (also shown at the top of the page) is a vintage 1950s pull-string doll. But a defective voice box has left her sounding “anything but adorable” for the past 60 years, and she’s desperately in search of a working one so she will finally be wanted. Cooley had the following remarks about Gabby Gabby:
“It became obvious right away that Christina was the perfect actress to play Gabby Gabby. She has the ability to sound inviting and friendly, then subtly become cold and terrifying in just a few words. It still gives me chills when I see Gabby’s introduction in the film. Also, Christina told me that she preferred playing with ventriloquist dummies over dolls as a kid. That’s when I knew it was meant to be.”
Benson the ventriloquist dummy is voiceless – which makes sense, since a dummy’s purpose is to be a vehicle for someone else’s voice. There’s more than one of this silent army, who patrol the antique store and do Gabby Gabby’s bidding. Producer Mark Nielson explained Benson further:
“The dummies are, by far, some of the creepiest characters we’ve ever created. Our animators really leaned into the truth in materials for how our ventriloquist dummies move. Dummies’ bodies are soft with no structure, so our dummies’ arms just dangle and their legs bend backwards. Throw in their fixed expressions with their wide eyes and big hinged jaws and they’re nightmare material—in the best way possible.”
These aren’t all the new characters we’ll meet along the way – we still don’t know who Patricia Arquette is voicing, for one. Hopefully now that the trailer is here, updates will be more forthcoming. We’ve only got three months now until Toy Story 4‘s release!
Images © Disney/Pixar.
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