Shoebox Zoo
Alan Cumming is Bruno
the Bear
Scots actor Alan Cumming may have been catapulted from
Carnoustie to superstardom but he is not a man to be typecast.
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The smooth star of Xmen 2, GoldenEye and Josie and the
Pussycats now has his pick of roles in Hollywood but he told Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Scotland
bosses he was happy to provide the voice of bumbling Bruno the Bear,
simply because he liked what he saw of the script and their passion
for the project.
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Alan, who has been in Australia filming Son of the Mask,
says: "I love stories where seemingly normal things turn fantastico.
It's also nice that a girl is the main character.
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"Most of all, I was excited by the people making
the show and their enthusiasm about it."
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Alan's animated character in the series, Bruno, is a
well-meaning, if bumbling bear.
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Unlike his fellow Shoebox Zoo inhabitants he is desperate
to get to grips with the 21st century.
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In direct contrast to Edwin the Eagle, who is bamboozled
by technology, Bruno has an innate curiosity that means he can't pass
a button without pushing it... even if it is on a washing machine with
Wolfgang inside.
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"I loved Bruno," he raves. "He is a little
dim, but has a good heart. You can't help liking him. Maybe it's because
he's so dim, but he never gives up or gets too disheartened and he is
also full of surprises."
Perthshire-born Alan, who now has homes in London and Los Angeles, spent
a few days last summer recording the voice of Bruno the Bear.
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The recording sessions heralded a welcome reunion for
Alan and old friend and fellow Scot, Siobhan Redmond.
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"Siobhan was in the very first play I ever did
as a professional actor," explains Alan, who graduated from the
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow in 1985.
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"It was Macbeth, she was Lady Macduff and I was
Malcolm. We also did a new play, Macbeth Possessed, at the same time
and during one performance Siobhan laughed in her own death scene. That's
when I knew I liked her.
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"The recording sessions were a relaxed affair because
everyone involved knew each other. I had made a film with Rik about
10 years ago," Alan explains.
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"It was one of his Rik Mayall series, called Micky
Love. Simon, I had met, but not worked with."
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Alan is no stranger to playing the voice of an animated
character.
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"I was the voice of Black Beauty in the movie Black
Beauty a few years ago. I also play the devil in an animated series
in America called The God, the Devil and Bob.
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"I've also done a few films where there's been
CGI stuff like the Spy Kids films and X-Men United and was also in the
Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas.
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"In that, I was dangled on wires and had to do
lines with paper plates that had 'Fred' and 'Barney' written on them!
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"I like doing animated shows," he adds, "because
you don't have to look good in the mornings."
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