Disney’s Planes premiered worldwide last August 9, did you had a chance to see it yet? If you haven’t, check out our movie review here. Among the awesome opportunities I had during my day at DisneyToon Studios was a Q&A with Carlos Alazraqui, who voiced El Chupacabra or El Chu for short. I have to confess something here, my favorite character from Disney’s Planes is El Chu and after meeting Carlos I know why. Carlos is funny and I just love his ability to switch voices from one moment to the other, he made our interview fun and full of excitement.
A little more about El Chu… El Chu is best known for his in-door Mexican races, he is intensely charming & confident, but above all he is Dusty’s best friend. His character is romantic, dramatic and full of passion, specially towards Rochelle. 🙂 El Chu is funny, endearing, and passionate. He will race for adventure and along the way will find a great wind men in his friend Dusty.
Q&A with Carlos… How was it like to play El Chu? Carlos can this answer this question with one word “awesome”, El Chu is a fun character to play, El Chu gets to be romantic, passionate, scare. He has valor, he has courage, he gets to sing and be passionate with Rochelle. As a Latino, how do you feel about playing a good Latino character in a Disney film? Carlos answer: it is great, El Chu is the first prominent Latino character and El Chu is a good person. How important was it for you to play this Latino Character? Carlos answer: It was important, specially for my daughter. Carlos is looking forward to watching Planes with the audience to see how they react to the movie, keep your eye out for Carlos he might be seating next to you next time you are at the movies! 😉
CARLOS ALAZRAQUI (voice of El Chupacabra) is not just the face of Deputy James Garcia on Comedy Central’s “Reno 911!” He’s also been a stand-up comedian for more than 25 years and one of LA’s top voiceover actors for over 18 years, providing the voices for Rocko and Spunky on Nickelodeon’s “Rocko’s Modern Life,” Mr. Weed on Fox’s “The Family Guy,” Lazlo on Cartoon Networks’s “Camp Lazlo,” Bane in “Justice League Doom” and of course the voice of Gidget, the Taco Bell Chihuahua, to name just a few. Alazraqui also provides the voice of Nestor, the Latin Penguin in “Happy Feet” and “Happy Feet 2.” Most recently, he portrayed Bajrangi the Monkey in “Dehli Safari” (English Version). He also provides the voice of King Magnus in Disney’s “Sophia the First” and Sigmund in the new “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” pilot.
Alazraqui has a Comedy Central Half Hour Comedy Special under his belt, as well as several other national television appearances, including three appearances on the “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.”
In late 2008, Alazraqui joined forces with his “Reno 911!” costar Cedric Yarbrough and hit the college circuit. They are now one of the most requested acts in the country.
He produced his own web series cartoon on Mondomedia.com called “Off the Curb,” which played live to a sold-out crowd in the Youtube Lounge at this year’s San Diego Comic Con. Alazraqui also successfully produced the first-ever live Rocko’s Modern Life event at LA’s Downtown Independent Theatre, along with creator Joe Murray. The show sold out in one week.
Check out Carlos Alazraqui voicing of El Chupacabra: above during my interview with him, below a scene from Disney’s Planes!
It has been a fun ride sharing with you my L.A adventure, please check out my previous post learning more about what went into the making of Planes via my animation post, my story artist post, my voice over post, my Director Klay Hall & Producer Traci Balthazor-Flynn post and my Q&A with Terri Hatcher, voice of Dottie post 🙂 Thanks to Carlos Alazraqui for taking the time to share his experiences with us. ‘Till next time!
**********
Synopsis: From above the world of “Cars” comes “Disney’s Planes,” an action-packed 3D animated comedy adventure featuring Dusty (voice of Dane Cook), a plane with dreams of competing as a high-flying air racer. But Dusty’s not exactly built for racing—and he happens to be afraid of heights. So he turns to a seasoned naval aviator who helps Dusty qualify to take on the defending champ of the race circuit. Dusty’s courage is put to the ultimate test as he aims to reach heights he never dreamed possible, giving a spellbound world the inspiration to soar. “Disney’s Planes” takes off in theaters on Aug. 9, 2013.
For more information, check out Disney.com/Planes, like us on Facebook: facebook.com/DisneyPlanes and follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/DisneyPictures.
Disclosure: I was provided with an all expense paid trip to L.A to facilitate the review of Monsters University and Planes, no additional compensation was received. I was provided with the information in this post by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.