Celebrity News November 12, 2021
Tony Hale Raves About Nicole Kidman’s ‘Being the Ricardos’ Transformation
“Extra’s” Katie Krause spoke to Tony Hale about his villainous role in “Clifford the Big Red Dog,” as well as working with Nicole Kidman in “Being the Ricardos.”
Of Nicole’s transformation into Lucille Ball, Tony said, “I had a lot of moments where I was like, ‘Which of these is the other? Why am I here?’ Just because that imposter theory we can all get… I grew up on ‘I Love Lucy.’”
“We’re on this set and there’s a table read and behind they recreated the actual set that I grew up watching… The whole thing was very surreal and I felt like I had a front-row seat to watch it come to life,” Tony pointed out. “To kind of hear all the behind-the-scenes about the stuff going on and see the recreation of it, and just be in this iconic world was… Many times I’d be looking around like, ‘What the hell is happening?’ It was really exciting.”
Tony revealed that his 15-year-old daughter Loy is also “excited” about “Being the Ricardos.”
As for his role in “Clifford the Big Red Dog,” Hale had a “great time” playing the villain, saying, “it was nice to play the dark side once, who just kind of exploits Clifford… It’s always fun to just play that.”
Hale noted that “Clifford” books were a “staple” in his house growing up and he’s carrying on the tradition with his daughter, who has also read the books.
How did Hale film with a CGI Clifford? He dished, “When we were shooting, there were these massive puppets that all of these puppeteers would be working. They had different-size Cliffords for when he was in different stages of growth, just to have something for us to react off of.”
Hale also opened up about working with John Cleese in “Clifford the Big Red Dog.” He commented, “That is Monty Python world. Talk about growing up with Lucy Ball, Carol Burnett, John Cleese. These were iconic figures… it’s hard not to be like, ‘John Cleese, hi! I watched you and modeled my life after you. How’s it going? You want to get a sandwich?’ It’s very surreal, but you see the normality and they’re just funny.”
“Clifford the Big Red Dog” is in theaters now.
