Let's forget about sequels, if only for a weekend, and turn our attention to Ratatouille, the newest offering from the wizards at Pixar. Director Brad Bird, the man responsible for The Incredibles, has delivered once again. And the setting couldn't be further from Metroville. Welcome to Gusteau's, the most famous restaurant in Paris, where the meat-and-poultry chef, Colette (Janeane Garofalo), isn't afraid to throw a knife or two--and where the new resident, Remy the Rat (Patton Oswalt), is stirring up trouble. In Boston for some stand-up gigs, Garofalo and Oswalt spoke to Netscape's Stephen Head about their foray into the highly animated world of Ratatouille.


Netscape: Janeane, you're not immediately recognizable as Colette, which fits in with Pixar's voice-casting philosophy. I heard some audience members asking, "What part does Janeane play?"

Janeane Garofalo: Everybody has said that. I think it's a compliment.

Netscape: Maybe it's your character's French accent, which you really got down. How did you prepare for that?

Garofalo: I didn't do anything other than what Brad [Bird] told me to do. As far as the accent goes, I was very nervous. I had a CD of a French gentleman speaking English, and I would just mimic what I heard. I wanted to do the best job I could, because I don't speak French--I took Spanish in school.

Netscape: With voice-over work, there's a certain amount of room for performers to come up with their own stuff, as you often do. But Pixar was very specific about what they needed. You really had to stick with the script, right?

Garofalo: There are people animating while you're working, so it would be impolite to change dialogue. You say something new, they like it, and then someone says to the artists who've been working through the night, "Guess what? That paragraph you animated? Start from scratch! It's gone!'