If you haven’t seen Christopher Robin yet, be sure you make plans to see it while it’s in theaters. It’s a gorgeous reimagining of classic characters that you need to see on the big screen! Continuing with my behind the scenes look at the movie is an incredible interview. We had the chance to sit down with Jim Cummings (Winnie the Pooh voice/Tigger voice) to chat about bringing Winnie the Pooh to life in the new movie.
Huge thanks to Disney for bringing me to LA for the #ChristopherRobinEvent in exchange for sharing my experience and thoughts.
THE MAN BEHIND THE WINNIE THE POOH VOICE
When I saw that we had a Jim Cummings interview on our schedule, I couldn’t believe it. If you don’t know, he has been voicing Winnie the Pooh for thirty years now. He IS the Winnie the Pooh voice for me. He’s been the voice of Winnie the Pooh for most of my life.
All I could hope for was that he would say at least a few things in the voice that takes me right back to childhood. I was in luck! In fact, we happened to be taking a photo with Christopher Robin director Marc Forster when Jim Cummings arrived for his interview.
The first thing out of his mouth was in the Winnie the Pooh voice and it had us all smiling in that photo! You can learn more about our interview with director Marc Forster later this week!
JIM CUMMINGS AKA THE WINNIE THE POOH VOICE
Jim Cummings first took on the Winnie the Pooh voice in 1988 and has been the iconic voice since then. It’s perfect that he brings Winnie the Pooh to life in this new reimagining.
The moment that Winnie the Pooh first speaks in Christopher Robin, you’ll be transported to a special place.
Jim Cummings spent a nice chunk of our interview talking with the different voices he is known for. While you will recognize Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, you might also know him as Darkwing Duck, Goofy, Pete (in many Mickey Mouse cartoons), and Ray in The Princess and the Frog.
He shared with us that voice actors are really just character actors that you don’t see. Chatting with him was so entertaining that I immediately understood what he meant. He also said he doesn’t ever mix the voices up. I found it interesting that he compared it to being able to tell the difference between two different songs. For example — how do you tell Auld Lang Syne and Silent Night apart.
It was definitely interesting to hear how the characters are all definitely different characters for him. It made a lot of sense!
“We’re schizophrenic so it doesn’t bother us.” ~Jim Cummings as he switched back and forth between the Winnie the Pooh voice and Tigger voice in one conversation.
BEYOND THE WINNIE THE POOH VOICE
I’m not sure I’ve ever laughed as much as I did in our interview with Jim Cummings. But there were also some very tender moments full of insight from the man who has voiced the character for so many years. Some of my favorite things we learned were:
- He loves the reimagined world from director Marc Forster. He felt strongly about being associated with such a beautiful universe. “It’s an honor. It’s a privilege. It’s joyous.”
- He was able to ad lib a lot on set. He always does it as written but also plays around. Tigger ad libs more than Winnie the Pooh.
- Tigger and Eeyore were his favorite Hundred Acre Wood characters when he was a kid.
- We asked his feelings about the new movie and what he thought about the reimagining. “I think just staying true to the characters and true to the feeling is the way to go. And we’re right back there to square one with this and I just think it’s brilliant.”
I couldn’t agree more.
For more information on the people behind characters, be sure to check out our Ewan McGregor interview.
Connect with Christopher Robin online:
- https://www.facebook.com/DisneyChristopherRobin/
- https://twitter.com/disneystudios (#ChristopherRobin)
- https://www.instagram.com/disneystudios/
- https://movies.disney.com/christopher-robin
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