When the news that Disney was changing the auction scene in Pirates of the Caribbean so that the Red Head would now be one of the pirates selling stolen goods instead of being sold dropped last summer, my Facebook exploded. I used to work at Pirates, and over half my Facebook friends are current or former Cast Members from Adventureland. Cast Members are nothing if not opinionated. It was actually when my brother was visiting, the day we did the Behind the Seeds Tour. He was so sick of talking about Pirates by the end of the day! I remember him threatening to confiscate my and Jay’s phones because we wouldn’t stop arguing with people online about it.
We were for the change. Most people weren’t, and still aren’t.
Their loss. For once, Disney’s making a change I’m thrilled about.
There are still a line of things to be sold, just now we have chickens and clocks instead of people.
“We’re losing historical accuracy!”
For one thing, elephants don’t fly, mice don’t talk, and tigers don’t bounce. Disney is a land of fantasy and where dreams come true, NOT WHERE WOMEN GET SOLD INTO SEXUAL SLAVERY.
“Stupid feminists, ruining everything!”
Yes, we’re doing our best to work for equality and annoy as many people as we can in the process.
“It’s a classic!”
They’re not getting rid of it. We’re changing one scene. They didn’t ruin the ride when they added Captain Jack Sparrow, because I have news for you, he wasn’t there in 1973.
So, February 2018 rolled around and Pirates went down. It reopened officially on March 19, 2018 with the new scene. Now they’re auctioning chickens instead of wives, with the Red Head herself helping host the auction and saying the iconic line, “Drink up me hearties, yo ho!”
It was on YouTube before I even got out of bed that morning. We watched it immediately, and I couldn’t wait to go see it myself.
Fast forward a couple hours, I’m checking Twitter, where I follow more voice actors and directors than anyone I actually know. I see my favorite voice actress talking about the Red Head. It took me a moment and then it clicked-GREY GRIFFIN DID THE VOICE OF THE RED HEAD.
Grey Griffin, formerly Grey DeLisle, is one of the most versatile voice actresses in the business. Even you don’t know her name, you know her. I am most familiar with her from Azula in Avatar: the Last Airbender (and other various roles in Avatar and Legend of Korra), but she’s voiced much more than that. She is the iconic Icky Vicky from The Fairly Odd Parents, Daphne from Scooby Doo, Sam from Danny Phantom, Wonder Woman from DC Super Hero Girls, Captain Marvel from Avengers Assemble, Asajj Ventress from Star Wars Clone Wars, and the list goes on and on. You can find her IMDb page here.
Grey has always been super great about interacting with her fans on Twitter, so I sent her a message asking if I could interview her. I had to stop myself from squeaking when she said yes. She actually recorded the questions and sent them to me, so I have a recording of my favorite voice actress saying my name and it’s awesome.
Below I have the transcript of her interview, slightly edited for clarity.
Did you audition for the role, or did Disney approach you?
Disney did not approach me to play this part. I means tons and tons of ladies in Los Angeles and probably all over the country auditioned for it. I mean, it’s such a huge, iconic dream for, I’m sure every voice actress in the world want this part. Everybody loves Disney and, and it’s such a classic ride. It’s my favorite Disney ride ever. So no, I had an audition with a ton of other ladies and got called back several times until I finally made it down to Disney Character Voices and I was like, “Wow, I’ve never been at Disney Character Voices before!” It’s this really cool building in Los Angeles where just all the greats have been and there’s all these classic photographs of, you know, Walt and all the old original voices, you know, all kinds of cartoons up on the walls. It’s kind of cool to be there anyway.
How did you feel when you found out you got the part?
When I heard I got the part, it was amazing because my mentor, Mary Kay Bergman, was a redhead and I ended up taking over the role of Daphne Blake on Scooby Doo for her when she had passed away in 1999. She was a redhead and Daphne’s a red head, and she loved pirates of the Caribbean. It was her favorite ride ever. She had the, you know, the album of the songs and all kinds of crazy stuff, like a lot of memorabilia for that ride. So when I found out I got called back, I was so excited and I told her husband about it. So I was just really excited because she was a redhead and she loved that ride and I thought it was kind of a sign for her, sort of like things coming full circle. It’s funny because I found out that I got the part on pirates of the Caribbean on the anniversary of Mary Kay’s passing, so it was kind of cool little affirmation.
Is this your first role for Disney Parks and Resorts?
Well, technically, my first big one because I did a voice on Handy Manny, and we did a little Handy Manny a thing at California Adventure that I did some recording for, but this is the first like big deal thing that will be there forever and that’s just so exciting.
Is this your first time playing a pirate?
Technically. I actually did Christina Hendricks’s scratch for the Tinkerbell movie: The Pirate Fairy. So I kinda got into piratey stuff when I did that, but Christina did such a great job taking over. But I always have a little bit of a sweet relationship with the characters that I scratch, you know, you get really attached after doing the voice for a long time and then give it to someone, usually a celebrity. But that’s fine. She did great job. So I did get to play a pirate kind of before this, but this is my first pirate voice that’s actually seen the light of day.
How was this different than recording for a tv show or a movie?
We were in kind of, the Disney Character Voices looks sort of like the old Capitol Records in there. It’s sort of a vintage looking studio. We were all in the same room with, not a lot of baffling between us or anything. It was just exciting to be in those hallowed halls. I got to be in there with people that I adore, like Wally Winger and Marc Graue, and Kip. So we all got to work together, side by side and, it was really exciting.
What was it like recording new audio for a classic Disney attraction?
I was a little bit intimidated. I mean, I’ve redone some voices before in my past, like I, took over for Daphne and I do the voice of Jane Jetson, and Betty Rubble. So anytime you’re redoing someone else’s voice, it’s always a little bit intimidating. You want to make sure you honor the old performance. So, even though the Red Head hadn’t spoken, you know that this ride is so near and dear to so many hearts. And I wanted to make sure I didn’t screw it up even though the YouTube comments kind of killed me. I read the YouTube comments as people were, this is awful, the voice is terrible. I think those are just purists who just really didn’t want to see the ride changed. And I understand that.
How do you feel about the changes to a classic Disney attraction?
I’m so thrilled because well, I’m a mother of three children. One of them is a girl and I just, it always was a little bit upsetting to go through that part of the ride. Even with my oldest son, when we were on the ride, he saw that slave auction and he even in his little, you know, he was only about nine or something at the time, but it seemed wrong to him and he said, “Are they selling those people? Those women tied up? And I said, “Well, you know, they’re going to a slave auction.” And he just couldn’t believe it. And he said, “Well, they have to change this. It’s Disney. They can’t do that.” And I said, “Yeah, but a lot of people get cranky about people changing the rides.” I’m one of them, you know, I’m kind of, I love the old stuff too, but I think this is, was so glaring that we really needed to do something about it. My son he made a really good point because he said, “If they can change it to put Johnny Depp on the ride, they can change it to take out the slave auction.” Which I think he’s right about that.
If you could provide a voice for any other Disney attraction, what would it be?
Yes. My second favorite ride. My first, my favorite ride at Disneyland is the Pirates of the Caribbean, but my second favorite ride is the Haunted Mansion. And I’ve always loved Madam Leota! She has such a great voice! I also love the Tiki Room. That’s my third favorite ride, the Tiki Room, because I love Mark Davis. They the animator, Mark Davis is my favorite and the Tiki Room. It would’ve been fun to play one of those cockatoos, Mimeo, Fifi or Gigi, or Colette.
How does your son feel about you being part of Disney history?
He was very excited about it. He was so excited. They were actually changing the ride voice. He was really happy about it and he couldn’t believe he said, “That’s so funny because I complained about that. I remember it and I can’t believe you’re getting to be part of the change.” So he was happy.
What was your favorite part of voicing the Red Head?
The fact that for generations to come, people are going to be able to hear my voice on, on a ride and I’ll be able to take my grand kids on that ride someday and say that that’s me. That was your grandma. And maybe even after I go, my grandchildren’s grandchildren will say that was my great grandmother. It’s kind of cool to do something that’s gonna make such a mark for so many people forever.
So, there you have it from the Red Head herself, not all change in the Parks is bad. I am rather upset they took out the mermaid skeleton, however. You can see the new scene and changes in the video below.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIokjtXswXo[/embedyt]
Drink up me hearties, yo ho!
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