Maccio Capatonda among the Minions: "To find my director's accent, I worked with a German dialect coach"

In the new chapter of the Minions Franchise, Minions & Monsters, the yellow creatures from Illumination go to Hollywood and confront the world of cinema at the dawn of sound, in the era of big studios. The film, arriving in Italian cinemas on July 1st, tells the improbable story of how the Minions became movie stars before finding themselves dealing with out-of-control monsters and creatures to fulfill one of their desires to make a kaiju movie.

Among the new characters introduced in this chapter is Max, a refined European director who sees his set invaded by the Minions. After initial bewilderment, Max eventually recognizes their extraordinary cinematic potential, making them stars. In the original version of the film, the character is voiced by actor Christoph Waltz, while in the Italian version, the voice is entrusted to Maccio Capatonda. The comedian, actor, and director, who has cultivated a passion for voice acting since childhood, worked on a German accent for the occasion, built with the help of a dialect coach.

We met him at the National Cinema Museum in Turin, where the Italian premiere of the film took place, to talk about his return to voice acting, the challenge of adapting his voice to such a particular character, and the unmistakable humor of the Minions.

By lending your voice to the character of Max the director, you've become the Italian guest star of a franchise that engages audiences of all ages. What's it like to enter a globally recognizable narrative universe like that of the Minions?

I felt very flattered by this opportunity. I am honored to have had this chance in terms of participation and voice acting, and I hope it was worth it. Obviously, the hope of the entire team I worked with on the film is that I was suitable for the role and that the work turned out well. The Minions is a great animated saga, so it was also exciting to be able to voice a character in such a film. I put in a lot of effort and tried to give everything I had to live up to the role.

In the original version of the film, your character is voiced by Christoph Waltz, who naturally has Max's Teutonic cadence. You, however, had to build that accent from scratch: how did you work on it, avoiding the risk of falling into caricature?

I worked on it a lot with the dubbing director Marco Guadagno. At first, I thought of using my voice without any accent, but then he had me try a slight German inflection. We realized that Max's voice worked better and was funnier that way, so we decided to go that route. At the same time, we didn't want to fall into caricature. For this, we worked with a German dialect coach, who helped me bring out a measured accent, trying never to cross into a stereotype. It wasn't simple, especially at the beginning.

The dialect coach is a role often discussed in the world of voice acting. In practice, how did the work with him in the dubbing studio unfold?

He was in the studio next to me, the whole time. He would repeat the lines and some words with his accent, and I would try to imitate his cadence. The more we went on, the more I started to understand the underlying mechanism. He also explained how to pronounce certain vowels and consonants with his cadence. Our work was most intense especially in the first hours of dubbing, when we proceeded entirely by imitation.

As a comedian, what was it like to confront characters who make humor their distinctive trait, despite communicating through an almost incomprehensible language?

The Minions have a semi-verbal language, because in reality, they are incomprehensible. It was quite bizarre to deal with this aspect. Dubbing, in itself, is a job that transfers your voice into a different world. Here, moreover, that world is populated by beings whose nature isn't even well understood. It was a total transfer of your vocal identity into a universe of escapism and fantasy. It's wonderful that such a place exists: in some ways, it was as if I had taken a vacation from Earth, from my own human essence. I feel fortunate to have had such an experience.

In this film, we see a pair of Minions who love to reinterpret great cinema classics in a comedic way. If you could make a parody with them in the cast, which film would you choose?

I'd say Back to the Future, which is my favorite film. I'd love to make a version of it with the Minions. After all, there aren't that many characters, but I could also use the Minions for all the crowd scenes, like the "Enchantment Under the Sea" dance. It would be fun.