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A few weeks ago, Mommynoire flew out to Los Angeles, California to attend the exclusive press junket + advanced screening of the Storks movie, in Beverly Hills. As a leading digital publishing site that covers lifestyle content including the latest movies in the animation space, we attend many junkets nationally! What a beautiful perk! Pardon us if we brag a bit about the Storks screening and interview session – just know it was one of our favorite trips by far.

Now on to Storks!

From the plush Storks baby shower theme at the Montage Beverly Hills hotel, to the candid interviews with key cast members – Kelsey Grammar and Stephen Kramer Glickman, all the way across to the most fabulous mommy bloggers in the circuit whose goal was to get the scoop on Storks – we have to admit the moment was memorable.

Take a peek at our exclusive interview about Storks, which is in theaters on September 23! Don’t forget to check out the official trailer!

From the studio that delivered The LEGO Movie. STORKS, in theaters September 23!

Storks deliver babies…or at least they used to. Now they deliver packages for global internet giant Cornerstore. Junior, the company’s top delivery stork, is about to be promoted when he accidentally activates the Baby Making Machine, producing an adorable and wholly unauthorized baby girl. Desperate to deliver this bundle of trouble before the boss gets wise, Junior and his friend Tulip, the only human on Stork Mountain, race to make their first-ever baby drop – in a wild and revealing journey that could make more than one family whole and restore the storks’ true mission in the world.

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Below, check out our interview with stars Kelsey Grammer and Stephen Kramer Glickman:

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Stephen Kramer Glickman as Pigeon Toady

Madamenoire: What attracted you both to your roles, and what was the process bringing the Storks movie to life?

Mr. Stephen Kramer Glickman: Well, you know, playing a character like this, who just wants to become powerful and is looking up to his character [while] trying to achieve that greatness – and who will do absolutely anything to get it – those are really fun characters to play, because you’re not just playing like – “I’m an evil villain.” You’re playing a character that has goals and wants and he knows why he wants to be the boss, you know? Like, there’s no doubt [about] why he wants the power. Power hungry characters are always really, really fun to play. And so, I had a great time playing him, especially with a voice that’s kind of like not typical for a character like that. He comes off so, you know, like lax and easy, but it’s just a form of distraction.

Mr. Kelsey Grammer: It’s a smokescreen.

Mr. Stephen Kramer Glickman: It’s a smokescreen, yes.

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Mr. Kelsey Grammer: Well, I am attracted to animated films basically because I have children and because I am grateful to all of the actors that voiced the movies that were important to me when I was a child. I still think that animated films are probably the best movies being made today, and I think that may have been true for a long time. 101 Dalmatians is still one of my favorite movies, and I watch that all the time with my daughter. So, every time somebody calls me to do one of these, it’s a presumptive joy.

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Madamenoire: The film includes a lot of diversity themes in there. How important is that in the animated films being made nowadays, to include that piece?

Mr. Stephen Kramer Glickman: Well, honestly, one of the pieces in the movie that touched me a lot, and I thought it was really, really well done, and it came as a surprise to me because I hadn’t seen this in any versions of it at this point, was at the end when all the babies were being given to all the different families. And you’re like these different families that are receiving these babies, it’s like, there are gay couples receiving babies, and there’s all different sorts of couples with wonderful experiences and just great diversity in that scene. And it really touched my heart and made me feel so happy that I was part of it.

Mr. Kelsey Grammer: Yes.

Mr. Stephen Kramer Glickman: And I think that’s lovely. I think it’s really great.

Madamenoire: In this movie, I read that you guys actually got to interact with each other while you were filming the scenes and improv a little bit.

Mr. Kelsey Grammer: Sometimes. The first time I did the interview scene where I talk to the leading character and say “you’re going to be the boy,”-  yes, we did that together and spent three or four hours making up all kinds of stuff that still is not in the picture. I was devastated! Devastated because some of it is some of the funniest stuff I ever said. So, I’m hoping it shows up somewhere, but–.

Madamenoire: –Maybe in the gag reel–.

Mr. Kelsey Grammer: –Yes, you never know.

Madamenoire: –I was going to say a DVD or something–.

Mr. Kelsey Grammer: –Maybe a gag reel, yes.

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Mr. Stephen Kramer Glickman: There’s some stuff–I got to do a little bit with Katie Crown [voice of Tulip] on this where we got to play around together and do some weird stuff. She is hysterical.

Mr. Kelsey Grammer: Yes.

Mr. Stephen Kramer Glickman: That is a very, very funny lady, and she did such a great job in the film.

And then I got to watch Kelsey do a scene. And I just sat there, just like mouth on the floor, just like, “Oh, my gosh, this is so amazing,” the whole time. It was amazing. Then I had to go in right after him and just be like, “Oh, yes, I’m totally cool also. It’s no big deal. Yes, this is easy for me.”

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Madamenoire: I wanted to know if you guys bought into the whole stork delivering babies theory growing up. And if not, what did you guys believe?

Mr. Kelsey Grammer: Did not buy into it, never believed it, but liked it.

Mr. Stephen Kramer Glickman: Yes.

Mr. Kelsey Grammer: Because I think you can also acknowledge that the metaphor is loving and I guess you’d call it supernatural in a weird way, like the creative imagination to say the purpose of these beautiful birds is to bring love into your life. I thought what a great thing that the creative minds have been capable of throughout our cultural and historical evolution.

Mr. Stephen Kramer Glickman: Yes.

Mr. Kelsey Grammer: Man just makes up this stuff. It’s great. We’re imagining weird, creative beings, and we’ve been doing it forever. The great poets, the great writers, the great stories that have been told, these are all what make us, you know, look at this world that we’ve been given, this extraordinary place where we live. And to look at a stork one day and think, “they bring babies,” who did that? But I love it. And of course, when I have a real conversation with my children at the age appropriate moment, I tell them the amount of nuts and bolts I think they can actually handle. So, my four year-old would ask about a stork and I’d say, “not really, honey. That’s just a game we play because it’s fun to imagine it. It’s about mom and dad loving each other, and if we just do it right then we get to have a family.” When they’re 15, I’ll have that other conversation.

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Madamenoire: How did you both prepare for these roles – being that you’ve done animated work before?

Mr. Kelsey Grammer: I never prepare for those. You just make up something. When you walk in the door, you make up something.

Mr. Stephen Kramer Glickman: I really, from day one, first drawing that I ever saw of the character, I looked in his eyes and saw his weird half open, half closed, you know, he’s kind of a weird guy and kind of right away, I was like, “Oh, this reminds me of my old roommate from Long Beach.”

Mr. Kelsey Grammer: Outstanding. It’s always rooted in some experience. It’s always rooted.

Mr. Stephen Kramer Glickman: And then you kind of bring that in. I brought in a little Walter Cronkite and a couple other little pieces to this voice to kind of fill him out. There was a kid that I knew when I was growing up and he would end every sentence with a- “wah.” He would say – “these are some nice flowers,” at the end of it was “wah.”

Mr. Kelsey Grammer: Wah-ah. That’s pretty funny.

Mr. Stephen Kramer Glickman: We were working on this for so long, you’re like – “I’m going to throw that in every once in a while” and you hear it now and then. It’s fun. It fills out a character and makes them more well-rounded.

 

 

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