‘Elio’s Brad Garrett on Finally Getting to be the Villain

Summary

Pixar’s Elio is set to beam into theaters June 20, 2025.
Brad Garrett voices the antagonist in Elio, marking his fourth voice role in Pixar films.
In an interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Garrett discusses his love for LA theaters and his iconic voice work for Pixar.

Pixar’s latest sci-fi adventure, Elio, is set to beam into theaters June 20. Following an 11-year-old boy, Elio (voiced by Yonas Kibreab), who feels so lonely and out of place on Earth that he has tried to ask aliens to abduct him and whisk him away into the galaxy. When the day finally comes and Elio is beamed up into space, he finds himself accidentally in the role of Earth’s ambassador to the Communiverse, and at the center of an intergalactic, high-stakes adventure where he must embrace the unknown rather than be fearful, all while making unexpected connections and friendships along the way.

Joining the cast headed by rising star Kibreab (Sweet Tooth) is Brad Garrett, who lends his voice to Lord Grigon. The role is the fourth time Garrett has done voice work for Pixar films, with his former work providing the iconic voices to Dim from A Bug’s Life, Bloat from Finding Nemo, and Auguste Gusteau in Ratatouille. As the father of Glordon (Remy Edgerly), Elio’s newfound best friend, Lord Grigon shapes up to be the film’s primary antagonist, though he initially takes the young Elio under his wing.

While discussing the film in an interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Garrett discusses his multi-decade career working with Pixar, reminiscing on some of his previous iconic roles, as well as revealing his favorite movie theaters in Los Angeles.

Brad Garrett Shares His Favorite Movie Spots in Los Angeles

“This has to be in the theater to really see it.”

COLLIDER: I really want to start with congrats on the movie. I saw it yesterday. The 3D is fantastic. I can’t believe it was an anamorphic widescreen. It really surprised me.

BRAD GARRETT: You saw the 3D?

Oh, yeah, and it’s really good.

GARRETT: Great. That’s great to hear.

I’ve been asking everyone recently this one thing. I’m obsessed with getting more people into movie theaters. That’s the way to watch a movie. Do you have a favorite movie theater?

GARRETT: Well, I grew up at the Dome, at the Cinerama Dome. I’m a native Californian, so that was it. The El Capitan Theatre — a lot of childhood movies there that I loved, all the Pixar movies, of course, premiered there. And Grauman’s. Growing up in this area, all of those big, amazing theaters.

You have a lot of love for all of the LA mainstays.

GARRETT: Oh, yeah.

If you had to see something tomorrow, and you could see it at any of those places, which would you pick?

GARRETT: The Cinerama Dome for me. I love it. I saw The Godfather there, so maybe that had something to do with it. But I love the El Capitan on the inside. And Grauman’s. Any theater. It’s so sad when you go now. And I mean, this has to be in the theater to really see it. There’s no way that you could relay this enormity of space or the universe or any of that without really the size of it. It was so captivating watching it on a screen.

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You should watch it in 3D next, because the 3D in this is really that good.

GARRETT: I rarely do that, but I would love it.

I’m going to say it very simply, and I’ll say it on camera, I am not a fan of 3D, but when 3D is done well like this, it’s worth it.

GARRETT: That’s exciting.

Brad Garrett’s Been a Part of the Pixar Family for a Long Time

But this is the first time he’s gotten to voice a villain!

So you have done Bloat in Finding Nemo and Dim in A Bug’s Life. You’re part of the Pixar family. When they call you, and a Pixar comes up, are you like, “Yes?”

GARRETT: Oh, no question. No question. First of all, there’s no one like them on the creative level, on the collaborative level. You really get great input. They really let you roll with an idea. They let you try things. And every character, you’re sitting down with the director, the writer, the animators, they’re showing you things, different models and sketches. So it’s exciting. I’ll never forget when I saw A Bug’s Life or Finding Nemo that I saw the first time at the El Capitan Theatre. When you look at the underwater scene and you see the particles and the sand and the stuff that you would see, it just takes it to that next level. That’s how I felt when I saw the intergalactic scenes, if you will, of this. It was that same awe moment.

You’ve done so much great voice work. How did you come up with the voice for your character in this? Does it wear on your vocal cords when you do stuff like this?

GARRETT: This one does. I was one of the first for the TV show Transformers in the ‘80s; I was Trypticon, and that’s where I had to really find that gravel. But for him, for this guy, it’s a lot of that guttural, a lot of moving in the booth because he’s so enormous that your motions, if you throw something, have to match the voice. But with this, it wears on the cords. You got a lot of water and no talking for a day after, but it’s great because it’s my first real animated villain I’ve been able to play, and growing up, I loved the villains. So, it was cool.

Also, you get to voice someone who wants to rule the galaxy.

GARRETT: Exactly.

Elio arrives in theaters on June 20.