Creating A Buzz
Last updated: 13/12/2007 - 12:22
Creating a 'buzz' since it was first announced with a splash at Cannes the very busy team behind Bee Movie could have this year's Finding Nemo on their hands...
Bee Movie is a comedy that will change everything you think you know about bees. Having just graduated from college, a bee by the name of Barry B. Benson - voiced Jerry Seinfeld (TV's Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm and stand-up TV special I'm Telling You for the Last Time, as well as the feature documentary Comedian) finds himself disillusioned with the prospect of having only one career choice – honey.
As he ventures outside of the hive for the first time, he breaks one of the cardinal rules of the bee world and talks to a human, a New York City florist named Vanessa - voiced by Renée Zellweger (Cold Mountain, Empire Records, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Shark Tale, Chicago). He is shocked to discover that the humans have been stealing and eating the bees’ honey for centuries, and ultimately realises that his true calling in life is to set the world right by suing the human race for stealing their precious honey!
Pictured (left): Jerry Seinfeld and comedian Chris Tucker launch the forthcoming film with a splash - and a huge bumble bee suit - at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
Cannes Stunt
At the Cannes film festival in May, after guests were shown highlights from the film, Jerry Seinfeld was pushed in costume from the roof of the 8-story Carlton Hotel in Cannes and headed for the beach along a cord where he met Chris Rock on the Bee Movie stage. Jerry Seinfeld commented: “I didn’t give it a second thought, until I got up there and then I looked down and I thought, oh this is something isn’t it...The second time they just yanked me out without telling me, so I just thought I was falling”
Introducing Barry B. Benson...
We chat to the star of the show - the busy bee himself, Mr. Barry 'B' Benson:
Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
A: I’m a nice guy, a regular guy I’d say. I like jazz, I like yellow, I like black, I like flying, I like honey -oh I like me some honey.
Q: What’s with the sweater?
A: This is my favorite sweater. I wear it all the time. I like the way it fits and the stripe is my signature. It’s good for day; it’s good for evening wear. I can go out to dinner like this or I can just fly around.
Q: Tell us about your friend Vanessa.
A: Vanessa is a florist I met recently. We both like coffee and flowers and that’s really all you need for a friendship.
Q: What’s your impression of humans?
A: I find the humans to be, uh, a little excessive in a lot of the things that they do. They’re eating crazy, they’re driving crazy, they’re saying crazy things. They should work more and talk less.
Q: What’s the best part about being a bee?
A: The best part of being a bee… we love to keep our hive humming and producing honey, that’s our thing. That’s the great thing about being a bee. You never find yourself in a coffee shop wondering, “What should I do now? Maybe I’ll write a screenplay.”
Q: Why are bees the envy of the insect world?
A: The bee is the only insect that makes a delicious condiment; its great at small social gatherings, its good for a snack, its great on ham and, uh, you know, it’s really one of the great products out there on the shelves and we couldn’t be more proud of it.
Q: What is most important to Bees?
A: Bees live in a world of rules. Good rules keep us on the straight and narrow. I don’t know who came up with the stripes, but we don’t break that rule either. Everybody wears them.
Q: Do you travel much?
A: Actually traveled around quite a bit. I’ve been to England, I’ve been France, I’ve been all through Asia, Africa. My passport is just full of stamps and that in itself was difficult because my passport is so small, they had to just take a pen and put a little dot on it.
Q: Give us some Bee trivia.
A: It takes us 37,000 bee hours to make one pound of honey and then another 4,000 hours just to pick all the crud out of it.
Q: Is Mooseblood the mosquito your friend?
A: Oh yes, Mooseblood and I are very good friends. He’s my only mosquito friend, but uh I’m not that...uh...you don’t want to get too close to a mosquito because things can end very quickly for them; they land on the wrong thigh and its over.
Here's what some of the critics have had to say about Bee Movie so far:
"Seinfeld's droll, witty observations add to the adult appeal of Bee Movie, and youngsters will probably enjoy its eye-popping colors." - Betty Jo Tucker (ReelTalk Movie Reviews).
"...best viewed as an oddball career move rather than as a successful movie." - Peter Rainer (Christian Science Monitor).
"The riskiest move Seinfeld made was to create an unlikable protagonist who is wrong every step of the way, but treat him like a hero." - Andy Spletzer (Seattle Post-Intelligencer).
"It's on the easygoing level of Surf's Up, and a full tick up from, say, Over the Hedge or The Ant Bully. But given the Seinfeld pedigree it's something of a disappointment." - Michael Phillips (Chicago Tribune).
Season 8 of the Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David penned worldwide smash hit television sit-com Seinfeld is just out as a DVD boxed set, from Sony.
See also on Lifestyle: Bee 'B' Fun! - Navigate the perils of New York City in the game of Bee Movie.
Bee Movie is out now, rated U.
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