Page 66 - CelebrationsSpring2020

Though the youngest cast member, Miley Cyrus was a seasoned Disney veteran when she voiced Bolt’s human, Penny. She had already appeared numerous times as the titular teen pop star in the Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana, as well as in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody; she also worked regularly on the series The Emperor’s New School.
Another familiar name around the Studios was not so much recognized for his vocal prowess, but rather for his pen. Mark Walton, the voice of Rhino, had worked as a story artist for Home on the Range, Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons, and as a writer for Tarzan and The Emperor’s New Groove. The multi- talented Walton was enlisted to serve double-duty more than once, voicing the longhorns Barry and Bob in Home on the Range and Goosey Loosey in Chicken Little.
Susie Essman’s distinctive voice had previously landed her roles on the Disney Channel’s Kim Possible and Dora the Explorer, and was the perfect choice for Mittens the cat. She would later go on to provide the voice of Esther Lonstein on the long-running series American Dad!
It would take a villainous voice indeed to create the persona of Dr. Calico, Bolt’s perceived enemy. Who better but
Malcolm McDowell, who portrayed one of the most deviant characters in film history, Alex in 1971’s A Clockwork Orange? His lengthy career, which dates back to the mid-1960s, is scattered with treachery, including the title role in Caligula (1979), Soran in Star Trek: Generations (1994) and Metallo in Superman: The Animated Series, a staple of the WB for the second half of the 1990s.
For 22 years, James Lipton hosted a wildly popular show on Bravo called Inside the Actor’s Studio, in which he would conduct in-depth interviews with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. His commanding baritone was ideal for the role of The Director. Also well-known to television audiences was Greg Germann, the voice of The Agent. Germann had starred as Richard Fish on the quirky series Ally McBeal, and would later return to the Disney fold as Hades in ABC’s Once Upon a Time.
Perhaps it was all of these factors together – story, animation, art and cast – that earned Bolt critical acclaim and help to turn things around for Disney Animation, and though its domestic box office was a bit modest at $114 million, it would eventually bring in more than $300 upon
66 · Celebrations
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