When he appears in live-action movies, Terry Crews has no problem looking intimidating. He’s tall, muscular, and when he wants to, he can shoot a look that can strike fear into most average people. Doing voice work for animation is a different story, though, and while Crews’ Rumble character, Tentacular, is plenty intimidating in the animated Paramount+ movie, Crews was worried initially it wouldn’t feel that way.
I got a chance to speak to Terry Crews about his role and Rumble, and in asking him how he maintained his intensity as an actor without the use of his body, Crews revealed his initial reservations about playing Tentacular. Crews revealed to CinemaBlend his fears about the role and whether his voice was a good match.
This was hard, man, because one thing about the character -- you know the character, you see the character… The strange thing about me is that a lot of people see my size, and they expect me to have this super deep big, dark, dark voice. But what happens is when I get physical, my voice gets higher. It's like, ‘Hey, what's up?’ And I was hoping that it would come across. I just said, ‘Is that going to be okay?’ And the director was like, ‘No, this is perfect. We are designing this around you, so whatever you do and be honest with it is the way to go with it.’ And Hamish, he made it right, and I just went for it. So when I saw it, and it played back, I was like, ‘Oh, this is so perfect.’
Terry Crews didn’t have to worry about what pitch his voice was at because Rumble’s Tentacular resembles him in a lot of ways. That includes Crews’ brief stint as a professional wrestler, which happened in an episode of WCW when the crew of his television series Battle Dome invaded the arena and attacked wrestlers.
In the end, Terry Crews never had anything to worry about. Tentacular was tailor-made for his persona, and that’s evident in most scenes in Rumble. Crews talked about the similarities between his character and himself, as well as why it was important for him to play the role as close to his actual self as possible.
If you try to manufacture things, it just doesn't come true. But for me, It played into all my strengths, and they made sure of that, from being the pitchman for different products to the poppin’ pecs to the muscle. I mean, the fact is it's almost like Terry Tentacular, you know what I mean? I just absolutely love what these guys did, and it's just a wonderful, fun movie, and it was a really fun role to play.
In Rumble, a town is in turmoil when its monster wrestling champion (Tentacular) abandons them. With the stadium set to be sold, a young girl named Winnie looks to find her town a new champion and finds the son of a monster her father once trained before they both disappeared. The movie is worth watching for Terry Crews alone, who kills it in his role as the big bad.
Rumble is currently streaming over on Paramount+. Wrestling fans and those with kids should definitely check it out and be prepared for a lot of laughs and tears.
