Yahoo News Harvey Guillén reveals how Puss in Boots: The Last Wish changed his life
Harvey Guillén never knew that signing on to play an eccentric orphaned dog in an animated movie would change his life. But when the What We Do in the Shadows breakout star was cast to voice Perrito in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, he not only learned a valuable lesson that impacted him offscreen, he also became a crucial part of the Shrek universe as a whole.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, the second standalone Puss in Boots film spun off from the Shrek franchise, begins with the titular outlaw/hero (once again voiced by Antonio Banderas) learning that, without realizing it, he's burned through eight of his nine lives. Suddenly faced with staring death in the face, he goes through an existential crisis where he must contend with his own mortality for the first time. He reunites with his former partner-in-crime Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) and new ally Perrito as they journey into the Black Forest to find the mythical Wishing Star to restore his lost lives, but ultimately learns that living his last life to the fullest is more meaningful than getting his eight former lives back.
DreamWorks Animation Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) and Perrito (Harvey Guillén) in 'Puss in Boots: The Last Wish'
"To be with Antonio and Salma, we never got to record together but I just felt like I was going to come along and be their third wheel in an already well-oiled bicycle," Guillén tells EW. "But we meshed so well together. I know these characters, I grew up with these characters, and now with Perrito, it was like a missing little thing that you never knew you were missing until you had it and now you have it. It's nice to see that."
Below, Guillén reveals how playing Perrito ultimately taught him a life-changing lesson and what viewers can expect from the new Puss in Boots movie. Plus, check out EW's exclusive photos of the Perrito concept art that led to his final look in the film.
Dreamworks Animation
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Had you ever done any animation/voiceover work before this?
HARVEY GUILLÉN: This is my first animated feature film. I've always wanted to be an animated character, I wanted be a cartoon, but it was just so hard to get into [voiceover work]. It wasn't until just recently, the last couple years, that I started getting the opportunity to audition for roles. And when the opportunity for this came up, I jumped at it and I was more excited to be asked to audition than anything. But I didn't get my hopes up. And then I got a call a couple days later and they're like, "You're the new character, and you're joining Salma and Antonio on their journey in this new movie." And I was like, "What?!" It was a little overwhelming and wonderful, and I'm just so glad to be a part of it.
How much did you know about the character and how he fits into the overall story of this movie when you got cast?
I just knew about the character. When I auditioned they told me this character's really optimistic and very "glass is half full" and he's a little quirky and fearless, all of these great descriptions. When I got the part and saw the whole script finally, because they keep everything very secret and hush hush, I saw what the story was and what the moral of the story is, and I was like, this is the kind of movie that everyone needs to see, especially right now, during the holidays. This is the moment.
Yeah, this movie really is perfect to see during the holidays with loved ones. I was surprised by how emotionally resonant it is.
We're making an animated film and obviously that tends to have a demographic that's usually a younger audience, but you could watch this with the whole family. Any age would walk away from this movie with a message, and that's a great and rare thing to get in an animated film. You see what's bigger than yourself and how the life that we're living right now is the best wish you could have made. I really resonated with the way that it all ends. With Puss, what a blessing to be a cat and have so many lives that you can live with different adventures, but I love one of the lines that Perrito says: "Maybe the biggest adventure is just this one life, and that's good enough." For me that really resonated, and I just keep thinking about that ever since we recorded that. Now I stop a little bit more to smell the roses.
Dreamworks Animation
What else did you love about playing your character Perrito?
What I love about him is that he's not a victim of his environment, of his backstory, of his upbringing. He has a really tragic story, but he somehow managed to make it into a fun story he shares with a friend. Like, "You know what? I have a joke for you. One time my family put me in a sack, and they put rocks in that sack and then dropped it into ... " and people are like, "That's not a funny story." "Isn't that hilarious? I didn't win the hide and seek game!" In his mind, it's just ignorance is a bliss or a blessing. He's someone who can overcome things like that, and you don't have to make yourself a victim of your circumstances.
That's something that really resonates, because Perrito looks at something bad and is like, how can I use this to help? He's a helper. He's the person that you go to for positive affirmation, your biggest cheerleader, and I think we all need that in our life. We all need a little bit of Perrito, and I think we all have a Perrito in our life. And because we already assume that they'll always be there, sometimes we take them for granted, but we should also reward and really savor those relationships with those people. It's easier to focus on the people who are negative, but we should also focus on people who are good and give them the time of day and let them know how much they mean to you and how much they contribute to your wellbeing.
What else did you take away from the experience of playing Perrito?
It's so funny because you look at all these characters, Puss, Goldilocks, the Bears, little Jack Horner, and everyone has their own interpretation of what their wish is. Everyone has dreams, that's what makes us human, we all have aspirations, but they're all going about it from different angles of how they think that dream would make them feel, as opposed to when you live in the moment and you just take it a day at a time and really enjoy this thing we call life. When you're just enjoying the simplest things, you don't long for things that you think might make you happier, materialistic things or a status or wealth. It's just living in what you have now and really stretching that and seeing every ounce of value in what you have can make a wonderful life, and that was meaningful to learn.
Even though you didn't get to record with Antonio and Salma, did you ever get to meet them in person while working on this movie?
No, I wish! It was one of the things that I was looking forward to. I grew up watching all the Shrek franchise and Puss in Boots and Antonio and Salma are literally the pinnacle of Latino success story. To work with two icons, I was so excited, but because of the time we're living in, in COVID and whatnot, it's safer to record separately. And also because we're around the world — I was in Canada, and Salma was in Europe or America, and Antonio was in Spain — we were recording from all time zones in the world which made it difficult. I'm hoping that I get to finally meet them in person at the premiere and probably gush and make a fool out of myself of just fanboying over the fact that I'm in a movie with Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek.
Dreamworks Animation
Not only are you in a movie with them, you're the third lead opposite them and steal the show in every scene. That's an impressive feat.
[Laughs] That alone blows my mind. I can't bring myself to say it, but thank you for saying that. I'm really excited for my mom to see this because I was able to dub my voice in Spanish for the Spanish version. She was at the movie theaters with my sister not too long ago, and the commercial came on for it and in the middle of the theater, my mom has no filter, she's like, "It's him!" She raised her voice the highest, screaming, "It's him, it's him!" in Spanish. My sister recorded it and sent it to me, like, "Mom has no chill. She doesn't care there's a theater full of people. She's just yelling, 'That's my son!'"
That's so sweet, she's so proud.
Yeah, I'm excited for her to see both [language] versions. Honestly, this is my wish, that everyone sees the message of the story. It's part of the Shrek franchise, but I feel like it's its own thing now, and I just want everyone to see where we're at now and walk away with their hearts filled with a really cool message. And I hope Perrito comes back again in the future.
I want to see him and Donkey interacting with each other. That would be comedy gold.
Oh my gosh, yes. You just put it out in the universe. I didn't even think about that until right now. Donkey and Perrito, two sidekick friends who are comic reliefs, becoming buddies and going on an adventure? You know what, anything's possible in the Shrek world.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish hits theaters Dec. 21.
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