Illumination founder Chris Meledandri recently told Collider that George Lucas is voicing the character in Minions & Monsters, which hits theaters July 1st.
“I had the privilege of meeting George about two years ago, and what inspired me to meet him was how much he loves Illumination movies, especially Despicable Me and, more specifically, Minions,” Meledandri said. “I was very excited to learn that and share that with the team, because obviously he’s one of a very small group of people that the entire studio shares an extraordinary level of respect for.”
Meledandri said his first conversation with Lucas was what sparked the idea to cast him in Minions & Monsters.
He added: “The idea for the character came out of the story, so I talked to Pierre[Coffin]who co-wrote the movie with Brian Lynch, and Bill Ryan, who was a producer with me on the movie. And I just said, ‘What would we do if we could get George?'” And they’re like, “Are you kidding me?” I had no idea, but I immediately said yes. ”
Meledandri said Lucas was keen to return to the booth whenever production began on the next Minions movie.
“I met him recently,” Meledandri recalled, “and he was already telling me he wanted to do his next role in the next Minions movie. So it’s just incredible.”
Directed by Pierre Coffin and Patrick Delage, Minions and Monsters follows the titular yellow minions as they work on a monster movie in 1920s Hollywood. Other members of the voice cast include Coffin, Zoey Deutch, Bobby Moynihan, Jeff Bridges, Christoph Waltz, Jesse Eisenberg, Phil Lamarr, and Trey Parker.
