Asking Miranda “iCarly” Cosgrove if she sings might just be the dumbest thing I’ve said to a celebrity since that one time I got drunk in front of Joss Whedon. But we’re not going to talk about that now. Let’s talk instead to Miranda Cosgrove about the evolution of her lovable Despicable Me character Agnes, how she’s grown between the first film and Despicable Me 2, and her adventures studying film at the University of Southern California (USC).
“Do you sing.” God, I’m an idiot…
CraveOnline: Would you sign my Despicable Me book?
Miranda Cosgrove: Yeah, sure! That’s cute, they have different minions for different things.
Do you know their names?
Carl, Dave…
Could you recognize them out of a lineup?
I don’t know about that. I think this is Dave.
Dave is the sneaky one.
Yeah. There are two like, really mean ones, though. I’m not sure I know which is which… There you go.
Yay! Thank you so much!
Sure.
So, I have a bit of a confession to make, I’m not actually terribly familiar with all your work. I’ve never seen your show. Where should I start with that? Is there one episode that is like, “the” episode you have to see?
Let’s see… I don’t know. It kind of changed a lot from the beginning to the end, just because we did it for a while and we all got much older during the course of it. Like, when we started, we were all like, 12 and 13. And then we were like, 18 or 19 at the end.
Right. So the plots had to change dramatically, I imagine. Like, solving murder mysteries.
Yeah, turned into a drama. I don’t know, but there are definitely a few episodes that are probably the most funny. Probably from like, the fourth season.
Okay. I will scope it out. Did you have to audition for Despicable Me, the original?
Yeah, I did. I auditioned for the first one and they didn’t tell me what it was about or anything, I guess, or who was in it. I guess Steve [Carell] was already a part of it. It was like, a big secret and they’re like, “Just come in and say these lines that aren’t the actual lines you’re going to be saying.”
What were they like, if they weren’t anything like the movie?
I can’t remember exactly what the lines were, but they said, “Do it like you’re an older sister and you’re responsible,” and then there were different kinds of lines. They said like, “Do this one like you’re really angry, this one like you’re super upset.” I was really excited because I ended up getting the part, and I found out that it was this really cool idea and that Steve Carell was part of it and all these cool comedians.
I find there are two kinds of animated productions. One is where they record everyone separately, and one is where they actually let people come into the room together. Did they record everyone separately for this?
Yeah. Everyone was recorded separately, but then… Like, I know Steve pretty well now because we did publicity for the first one and we were just in Australia, for the premiere because it came out there first.
I hate those guys.
I know, they’re getting everything first.
They’re getting everything first! It’s weird!
Like, their music’s way ahead. It’s weird. I hadn’t heard like, 90% of the songs in the movie.
Wow.
They’re probably gonna come out here in a few weeks.
So, you ended up getting this part. It’s been kind of following you around. Was it a special, or a TV movie you did between the two films or something?
You mean for Despicable Me?
Yeah. Despicable Me.
They did… Well, they’re making a Minion movie now.
Is there a place for you in that?
No, I think it’s gonna be a different idea, but just with the Minions. I think. I’m not really sure what it’s about. I’m kind of excited.
Yeah. Everyone loves the Minions.
Yeah, I like ’em a lot. They’re really funny.
Were you contracted for Despicable Me 2?
No. I don’t think they realized what a success the first one was gonna be or that it was gonna catch on so much. I think it turned out really well, and people ended up really liking it.
It’s interesting to me, because the first one was kind of all about the girls and Gru. And here, you’re the only one who gets a real subplot this time out. You get that sort of young love subplot. Were they telling you like, “Really sell it! Remember when you were 11 and you had this huge crush?” What was the experience like recording this?
It’s kind of fun because the directors give a lot of room to like, improv and do stuff that you wanna do. Any thoughts you have, they’re real open to letting you try stuff, so that part of it was really fun. Like, after doing the lines a few times just the way they were written, then they’ll be like, “Do whatever you want.” So, a lot of the time, the best stuff comes from that, ’cause then you start bouncing ideas off of each other. So, with all the scenes where like, Margo can barely talk and she’s all nervous around the guy, a lot of that stuff we played with a bunch of different things so it was fun.
I wondered if there was maybe like, a scene that was recorded and disappeared, but he kind of disappears, the kid. Like, it becomes all about the Dad. And then he doesn’t really have… I thought maybe like, he’d come back at the end and kind of sweep you off your feet or kill you or something.
[Laughs] Ha! Kill me.
Was there more to that? Were there scenes that were recorded, that didn’t make it into the film?
There were like, a few different ideas for how it should end, how the storyline should end, so I think at one point, they had Antonio, the boy, kind of being a good guy instead of being a bad guy. In the end, they decided to make him kind of like a player that just got a lot of girls. [Laughs] But you’re right, he does kind of disappear like, during the whole fight at the end.
Yeah, I was just expecting him to come back, somehow. Maybe sequel?
Yeah, maybe he’ll be the bad guy in the next one. [Laughs]
Yeah, right? There you go.
