Jason Lee Overcomes Embarrassment of Acting with Chipmunks

13 December 2011

Acting opposite a bean bag is no easy task for any actor and Jason Lee has gotten over his embarrassment of talking to bean bags in front of the "rough crew dudes" the third time around in ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIPWRECKED.

According to Jason Lee, the third time is a charm. In 2007 he stared in Alvin and the Chipmunks which was a global phenomenon but in 2009 due to scheduling conflicts with his TV show he only made a cameo in "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" but time around he's back in full force in ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIPWRECKED. 

For Jason, the whole Chipmunk world is a bit surreal because his character Dave lives with talking chipmunks which is something that doesn't exactly exist. When it comes to his interaction with the Munks, Jason finds it to be a good challenge which helped him get over his embarrassment factor pretty quickly.

"You realize there are a bunch of rough crew dudes standing around watching you emote to a bean bag. You just kind of have to say what the hell that's part of the gig. You want to make it real."

When it came to holding the Chipmunks, it's actually a tan bean bag. It has become a bit easier for Jason but he calls it "a bit surreal when you're looking at pieces of tape and stuffed animals and bean bags."  Director Mike Mitchell credits Jason with making his job easier with his ability to genuinely react to the bean bags as if the characters were really there.

As an actor, Jason likes to work across all possible genres and isn't too selective when it comes to choosing his projects.  Working on the the Alvin and the Chipmunks movies certainly helps the father of two at home gain "cool" status with the kids and adds another type of film to his credits.

"I like that I did Earl.  I like that I've done kid stuff.  I like that I've done dramatic stuff.  I like that I did all the Kevin Smith stuff.  I liked that I've bounced around a lot. But certainly as a dad it's nice to do movies that my kids can watch."  

As for the future of the Chipmunks,  Jason is open to any future projects with the Chipmunks along with the director and producers Ross Bagdasarian and wife Janice Karman if they can stay intuitive and original.

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIPWRECKED is in theaters December 16th.