Mario Cantone is high-strung bird in Surf’s Up

Italian-American actor famous as wedding planner in Sex and the City

Fans of Sex and the City will recognize Italian-American actor Mario Cantone as wedding planner/fashion consultant Anthony Marantino. Though he’s not a household name, the flamboyant Boston-born actor has earned a Tony Award nomination for his one-man variety show Laugh Whore, which showcases his witty and obviously gay brand of humour.
Cantone, 48, is currently lending his voice to the CGI animated movie, Surf’s Up, as Mikey Abromowitz, a high-strung sandpiper. Directed by Chris Buck and Ash Brannon, the film follows a documentary crew that goes behind the scenes and onto the waves during the most competitive, heartbreaking and dangerous display of surfing known to man, the Penguin World Surfing Championship. Other famous voices include Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel and Shia LaBeouf.
Tandem talked to Mario Cantone about Surf’s Up.

You’ve worked on kids’ shows in the past. How do you feel about children?
“I don’t have kids. I don’t want kids, not that I don’t care about kids, but I really could care less. I haven’t seen [the movie] with children because I’m afraid of them. After having a children’s show for five years called Steampipe Alley out of New York, I had enough. I don’t really like children that much. It’s really very odd. I just always loved animation. I just live for it.”

What’s Mikey Abromowitz about?
“He’s a talent scout. He’s a sand piper, which is a very nervous bird. He’s stressed out and he works for this kind of Don King-like promoter, who is played by James Woods. It wasn’t a stretch, believe me.”

What do you think about animation?
“I’m a huge [fan of animation]. The classics like Bambi and Pinocchio and Lady and the Tramp. I love that stuff. It took me a long time to get used to the CGI stuff. It’s too cold. When I saw Toy Story, I was like, well, the kids look like toys too. This is all plastic but then finally I think it softened up. Every animated movie has a style. If you look at Pinocchio, it’s got a watercolour kind of wash to it. If you look at Sleeping Beauty, it’s very angular. If you look at Bambi, it’s very pastel. That’s the beauty of an animated film. In some of these CGI movies the backgrounds of the suburban neighbourhood look like a suburban neighbourhood. It’s too real. The grass looks like grass. There’s no style to it and I think that’s shit and it has to stop. I like it to have a look. [Surf’s Up] has a look to it and it just has a lot of heart, you know.”

Do you prefer being on stage?
“That one-man show, which I adored and loved, sucked the life out of me, I gotta tell you. It was tough. And I want to do new stuff and it’s tough to write because I write on stage and I haven’t been going on stage that much.”

You play a gay man on Men in Trees…
“Yeah, Orlando Jones was my lover in it and we had to do an ice skating dance that hasn’t aired yet. This is hilarious. We had to do an ice skating dance and we had to have an argument during the ice skating dance. So they hired two stunt men — great guys too — not figure skaters, stunt men! So they’re trying to do this gay ice dance and it’s like ‘where’s the gay flair?’ It was like watching two straight guys trying to do gay porn. It just didn’t work, actually, sometimes it does work if you’re gay for pay, but the point is it was hilarious to see.”

Is your character Mikey gay?
“He’s pretty flamboyant this bird, and the only thing that’s missing is a musical number. I wanted a musical number. He used to recruit for musical theatre. Is he gay? I’m like ‘do you live in a cave?’ Not the usual conversation you hear during promotion for a kids movie but since you mentioned it, I did start to suspect Zazu the Hornbill from The Lion King.”

Will you be reprising the role of Anthony Marantino in the much-rumoured big screen version of Sex in the City?
“They called me about my availability, yeah. But nothing’s negotiated. I don’t know if any of the girls have negotiated; I have no idea what’s going on. All I know is it better get done because I want to do it. But I do know that I’m in it a good amount so that’s exciting to know.”

Are you afraid that Surf’s Up will be compared to that other penguin movie Happy Feet?
“I liked Happy Feet, but let me tell you something about Happy Feet, Happy Feet is a very good movie and the guy is brilliant. I loved Babe — those are great films. My problem with Happy Feet is it slid all over the place. My problem with it is that if you’re going to make a musical, get a songwriting team and make a fucken musical.”

But Surf’s Up isn’t a musical.
“I know, but if there’s a sequel, it probably won’t be a musical but I definitely think that I should have a number. That’s all I have to say. I will not name names.”


Surf’s Up is currently playing in local cinemas.

Publication Date: 2007-06-10
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=7376