Disney/Pixar's new animated film Ratatouille has not only won over the critics, it's a major hit at the box office. Academy-award winning director/screenwriter Brad Bird (The Incredibles, The Iron Giant) and his production team have set a new high for the animation bar.

In this story about a rat who prefers gourmet food over garbage and finds a restaurant where he tutors an inexperienced cook in training, all the characters are adorable. Linguini, one of the main characters, is played by Lou Romano, an actor I had the pleasure of interviewing. 

Romano was born in San Diego, California. As a youngster, he developed an interest in drawing and theater arts, and he began performing in junior theater. "I think part of the draw for performing came from my father," said Romano. "He has a real charisma, and he used to work as a singing waiter in a Manhattan restaurant."

After studying animation at the California Institute of The Arts, Romano landed a job in 1992 as an intern at the studios and stayed on as an illustrator and designer on various projects, including The Powerpuff Girls and The Iron Giant. "I worked briefly on Monsters Inc, in 1997, then came back to Pixar and worked with Brad on The Incredibles in 2000. Romano's responsibilities included the supervising of character and environmental design as well as designing the film’s color and lighting.

To work with the visionary filmmaker Brad Bird is an animator's dream come true, admitted Romano. "He's always very inspiring. He's the best teacher I've had in terms of having a vision and his ideas and enthusiasm rubs off on people. I've learned a lot from him in terms of filmmaking and design but also how he handles himself and communicates on a day to day basis."

Romano was originally asked just to stand in and do the voice for a scratch dialogue test, but was surprised when the powers that be actually cast him in the role of Linguini. When Bird heard Romano doing Linguini’s voice on a temporary track, he was struck by how beautifully it worked. “He’s studied for years and he’s a terrific actor,” says Bird. “Knowing the whole process so well frees him up to be very inventive. The film wouldn’t work without him. Lou has a certain shy hesitancy, but he also has this reserve of passion where he can become very assertive and powerful, just like Linguini. And Lou acted Linguini just crazy enough to make it believable that he’d let himself be controlled by this little rat.”

Bird wanted the movie to be full of laughs and physical comedy reminiscent of the early silent film days of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplain. Romano said he had seen a lot of those films for his own enjoyment, which helped form his character.

"Actually working in production design in the studio helped, as I saw character design evolve. Also I could relate my experience to that of Linguini's of getting thrown into a big project and having to sink or swim," said Romano.

Linguini is a shy, innocent underdog who must overcome many obstacles, and Romano found some of his character in the role. "It's a little like me," he said, "but more exaggerated in the film. I appreciate that Brad wrote the character in a more dimensional way and kind of flushed him out to be a little bit more relatable and not just a one note character."

Although the plot works perfectly, there's still those squeamish moments when a bunch of rats are in the kitchen fixing food. "It was definitely a big concern," said Romano. "What drew people to the project was the idea of winning people over with how charming and appealing the rats are just as characters, and Brad really went all out to make them appealing."

Romano purposefully ignored seeing the daily footage, and when he finally saw the finished film -- "I was blown away," he said. "I saw a rich film and what I think is the most hand-crafted looking film that the studio has made. With computer graphics, it's hard to get that kind of quality to CG films."

Quality, fun and pure enjoyment awaits everyone who journeys out to see the delightful Ratatouille.

Photo credits: Disney Enterprises, Inc. and Pixar Animation Studios

(Interview also posted on www.reviewexpress.com.)

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