First Eddie Izzard was replaced by Bill Nighy for the voice of Reepicheep in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Now Simon Pegg has replaced Bill Nighy in the role. This is a very interesting development and one that we’re a bit surprised about. Simon Pegg’s voice is more in line with an aging Eddie Izzard than Bill Nighy’s voice.
You may have seen Pegg on screen in 2009’s Star Trek where he played Scotty.
This was confirmed by Pegg himself, via his twitter account.
He sounded like Eddie Izzard in the trailer.
I don’t see why they have to make his voice different. I’d just rather have Eddie Izzard reprise the role. He did it so perfectly!
Simon Pegg I enjoyed in Star Trek, though, and I think I’m ok with him. I’d just rather see Izzard back there.
i know right. i think that as well
An “aging” Eddie Izzard? The man has a voice like honey – what’s age got to do with it?
Reepicheep is much older in Dawn Treader, and the role this time calls for less comedy and more drama.
That’s precisely what i don’t get. That argument about them wanting to make Reep older and more serious made pefect sense when it was Nighy replacing Izzard – An older actor replacing a (comparatively) younger comedian.
But now we arrive at Simon Pegg. Who like Izzard is also primarily a comedian. And one who is actually 8 years YOUNGER than Izzard. I honestly can’t see this change as being an artistic one anymore – I think they surely went with Pegg precisely because he is so similar to Izzard, not because they wanted to do anything different with the character.
I’m thinking it’s still an artistic decision. Eddie Izzard, as good as he is, is kind of one-note. I think Simon Pegg offers a similar enough voice while also offering the dramatic weight that is necessary for Reepicheep’s character arc in this film.
I seriously was confused… I wondered how Nighy sounded so very much like Izzard. Now I know! I think Pegg fits wonderfully.
Plus, Pegg was such a fun character as Scotty. Absolutely spot-on.
So was it Nighy or Pegg in the trailer?
Simon Pegg
Alright, now this seems a little too…..oh how do i put this…not together. Now that we’ve got it all staightened out, i think this will be better now. still really excited about it.
I just don’t get what’s going on here. When they changed from Izzard to Nighy, it seemed very much like a deliberate artistic change to move Reepicheep away from the comedy side of his character in PC and towards the serious side of his character in VDT. This just seems like a step backwards in my opinion.
The plus side is that Pegg doesn’t sound too different to Izzard (even though when Nighy was first announced, most people commented that they didn’t actually like Izzard’s voice) but the down side is that Pegg doesn’t sound too different to Izzard! – if they wanted him to sound like Eddie Izzard, then why not just go back to Eddie Izzard?
Very confused.
that is a very good point.
y did the replace lizard in the 1st place
reepicheep is only 3 yrs older and its been about 3 yrs since pc
3 years in human years… in mouse years, it’s much longer.
The
It’s more the quality of voice than the age of the actor.
The real question is who will replace Simon Pegg before the movie comes out. The role is cursed… no one can have it for to long. It is like the defense against the dark arts job in Harry Potter.
Beam me up, Reepicheep! Who thinks/wants there to be a Star Trek reference in VotDT?
On the website for VODT under characters it still says that Reepicheep’s voice actor is TBA. What’s up with that. They need to change that soon.
I don’t see the entry on Simon Pegg’s Twitter account, and IMDb lists Bill Nighy as Reepicheep. How sure are we that this is confirmed???
Good question, Mark. His tweet seems to have vanished. I’ve tweeted him to ask what might have happened, but I’m not sure if I’ll get a response. I’ll also e-mail some of my other contacts to see what I can learn.
I wonder if they just used Pegg for the trailer because Nighy was unavailable – but that’s just a guess.
I think in the interview where we first discovered Nighy, he said that he had already finished recording. I could be mistaken, though.