Interview with Ellen DeGeneres and Ed O’Neill (We Danced)!!

Disclaimer: Disney*Pixar, Disney Channel and Disney XD sent me to Los Angeles on an all-expenses paid trip, in exchange for my coverage of these events, which included the FINDING DORY red carpet world premiere and this interview with Ellen DeGeneres and Ed O’Neill. All opinions are my own.

photo credit to Sara Lundberg / BudgetSavvyDiva.com

I DANCED WITH ELLEN! Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!

But wait…I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let’s start the beginning, where every great story starts.

It all began last Thursday morning. I woke up after a whirlwind evening spent in Hollywood at the red carpet world premiere of FINDING DORY. It was incredible…from celebrity sightings to the amazing energy one just feels being a part of something that big.

But it was about to get bigger. MUCH BIGGER.

This day I was to be a part of the press junket, one in which the 25 of us bloggers would sit down and interview many members of the cast from Disney’s FINDING DORY. I’ll be honest, before leaving for LA, many of us were on pins and needles waiting for word on WHO we would actually be interviewing. When we finally got the word, there might have been some screaming going on all around the country simultaneously (you heard that, right?).

First up – Ellen DeGeneres (voice of Dory) and Ed O’Neill (voice of Hank).

Can we talk about this for a second?

ELLEN. She’s one of those stars who doesn’t need a last name. You just know who she is and what she stands for, and quite honestly has always seemed to be the kind of person who puts other people at ease. It’s what makes her a great interviewer. Ah, but the tables would be turned. If there was anyone who would “get” bloggers, it would be Ellen.

Then, Ed O’Neill. I’m not quite sure my dad really understands what I do as a blogger. I don’t think he quite gets why or how I can interview celebrities. And while he’s watched me march off to Hollywood before, interviewing Ed O’Neill got his attention. This was Al Bundy after all.

So you can imagine as I woke up, there was an extra bit of pep in my step.

It was off to the Montage Hotel. Located in the heart of Beverly Hills, this luxurious hotel would be the location for our cast interviews. It was simply beautiful.

I was actually in the middle of admiring the architecture and decor in the lobby when Ellen quickly walked through, having just arrived herself. That got our attention.

photo credit to Sara Lundberg / BudgetSavvyDiva.com

We settled into the conference room, all 25 of us. Set up at a long table, two seats were at the head for both Ellen and Ed. This would be unique, interviewing them both at the same time.

Dory and Hank.

I’ll admit I was more than a bit nervous in those few minutes we were waiting for them. How exactly did I go from stay at home mom raising a little girl to interviewing big-name celebrities? That is a story for another day, but it still surprises even me.

Next thing I knew, Ellen DeGeneres and Ed O’Neill walked into the room and applause erupted. We had all seen FINDING DORY and adored it……we wanted to let them know how much!

But then something unexpected happened…Ellen started clapping herself and took a lap around the room, around our conference table. What a way to start the interview! Everyone was laughing and enjoying the moment. From that, I knew this about Ellen – she was fun and spontaneous (Oh, and she dances……but more on that later!). What you see on her television show is the real deal.

photo credit to Sara Lundberg / BudgetSavvyDiva.com

Ellen and Ed quickly realized that we were at the premiere with them and had seen FINDING DORY already. Though there are some spoilers from our interview, I won’t reveal that part of the interview because I know many of you want to be surprised.

What was so interesting to me was that the premiere was the first time Ellen and Ed (and the rest of the cast) had seen the movie too. Well, they had seen part of the movie before, but it was before it was finished. Ed said it just didn’t play quite the same, even though it was good.

Ellen said, “Because, you know, as much as you want to go, ‘Hey, we’re great’, it’s really nice to see it with a bunch of people and feel the energy of everybody, and then it’s kind of like, ‘Oh, it really did work'”.

Ed recalls the tears coming on during the premiere showing and he wasn’t the only one. (Yes, I warned you there would be tears – but it’s all good). Ellen remembered how weird it was to start crying in the theater, realizing she was crying with herself, Dory.

Throughout the original movie, FINDING NEMO, and continuing with FINDING DORY, we’ve seen three little words that mean so much…

Just Keep Swimming.

When Ed and Ellen were both asked what three words might keep them going when facing a challenging time, their personalities shone. For Ed, it was clear he was the funny guy, with his reply, “Just Keep Punching!”. For Ellen, I was actually surprised.

Ellen said, “I have to say that it’s really weird that I became a part of this iconic character, because I didn’t know it before this happened, but that was my motto, you know what I mean? My life has gone through a lot of different twists and turns, and I did just keep swimming. I didn’t realize that that was what I was doing. But I just kept moving forward, and I just kept doing what I know how to do, which is make people happy and make people smile and make people laugh. And so it’s just so weird that that is part of this fish’s motto.”

“And I’d talked to so many people that go through whatever it is, if it’s an illness, or they are going through a difficult time, ‘Just keep swimming’ is what they think about.”

photo credit to Sara Lundberg / BudgetSavvyDiva.com

Did I mention how close I was to Ellen and Ed during the interview.

I sat just inches away and my friend Sara just happened to snap this picture at the perfect time! A great photo of an amazing memory.

Here’s the thing. In this picture you see laptops, phones, recorders, etc. Bloggers are notoriously busy during an interview preserving it. But I was SO close to Ellen and Ed that I really wanted to enjoy it, to look into their eyes. I didn’t want to be live tweeting and looking down the entire time – so you didn’t see any tweets from that morning. I sat there, mesmerized, laughing WITH them, living in the moment. It changed the experience for me completely.

Since the night before, I had really been thinking about the themes in the movie. Ellen was asked about them and recalled many like “never give up”, “be optimistic”, and “there’s always another way”.

Ellen stated, “When someone says that there isn’t another way, there is. You don’t get stuck. And no matter what your situation is, it can get better, and everybody starts from a different place, and some people start with a lot more odds stacked against them. But there’s a way out. There’s a way to use whatever you do best to help you, you know? Even if you have a disability, use your strengths. Whatever that is. Mine was making people laugh. I had a lot of stuff that was hard for me in my life, and I knew that I could make people laugh, and that was my strength.

Ed recalled that this was one thing which Dory taught Hank in the movie…there’s always some other option.

I had watched an interview the cast did just hours before the premiere where Ed O’Neill remarked how the sequel had taken so long (13 years) and how they’d better hurry along the next film.

I decided to ask both Ed and Ellen, “Are you already thinking about what you’d like to see in the next film?”.

Ed remarked, “Me? No, I really don’t think that far ahead. I would just go ‘what day is it today?'”

But here’s the thing, having seen the movie already, I see Hank as a big part in this film. There’s a story there that I’d love to see explored further in the next movie (are you listening Pixar?). But Ellen surprised me with this next news…

Ellen said, “It’s amazing though, because Ed was saying he really didn’t know what his part was going to be and how big his part was going to be. He just showed up because there was no script and he thought he was doing a day thing.”

Ed explained to us that he thought it was a cameo performance, because he had done a cameo in WRECK IT RALPH. There was no part written in the script yet he signed on. He had no idea he would work on this film for 3 years.

You could tell that even though voice actors often work by themselves, the chemistry between Ellen and Ed was there. Ellen praised Ed’s work as Hank, saying, “I saw Ed’s character come to life, and I was like, ‘Oh, this is so perfect, he’s so perfectly grumpy'”.

Photo credit to Sara Lundberg / BudgetSavvyDiva.com

But then there was one more thing that happened during this interview with Ellen DeGeneres and Ed O’Neill. Oh yes, that little dancing thing I mentioned at the beginning of this post. Anyone who has watched Ellen’s show knows that she LOVES to dance. It’s her thing.

So you could imagine our surprise when asked if she would dance with us…SHE SAID YES!

Then Ellen said, “Ed said to me before we walked in here, ‘I hope we dance’!”. And the giggles ensued!

So to the tune of the Justin Timberlake hit, “Rock Your Body”, Ellen DeGeneres, 25 bloggers and yes, even Al Bundy (I mean, Ed O’Neill) danced. It’s a moment that I’ll never forget. That picture says it all. Ellen’s face. My laughter. Ed taking it all in. Then a goodbye hug with Ellen to finish it off.

What a day!

photo credit to Sara Lundberg / BudgetSavvyDiva.com

Be sure to come back every day this week and next for more blog posts on the trip and check out these already done:

• Finding Dory Red Carpet World Premiere Experience – Celebrities and more
• Spoiler-Free Finding Dory movie review
• Interview with Dory’s Best Friend – Kaitlin Olson

• Like FINDING DORY on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PixarFindingDory
• Follow FINDING DORY on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FindingDory
• Follow Disney/Pixar on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PixarFindingDory/
• Follow Disney Studios on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/disneystudios/finding-dory/
• Visit Disney/Pixar on Tumblr: http://disneypixar.tumblr.com
• Visit the official FINDING DORY website here: https://disney.com/findingdory

FINDING DORY swims into theatres everywhere on June 17th!