‘Rick and Morty’s Voice Actors Share the One Area in Which They Struggle to Copy Justin Roiland
It’s easy to one-up former Rick and Morty star Justin Roiland — avoiding grooming and sexual assault allegations is an excellent place to start — but according to his small-screen replacements, one aspect of his performance as both Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith has proven tough to beat.
disgraced star’s penchant for improv due, in part, to their writers’ “amazing” scripts.
“By the time the scripts get in front of us, they’ve gone through so many iterations,” Cardoni explained during a recent sitdown with Rick and Morty team’s ability to create “improvisational-sounding moments.”
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“Especially in Season Eight, I’ve had some creative license in of where burps are placed, and you know certain stammers and yells and things like that,” Cardoni continued, noting that it’d be “hubris” to override the writers’ “core material.” “The improv comes in the delivery in finding the motivation behind the words.”
But it’s not just Rick and Morty’s writers that have stopped Cardoni and Belden from following in Roiland’s improvised footsteps. The actors’ solo studio sessions have played an integral role in their decision to stick to the script as well, according to Belden.
“We also don’t record together, so we’re not, as I think a lot of people might think, bouncing off of each other,” Belden explained, adding that he takes the misconception that he and his on-screen grandfather record their lines side-by-side as a compliment. “I’m really happy that a lot of people assume that we do, because it means we’re doing something right.”
Much like his on-screen grandfather, Belden, too, keeps his improvisation to how he conveys his lines, rather than what he’s saying.
“The creative license comes in the delivery and the stammering for Morty,” the actor added. “I like to think I know when Morty stammers and doesn’t stammer, but it’s always fun to just be like, ‘Oh, what if we added a big stammer there for that, and then it turns into a whole thing.’”
