NBC funny guys Bill Hader and Ben Schwartz are the voices of BB-8.
Although the film has already been screened by a handful of people already and reviews have been posted, there’s still a lot unknown about The Force Awakens. While the main characters and the people who play them already have been revealed, there’s one character that we may have overlooked (and he’s the most beloved, arguably)!
BB-8 is the new rolling droid in the film. There is no one acting as him like there is with R2-D2 and C3P0, but he does have a voice like all of them. The voice of R2-D2, which most resembles BB-8’s voice, was created by then Lucasfilm sound designer Ben Burtt. He used his voice along with a synthesizer to create a R2’s beep and boops. He, however, wasn’t listed as the sound designer for BB-8.
Instead, the credits listed two of the most funny men today as BB-8’s “voice consultants”. Both Bill Hader (Saturday Night Live) and Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation) later confirmed their work on the film in an interview with Hitfix.
Hader’s response:
“JJ f**king around with this sound effects app on his iPad that was attached to a talk box operated by me. It looked ridiculous but it made BB-8’s voice. At first I tried doing a voice, but we all agreed it sounded too human.”
Hader and Schwartz weren’t the only time other notable talents that lent their abilities to Episode 7. Lin Manuel-Miranda from Broadway’s “Hamilton” wrote the music for a cantina scene in the film. It was later confirmed that Composer Michael Giacchino and Radiohead’s Nigel Godrich played Stormtroopers.
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