Ben Schwartz and James Marsden Talk ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’

The stars of ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ reunite to discuss their new sequel, which also features the return of Jim Carrey and the voice of Idris Elba.

Sonic (Ben Schwartz) and James Marsden in "Sonic The Hedgehog 2' from Paramount Pictures and Sega. Photo Credit: Courtesy Paramount Pictures and Sega of America.

Opening in theaters on April 8th is the new movie ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2,’ which is a sequel to 2020’s ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ and is based on the popular Sega video game.

The movie once again stars Ben Schwartz (‘The Afterparty’) as the voice of Sonic, and adds to the cast Colleen O’Shaughnessey as the voice of Tails and Idris Elba as the voice of Knuckles. Jim Carrey also returns as the villain Dr. Ivo Robotnik, as well as James Marsden and Tika Sumpter who reprise their roles as Tom and Maddie Wachowski, respectively.

The plot of the new film revolves around the return of Dr. Robotnik (Carrey), with his new ally Knuckles (Elba), determined to take over the Earth. Now, Sonic (Schwartz) and his new friend Tails (O’Shaughnessey) must stop them before they succeed in their plans for world domination.

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with actors Ben Schwartz and James Marsden about their work on ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2.’

You can read our full interview with Ben Schwartz and James Marsden below, or watch a video of our interviews with Schwartz, Marsden, Lee Madjoub, Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, Collen O’Shaughnessey, and director Jeff Fowler in the player above.

Moviefone: To begin with Ben, what has Sonic been doing since the last time we saw him?

Ben Schwartz: Oh, my goodness. He has tried to turn himself into a superhero, like a Batman-type figure in the time between beating Robotnik. He's got a little bit more confidence and he's like, “You know what? I could do this all by myself.” He starts kind of pushing away from Tom and being like, “I can do this.” Throughout the movie we learn that it's okay to ask for help. We also learned that you need your friends to get things done.

MF: James, in many ways Tom is like a father figure to Sonic. How has he been dealing with his with Sonic since the events of the last movie?

James Marsden: Yeah, he's fumbling a little bit here and there. He's still trying to learn how to be a dad. I think it caught him by surprise that he was going to have to take on that role because in the first movie they were more just pals.

They were sort of equal buddies, and now Tom and Maddie are seeing him act out. Not act out in a bad way, but the normal way that kids would on their way into their teenage years. He's a unique one in the fact that he's got all these crazy superpowers. He's got a good heart, and he wants to do good and help people out. He's just a little rough around the edges. He's a diamond in the rough, I think. A shiny piece of coal.

MF: What kind of advice has Tom given to Sonic to try and help him?

JM: Well, I think Sonic has this image in his head of what he wants to be. He's got the superpowers, and he grew up watching all these movies. He grew up watching ‘Batman’ and all these superhero movies, and he wants to be one of them. I think he's a little stuck on the idea of being a hero and striking the right pose. Tom sort of redirects him and says, “It's not about that. It's about helping other people. It's about taking responsibility for other people. It's about knowing when to use your power and when not.”

That's just something that Tom gently tries to instill in him without crushing his spirit or making him feel shamed or anything like that. It's just like sort of a parental guidance thing. Hopefully, I think that if you see the film, it starts to settle into his subconscious. He finds himself maybe in situations where he has to be responsible for somebody else, and we see him make the right choices.

Jim Carrey and Knuckles (Idris Elba) in 'Sonic The Hedgehog 2' from Paramount Pictures and Sega. Photo Credit: Courtesy Paramount Pictures and Sega of America.

MF: Ben, what can you tell us about the movie’s new characters, Tails and Knuckles?

BS: Well, if you are a fan of the video games, the two characters we introduced in this one are fan favorites. Tails is like a sycophant from Sonic's world that comes in voiced by Colleen (O’Shaughnessey), who's incredible and great at gadgets. Then we have the nemesis, Knuckles, who is played by Idris Elba and he has this brute strength. To actually see Sonic have someone that can match up and is even stronger than him is so exciting to see.

Also, he’s someone from his home planet, which is even more exciting because the idea is that he feels so detached from that world, and they're finally coming here, but they're already at odds with each other. So, it was super fun. Then to get to voice act alongside those two people was a dream come true.