A Boy Called Haley

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Country Bears Trivia

Haley does not sing in "The Country Bears". That is the voice of E.G. Daly singing, "Where Nobody Knows My Name" near the beginning of the film for Beary.

The other interesting bit about the film, is that unlike an animated film where the voices are recorded first, and then they animate the characters like they were speaking those words. In "The Country Bears" the film was shot first, and then the voice-actors had the challenge of trying to match up what they were saying with how the bears were speaking in the film. That must have required a great deal of focus and concentration to get the voices to match up as well as they did... and then to add the emotions and feelings into the voice for the character to match what is going on for the scene... well, that is quite a bit of talent on display for Haley in this film, even if it was "just" his voice.

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The Country Bears , +2 years today
26th July 2004

It was two years ago today that another of Haley's voice-over films was released... and how could we ever forget "The Country Bears".

The first film, of what would be three films from Disney, all of which were based on an attraction at one or both of their theme parks. One of those three films, would generate amazing success at the box office, but we should not forget the one film that blazed the trail for the others to follow. For such a bold new experiment in cinema, this film would require someone with the talent and professionalism to help anchor the project, so that the important lessons could be learned and help the other movies to succeed.

Who else, if not Haley, could Disney have had the confidence to carry the flag into new territory? Although the film might have faltered and fallen at the box office, as is usually the case with the first wave that lands at the beachhead, the pawhold gained by "The Country Bears" proved to be the staging point for the other two films success.

I'm not sure how many here have taken the time to watch "The Country Bears", but I think if you watch it with the 5 to 9 year old crowd, then I'm sure you will see what a fun little film this was. A film with a few laughs and some great music, and for some movies, that is all that the little kids need. I think it is wonderful that Haley chooses to do projects that can find an audience for EVERY range of ages. From the "Discover Spot" video, all the way up to the philosophical and challenging, "A.I. Artificial Intelligence". I think "The Country Bears" fits in rather well with the rest of his other work, and I'm sure Disney is quite happy about that as well.

Haley is the best.

Interview with Haley Joel Osment

July 24, 2002 ... the World Premiere of Disney's newest live-action feature, The Country Bears, was held at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, California. Transcipt of Interview with Haley Joel Osment.

LP: Hi. I'm with LaughingPlace.com ,we're a Disney fansite on the web. Since this isn't the first voice work that you've done for Disney I'm curious how is there a difference between doing live action vs. the animated?

Osment: Definitely, definitely yeah. In the technical sense mostly because you're filming, I mean, you're recording after they've already filmed but with animation you record before they animate. So they animate to what you sound like and you can do whatever you want with the lines. In this case you have to sync the lines exactly to what's on film so it's a little more challenging in the technical sense.

LP: What's your favorite aspect of the character Beary?

Osment: He's just - I sensed a lot in common with him because as a little kid I would go and see the Country Bears everytime I was at Disneyland. So it was pretty cool to have that in mind in doing the Country Bears biggest fan in this film. So, you know, it was a lot of fun to do.

LP: So do you have a favorite bear since you were so familiar with them?

Osment: Fred's pretty...ahh...I don't know. It's hard, it's hard because they're all cool in different ways. Fred's the one I remember because he was so big. Yeah I remember him from the times when I was there and I'd go see him at Country Bear Jamboree.

LP: That's awesome. Thanks so much for some of your time.

Osment: No problem.

LP: Congratulations.

Osment: Nice talking to you.

Click each picture to supersize it

The Country Bears on DVD and CD

Be sure to support Haley Joel Osment by buying the Country Bears DVD ( left picture) and the Country Bears Original Soundtrack (above picture)


	Country Bears DVD		Country Bears Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

The webmaster of www.comeawayohumanchild.net and " A Boy Called Haley " is indebted to FAIR for allowing us to reproduce this wonderful article here . This article was first posted on the kidactors.com message board on 26th July 2004 , and is written by one of the most foremost and articulate fans of Haley Joel Osment. We are privileged to be able to archive this article in a slightly edited form here. Thank you, FAIR.

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