Quoted by The Express Tribune
In Illumination’s “Despicable Me 4”, Will Ferrell plays the French supervillain Maxima Le Mal. In teh film, which was co-directed by Chris Renaud and Patrick Delage, Maxime escapes from prison, forcing Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) and his family to flee.
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Ferrell said he was thrilled to be taking on this role and that he and director Chris Renaud have been waiting a long time for the chance to collaborate. Because Maxime is a French villain, he was immediately drawn to the character. Ferrell also thought the job was enjoyable and somewhat Pink Panther-esque.
Ferrell said
“[Chris and I] have been trying to work together for a long time. [‘Despicable Me 4’] was an opportunity where I was pitched the character of being the villain, this French bad guy, Maxime, and that’s all I needed to hear was ‘French’ and ‘bad guy.’” He jokingly added, “I’m being typecast now,”
“It’s always fun to be mean, in a silly way. And I think that’s just a side of you that you don’t get to express…it’s just fun to play around with the voice and it’s a little bit of an homage to the Pink Panther.”
“When I originated the voice, it was my kids who said, ‘That’s the one you should use,’ after I tried a few different voices,” Carell shared. “Whenever I’m about to go try it again, I’ll test it out on them, and I’ll ask, ‘Is that the one? Does that sound like it?’ And they say, ‘Yup, that’s it’ and I’ll go with that.”
