Taking off from where it left us, Illumination’s Despicable Me 3 tells the story of what happens to Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), after he is fired from the anti-villain league for failing to take down the newest bad guy to threaten humanity.
Now, Gru finds himself in the midst of a major identity crisis. But when a mysterious stranger shows up to inform Gru that he has a long-lost twin brother named Dru (also voiced by Carell), who desperately wishes to follow in his twin’s despicable footsteps — one former super villain will rediscover just how good it feels to be bad.
Gru vs Dru
Since he began voicing Gru, Carell has grown to consider the former super-villain a member of his own family. As producer Chris Meledandri says, “He is respectful of the written words, but we encourage him to bring his personality and voice — given that he’s the architect of Gru — to these recording sessions. He’s responsible for defining how Gru’s continuing to evolve.”
Inspired by the images of Eric Guillon, Carell had given Gru a curious Eastern European accent almost a decade earlier. Similarly, Guillon’s designs for Dru informed the persona and voice that Carell created for Gru’s twin brother.
“Once I saw what Dru was going to look like, I went from there,” explains Carell. “He looks a lot like Gru and they have the same body type, but they move differently. Still, there are a few very specific exceptions. He has a lot of blond hair and dresses fashionably. The voice came out of who I thought the alter-ego of Gru was.”
The film’s directors were impressed by Carell’s ability to capture such distinct voices for both Gru (with a deeper, cynical and methodical tone) and Dru (with lighter, more lively and joyous vocals), especially within a single recording session. Although the twins were separated at birth, Carell points out that enetics seem to be all they share. Despicable Me 3 releases in theatres toda