The Smurfs 2 Director Remembers Jonathan Winters

With The Smurfs 2 coming to theaters in two weeks, director Raja Gosnell will face a lot of questions about how to go forward--if indeed there is a third film--without Jonathan Winters. The comedy legend gave voice to Papa Smurf in the first two films, and having him there provided a tie to the source material (Winters starred in a number of the Smurfs TV specials) that's invaluable for longtime fans. We recently spoke to Gosnell, and one of the things we asked was what it was like to work with Winters, and whether it will be strange promoting the new film without him. Keep your eyes on this spot for more from Gosnell throughout the day. ComicBook.com: You guys have one of the last performances from Jonathan Winters. Is it a little strange to be doing press for a film where one of your lead actors--an icon, and a huge part of the film's chemistry--is absent? Gosnell: Look, Jonathan gave us so much. He gave us a wonderful Papa Smurf. I will talk about him any chance someone gives me. He brought so much warmth and gravitas to the character and we felt very fortunate to have him toward the end of his life--to have him as our Papa. I also think it was really great for him. I think before the first movie he was feeling a little forgotten and a bit done and he was able to do the Smurfs with us and the movie became a big hit and it reintroduced people to him in a different way, a way they hadn't thought of. By the time we got to the second movie, his demeanor had changed. He was sitting up a bit straighter, he was feeling a bit prouder. He wasn't feeling forgotten and so I think it was a beneficial relationship for both of us; we got a great Papa and he near the end of his life got a chance to give it one more shot and be up there and have a very successful movie. It was a lovely, lovely thing. Basically press is going to consist of me talking about how wonderful it was working with him--something like what I just told you.

ComicBook.com: With the rise of these big franchises that are based on 30-year-old properties, you're getting guys cast who just seeing their name gives the whole thing an air of gravitas and a kind of nostalgic rush. I felt that way about Jonathan just like I did when I first heard that Peter Cullen was going to be doing Transformers. Gosnell: Yeah, I'm glad  you had that response because we did, too. It was just great to have that time with him. We had one final session with him up in Santa Barbara. Normally he came to the studio here to do his recording but he was feeling weak and had been in and out for the previous weeks before that. We told him, "Jonathan, it's okay, we can do without these lines," and he said, "No, no, no," and he insisted we come up. So we came up and did them and it was really interesting; you could sort of tell he'd had a glimpse of the other side. He had this sort of beatific smile on his face and he was the most relaxed I'd ever seen him. He did the lines beautifully but there would be like three minutes where he just sort of wouldn't be there, and then he'd have a big smile on his face and he'd come back and sort of acknowledge you: "Oh, yes, yes," and sort of back to catching up to where we left off. It was clear to us that he was very close to the end but by everything I could tell, some of the very happiest moments that I'd seen him were in that session.