Warner Bros. are currently making a new Yogi Bear movie provisionally titled Yogi The Bear. It’ll be part live action and part CGI, with Yogi a voiced animation but Ranger Smith played by T.J. Miller.
In order to get the part, Miller auditioned alongside a real bear. He stands next to it reading his lines and interacting playfully with it. This video is equal parts scary and funny but highly watchable.
Miller is best known as an actor for his part in Cloverfield. But while he faced a monster from the deep in that J.J. Abrams spectacular, he never had to actually come face to face with danger.
The story goes that studio boss Alan Horn saw this clip and offered Miller the role on the strength of it. I’m not sure it makes him right for the role of Ranger Smith but it sure as hell shows he has guts.
