Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon share vocal secrets behind ‘Sing’
USA TODAY
Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon and Scarlett Johansson really did burst into song for Sing (in theaters Wednesday).
Director Garth Jennings says it had to be the A-list actors’ own vocals for the movie about animated animals who compete in a singing competition: “There’s much more rooting interest knowing the actors are really doing this.”
Here are the stories behind their performances:
MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY (as Buster Moon)
Voicing the gung-ho koala who hosts a singing competition to save his struggling theater, McConaughey tears into Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe. Not pretty, but fun.
“I said, ‘Look, nothing’s written for me to sing, but if you come up with something, I’d love to give it a shot,’ ” McConaughey says. In the recording booth, Jennings asked about Call Me Maybe. “I’d heard the song, obviously,” says McConaughey. “So I said, ‘Leave the recording (going) and I’ll do it over and over 20 times and we’ll pick one out of there.’ ”
REESE WITHERSPOON (as Rosita)
As the overstressed housewife with 25 piglets, Witherspoon belts out three pop showstoppers: Katy Perry’s Firework, Bananarama’s Venus and Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off. But the actress wasn’t entirely…