Huck Milner wasn’t even alive when “The Incredibles” came out, in 2004, but now he’s one of the stars of its sequel, “Incredibles 2.”
Huck, who’s finishing fifth grade next week at a public school in New York City, has a lot in common with Dash: his family size (he’s got two siblings), a shortened name (Dash is a nickname for Dashiell and Huck is really Huckleberry), and a love of speed.
“I’d love the power of speed, because I’d be able to beat my cousins or beat my sisters at something. And I would be able go anywhere I want really quickly,” the actor told KidsPost.
But there’s one big difference between Huck and Dash.
“I’m really slow,” Huck admitted. “I lose at something every day of my life — tag, you name it. Everything, basically. But I’m very energetic, and I love running.”
Huck has loved the original “Incredibles” since he was little.
“My parents watched ‘The Incredibles’ with me when I was 5, and since then it has always been one of my favorite movies,” he said.
Luckily for Huck, the filmmakers decided to replace the original voice actor, who is now in his 20s, with a more authentic-sounding 10-year-old’s voice. Back in fourth grade, Huck did the first audition, got a call for a meeting with the director, Brad Bird, and then received news so good, he thought it was a prank.
“I got the call that I had gotten the part, and I thought it was an April Fool’s joke, because my mom told me right around April Fool’s,” Huck recalled. “I really thought it was a joke.”
Although he had been in several musicals and plays through a New York children’s acting academy, he had never landed a professional job before this high-profile Disney sequel.
Working on an animated movie isn’t like a live-action movie, Huck explained. He recorded his voice alone in a studio with the director and sound professionals, while his co-stars — including Holly Hunter, Craig T. Nelson, Samuel L. Jackson and Sarah Vowell — did the same. He didn’t even meet his fellow cast members until they came together to promote the movie.
“You go into a room, and Brad Bird does all the other voices, and you do your part,” Huck explained. “After that, they piece it all together with the other actors’ voices and your part. After piecing it all together, you get the whole film.”
Huck said being a voice actor means practicing repeating a line again and again.
“When I’d do my voice, the director would stop and say, ‘Do it a little more like this,’ and then I’d do it like that. I was basically a parrot.”
The hard work paid off, Huck said, because he believes the movie isn’t just about individual superheroes, but what it means to belong to a family.
“ ‘The Incredibles’ movies are a lot different than other superhero movies, because they’re all regular family problems everyone can relate to. The fact that they’re superheroes is just secondary.”
The sequel will appeal to even middle-schoolers who don’t usually watch animated movies, Huck assured. “Whether they pretend not to like it, I know they will like it!”
Siblings: Two older sisters, ages 13 and 15.
Pets: “Our dog died a couple of years ago, so now we have fish”: Joe Fish, Clowny and Angel Fish.
Hobbies: “I like singing. I like theater. I like playing hockey.”
Favorite book: The “HiLo” series by Judd Winick. “My favorite types of books are graphic novels, and my favorite book is ‘HiLo,’ and it’s about a boy who comes to Earth.”
Favorite superhero: “I like all superheroes with the power of speed. Because if you have the power of speed, you can do so many things. I like Dash, but I also like the Flash and Quicksilver.”
Favorite scene in his movie: “It’s the scene where I press all the buttons. I don’t actually talk a lot in that scene, but I press the buttons in our new house, and the couch falls in the water, and then I crush the couch and all the water features. So funny.”
Actor he would most like to work with: Robert Downey Jr. “If I had to choose someone, I would love to work with the person who plays Tony Stark. He seems like a really nice guy.”