The Kung Fu Panda universe has earned an unparalleled level of respect and commendation from fans ever since it was first launched on the big screens in 2008. And inevitably enough, a major credit for this skyrocketed fame goes to none other than Po’s voice actor, Jack Black. Thanks to his immaculate animated voice-acting skills, viewers got roped into the saga like wildfires in Savanna.
That being said, when Jack Black was initially offered this fan-favorite role, he wasn’t all too sure about taking it on. After all, jumping from the live-action genre to the animated one isn’t the easiest, especially when it is the lead character that you have to voice. But amazingly, DreamWorks actually used one of Black’s own masterpieces to convince him to voice the beloved Dragon Warrior!
Jack Black’s own film convinced him to do Kung Fu Panda!
Although Jack Black had done voice acting before, it was only for two of the most minor roles. One of these was reportedly of Zeke in Ice Age (2002) and the other was of Lenny in 2004’s Shark Tale. This is why he initially hesitated when he was offered the chance to voice Po.
However, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the co-founder of DreamWorks, had his own unique pitch to bring the Gulliver’s Travels star onboard. As Black shared in an interview with Polygon, while offering him the role, Katzenberg told him,
“You don’t have to worry about creating some new character. I want you to be you.”
Kung Fu Panda 4 Ending Scene Leaked: Fans Are Not Happy With a Massive Spoiler Days Ahead of Release
To provide him with further context on what he was looking for, Jeffrey Katzenberg took a clip of one of Black’s previous live-action critically acclaimed masterpieces — “I think it was audio from School of Rock or High Fidelity” — and had his animators create a short animation using that.
Thanks to this distinctive pitch, the Goosebumps actor was sold. As Black expressed:
“I was like, Oh, all right, now I get it. So when I first started, it was a fun opportunity to just be myself, and let the animators do all the cool fighting sequences. I got to be kind of a superhero, but with all of my natural instincts.”
Well, the role of the beloved Dragon Warrior Panda was indeed made for none other than his iconic voice actor, considering how not only did Black boost the franchise’s fame with his exceptional voice-acting skills, but even managed to fulfill some of his own cheeky wishes through the same!
Proof that Jack Black is pretty much Po’s real-life counterpart!
While Jack Black’s iconic voiceover for the fan-favorite super-panda already speaks volumes about just how much the two are similar in their personalities, there are other things too that Black got to do because of Po. Like getting acquainted with unique cuisines!
As it turns out, the Jumanji actor had “joked” with Executive Producer Peter Hastings about the need to “sample the cuisine” of every new place or new land that the Dragon Warrior traveled to. Stunningly enough, he actually got to do that! As Black shared while talking with Polygon:
“Needless to say, I tasted many delicious new dishes. Got the flavors. It was part of my research as a professional actor. I needed to go there.”
After putting all these revelations into consideration, one thing is for certain: Jack Black actually is Po’s real-life counterpart!
Jack Black is returning to voice the beloved Dragon Warrior once again in Kung Fu Panda 4, which will be hitting the theatres on the 8th of March, 2024.
