Jane Lynch, Craig Robinson lend voices to animated aliens in 'Escape'

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NEW YORK, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- "Glee" star Jane Lynch and "The Office" actor Craig Robinson took a break from their day jobs to play aliens in the Hollywood movie "Escape From Planet Earth."

Featuring the voice talents of Jessica Alba, Rob Corddry, Brendan Fraser, Ricky Gervais, George Lopez, Sarah Jessica Parker, William Shatner and Sofia Vergara, the animated family flick is about what happens when Fraser's character Scorch, a famous and fearless astronaut from the Planet Baab, is captured and imprisoned by the U.S. government during a dangerous mission to Earth. His brilliant, but cautious brother Gary [played by Corddry] tries to save him with the help of various other alien prisoners, including Lynch and Robinson's characters Io -- an enormous, red, one-eyed monster -- and Doc -- a tiny, rodent-like critter.

"From Day 1, they showed me some artwork and each time I went in to the [recording] studio -- probably six or seven sessions -- they showed me the progression [of what my character looked like]," Robinson told United Press International in a recent roundtable interview in New York. "They were like, 'Here's some footage.' All they asked for was, 'Bring your voice, your real voice.' So, that's what I did. I don't know if that impacted [my performance,] so much as it was, 'OK, I am a mouse-like alien.' It came out the way it did and I'm very proud of it."

"I did one massive session," said Lynch about recording the lines for her character. "[The movie] had already been animated. I knew what she looked like, I knew how she moved. I knew what the story line was and I did it in one eight-hour session. It was a lot of fun. It was really great to knock it out like that. I've done other animated films before where you do five or six sessions over a few years and this was a quick one."

So, was she all by herself in the studio?

"Yeah, all of us did it that way. That's kind of how it's done. Very rarely do you get to work with the person," Lynch explained. "There's a lot of benefit to that, but then it's also fun to be by yourself with just your imagination and I know Craig and George Lopez and Rob, so I had an idea of what they might be doing, so I could picture that in my mind as I did it."

Robinson -- a former elementary school music teacher who along with Lynch was also part of the "Shrek Forever After" vocal cast -- said he gets a kick out of making movies younger members of his family can see.

"This is fantastic. I have an 11-year-old niece who might love this more than her Hello Kitty, so I'm anxious to get it out there," said the "Pineapple Express" and "Knocked Up" cast member.

"I do a lot of R-rated stuff, so it's always nice to do something my family can see and go, 'Hey, great!' I grew up in church, so every time I say certain words, I'm like, 'I'm going to get in trouble,'" Robinson said.