Acclaimed actor Sam Rockwell (“The Green Mile,” “Charlie’s Angels”), who also has a wonderful voice, powerful and strong, provides the voice of Darwin, the guinea pig team leader in Walt Disney Pictures’ new family adventure “G-Force.”

“Oh, it’s very strange,” admits Rockwell about bringing a non-human character to life. “But when they said ‘action guinea pig movie,’ I showed up—I was like, ‘I’m there!’ Darwin is a superspy and has sort of a Steve McQueen guinea-pig vibe, so it’s fun to play an action hero.”

Rockwell had experience with guinea pigs, having had one for a pet when he was a kid. “His name was Ralph and he used to bite my finger a lot,” recalls the actor. “It didn’t feel good. I don’t know if Ralph liked me or not, but I think he had some emotional issues. Darwin is much more well adjusted.”

A recent No. 1 hit in the U.S., “G-Force” is a comedy adventure about the latest evolution of a covert government program to train animals to work in espionage. Armed with the latest high-tech spy equipment, these highly trained guinea pigs discover that the fate of the world is in their paws.

Tapped for the G-Force are guinea pigs Darwin, the squad leader determined to succeed at all costs; Blaster (voice of Tracy Morgan), an outrageous weapons expert with tons of attitude and a love for all things extreme; and Juarez (voice of Penelope Cruz), a sexy martial arts pro; plus the literal fly-on-the-wall reconnaissance expert, Mooch, and a star-nosed mole, Speckles (voice of Nicolas Cage), the computer and information specialist.

Rockwell was able to record some of Darwin’s scenes with his friend and colleague Jon Favreau (“The Break-Up,” “Four Christmases”). The character actor and director of the recent smash hit “Iron Man” provides the voice of the fat and happy Hurley who members of the G-Force meet up with in a pet store.

“I’m the flatulent comic relief in the film,” says Favreau. “I think that if you’re going to play a guinea pig, you want to be a funny guinea pig. Hurley thinks that Darwin is his brother, based on a birthmark that they both have, and he’s taken quite a shine to the guy. Hurley has grown up in a pet shop, never adopted by a family, and he’s a bit needy for attention and love. G-Force becomes his de facto family, and Darwin his long lost brother, even though he probably isn’t. I think Hurley gives an emotional center to the group.”

Favreau was attracted to the material for reasons both artistic and personal. “It’s fun to do voiceover because you get to be a part of the movie but don’t have to deal with things like going out of town, living in hotels, getting into makeup. Also, I have three kids, so it was a chance to be part of something that my family could enjoy watching together.”

Opening soon across the Philippines, “G-Force” is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International.

Aside from the latest technologies that Walt Disney Pictures’ “G-Force” employs to take the film to the next level, producer Jerry Bruckheimer says there’s another aspect of the film that really makes the four-legged G-Force work. “It’s the humans who bring these animals and their world fully alive,” says Bruckheimer.

Nicolas Cage (“Knowing,” “National Treasure”), a lifelong fan of animation, provides the voice of Speckles, the blind and brilliant, star-nosed mole.

A recent No. 1 hit in the U.S. , “G-Force” is a comedy adventure about the latest evolution of a covert government program to train animals to work in espionage. Armed with the latest high-tech spy equipment, these highly trained guinea pigs discover that the fate of the world is in their paws.

Tapped for the G-Force are guinea pigs Darwin (voice of Sam Rockwell), the squad leader determined to succeed at all costs; Blaster (voice of Tracy Morgan), an outrageous weapons expert with tons of attitude and a love for all things extreme; and Juarez (voice of Penelope Cruz), a sexy martial arts pro; plus the literal fly-on-the-wall reconnaissance expert, Mooch, and a star-nosed mole, Speckles, the computer and information specialist.

“G-Force” was to be Cage’s sixth collaboration with Bruckheimer (with “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” soon to follow as the seventh), but one unlike any of the others.  “Jerry showed me pictures of the ‘G-Force’ characters and said I could play any role I wanted,” says Cage. “When I saw Speckles, something about it got to me, and I thought I could do something interesting with the voice. It was important to me to create a new voice that was unrecognizable from my own vocal patterns. It was also important to me to go into an area that had kind of a zany intensity. To me, that’s what would make Speckles fun to play, and hopefully fun for the audience.

“One of my favorite actors, believe it or not, is Mel Blanc,” continues Cage, referring to the great vocal talent behind Warner Bros. cartoon characters Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam. “He was a marvelous character actor. We knew him only from his voices, so I thought it would be fun to create a whole new voice for this marvelous looking little mole in ‘G-Force.’

“What was also important for me was to create a new voice that was unrecognizable from my own vocal patterns that you may or may not be acquainted with,” adds Cage.  “It was also important for me to go into an area that has a kind of zany intensity to it.  To me, that’s what would make Speckles fun to play, and hopefully fun for the audience to watch.”

Opening soon across the Philippines , “G-Force” is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International.

Walt Disney Pictures presents “G-Force,” a comedy adventure about the latest evolution of a covert government program to train animals to work in espionage. Armed with the latest high-tech spy equipment, these highly trained guinea pigs discover that the fate of the world is in their paws.

Tapped for the G-Force are guinea pigs Darwin (voice of Sam Rockwell), the squad leader determined to succeed at all costs; Blaster (voice of Tracy Morgan), an outrageous weapons expert with tons of attitude and a love for all things extreme; and Juarez (voice of Penelope Cruz), a sexy martial arts pro; plus the literal fly-on-the-wall reconnaissance expert, Mooch, and a star-nosed mole, Speckles (voice of Nicolas Cage), the computer and information specialist.

“The genesis of the movie is interesting,” says director Hoyt H. Yeatman Jr. “I’d wanted to develop a project that broke new ground visually; it was actually my five-year-old son who came up with the spark of the idea. He brought home the class guinea pig from preschool and started talking about guinea pigs as soldiers, wearing uniforms and little army helmets. So I said, ‘well, why not have a band of these guys who are secret agents?’

“We all laughed,” continues Yeatman, “but then I got on the internet and found some really interesting and bizarre stories about animals being trained by the American government for covert activities, including cats, dolphins, sharks and insects. It just lit up the imagination and off we went.”

“Out of the mouths of babes,” says producer Jerry Bruckheimer. “The idea was utterly off-the-wall, which was just fine with us, because it was also completely original. The amazing thing is that the fantasy element of ‘G-Force’ is based on certain realities. For years, the government has engaged in top-secret programs in which they train animals to help defend the nation—from dolphins detecting mines to cockroaches carrying recording devices. So we kicked it to the next level—what if a scientist figured out a way to not only train such animals, but to actually communicate with them?”

Building on the guinea-pigs-as-secret-agents concept, filmmakers created a G-Force that consists of three guinea pigs, a star-nosed mole and a house fly—all extremely dedicated to their work. “They know that at any given moment, the fate of the world may very well be in their paws,” says Bruckheimer.

The G-Force’s training and high-tech spy equipment are put to the test when they uncover a billionaire industrialist’s sinister plan to destroy the world. Duty calls, and the G-Force springs into action.

Opening soon across the Philippines, “G-Force” is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International.