Coming to Paramount+ from Nickelodeon Animation Studio, Big Nate brings Nate Wright into animation. Starring Ben Giroux in the title role, Big Nate focuses on the comic strip character during his life at P.S. 38. This isn't the first time Giroux has worked with Nickelodeon. However, the new animated series gives him the chance to dive into an iconic childhood figure who's been entertaining audiences for over thirty years.
Ahead of Big Nate's premiere on Paramout+ on Feb. 17, Ben Giroux sat down for an exclusive interview with CBR. Giroux reflected on his time working with Nickelodeon and what it means to step into the title role of Big Nate. Giroux also detailed what he thinks makes the character of Nate Wright stand out in comics and now in the world of animated television.
CBR: There's a lot of love for Nate Wright. There have been attempts to get this character on screens for decades. What is it like to step into those shoes?
Ben Giroux: It's a huge responsibility. There's a global fan base for Nate and his friends from the comic strip and the really successful book series. It's been fun for me to retroactively educate myself on the massive fan base that already exists. Certainly, there's a responsibility there as the title character to honor the source material. On the same ticket, there's a responsibility to elevate the source material and invite in a whole new generation of Big Nate fans with the television show.
I think the thing that's so cool is while we are using the relationships and the same characters and locations -- P.S. 38, Francis, Dee, and Teddy, all of the characters that people know and love -- all of the new episodes for the television series are original stories. And so, the analogy I've been using is it's like a house. We're using the comic strip and the book series as the foundation, and then the television show is building floors and levels on top of that. Hopefully, it takes the story and the characters in the Big Nate universe into very new and exciting territory.
I think what is so unique, and as impartially as possible, I can say [Big Nate] is the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen in terms of animation because we mix so many different formats. We have a CG/3D animated show. But Nate is an artist and he doodles, so his 2D doodles come to life in 2D animated segments. We mix in Claymation and stop-motion animation. So there's a real melding of styles. I think the other thing that really makes our show visually stunning is that while most CG animated shows are going to light the entire scene and it's big, bright, and polished, P.S. 38 is this underfunded public school, so it's dingy. It's grimy. There's an edge to it. Our animation lights the scenes practically, meaning a scene might be lit by sunlight streaming through a window or a lamp on a desk. I think it allows us to see the texture of our characters' faces in a way that you don't typically see, certainly in television animation. It really adds to a level of sophistication in the look. I think that the character's grounded performances all add to it too.
One of the things I really like about Nate as a character is that he's part of this line of characters -- like Charlie Brown, like Calvin -- who's a well-meaning troublemaker. But there's a vulnerability to his confidence that's really sweet. Why is it important for kids to get to see this kind of character, especially now when things have been so freaky lately? It's going to be very weird for kids right now to go back to school and to be friendly like Nate can.
I think the two things that I want people to glean from this show, whether they're a kid or otherwise, is Nate has this just incredible charm with his confidence. His whole quest in life is to be awesome. He really is the one that defines what awesome is in his own life. I think kids can take that as a lesson and say, "Hey, define what awesome is in your own life. Be that version of awesome. Be unique, and don't care what other people think." Nate and his group of friends are not really the cool kids in school but they think they are. They act like it. That's what's so charming about them. There are significantly cooler people in P.S. 38, and in Jefferson Middle School, which is the rich charter school, which is quite literally across the street.
I think if I were a kid in 2022, I would aspire to have Nate's level of confidence. But the other thing sort of on a bird's eye view scale, what I hope people are able to get from this show is that this show provides twenty-two minutes of levity and laughter to kids and parents alike during a really difficult time in our collective human experience. That's ultimately my goal for this. These are some of the funniest scripts I've ever had the pleasure of being a part of. I give our writer staff a lot of credit because they let us riff and improvise. So, so much is between the lines. I think the big achievement on this show has been we've recorded it exclusively in a pandemic.
None of us have ever been in the same room. Yet you'll watch a show, and you'll never know it. We still record as an ensemble over Zoom, which to me, is an incredible achievement. It's the first of its kind, as far as I know, of an animated show, where no one's ever been in the same room and yet we're still able to improvise and riff with each other. The actors are able to react off of each other in a Zoom setting once a week for the past two years. You'll see those little improvisational moments actually make it to the end result, and it makes the performances feel grounded and authentic. You really get a sense of who these characters are. I don't think that would've been possible if we were recording in isolation. I feel so grateful that everyone at Nickelodeon was able to figure out how to, despite COVID, find a way for us to all still record as a group, because it's, in my opinion, the thing that's made the show so magical.
That actually is really impressive. I believe you're one of the only animated shows I've spoken to who can say that.
I think it's incredibly original. Obviously, I'm talking to you right now from my home voiceover studio which is a converted closet. We've all got these super high-tech broadcast studios in our homes now. One other thing I would touch on that makes our show unique is I had the pleasure of already having real-life friendships with the other series regulars, quite coincidentally. My writing partner Arnie Pantoja plays Teddy Ortiz, Nate's co-conspirator in all of his pranks and adventures. He's my real-life writing partner who plays Teddy. So the improvisational nature that we take into all of our writing pitch meetings and all of our sketch comedy really comes to life with Nate and Teddy.
Bryce Charles plays Dee Holloway on the show. Dee is the theater nerd. Bryce and I met doing a play, doing theater two months prior to getting cast in Big Nate together. So we're all sort of playing elevated versions of ourselves. I think that those real-life friendships translate really well to the screen. It's unbelievable. It's not just for the talent either. The animators, the writing staff, our showrunner, nobody's been really back at the office in any kind of capacity. It's a real testament to the creative spirit of figuring out how to put something together. But the comradery we have... The biggest through-line in the world of Nate Wright is friendship. The comradery of the cast and the crew is real. That is evident in the friendships in P.S. 38 as well.
Big Nate is produced by Nickelodeon Animation, and this isn't your first experience with the network. What it does mean to you to have a genuine library of work associated with Nick?
It's a great question and one that I think about often. I've been lucky enough to work with Nickelodeon for the past decade with Henry Danger, Danger Force, The Adventures of Kid Danger. That's been a blast on-camera. Obviously, the animation studio and I have had a great relationship with Bunsen is a Beast a few years ago. I've been on The Loud House and Blaze and the Monster Machines and so many different Nick properties. I remember growing up, I watched all the original Nicktoons and on-camera shows.
I grew up watching Doug and Rugrats and Ren and Stimpy, Keenan and Kel, and All That. You know that "where it started, how it's going" meme? I posted a photo of my sister and I on a Nickelodeon bench at Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, Florida when I was ten years old. That's how it started -- and then I posted the Deadline article of the announcement of me starring on a new animated franchise from Nick and Paramount Plus. It's a very full-circle moment for me because Nickelodeon in many ways defined my childhood.
I take that very seriously because hopefully Big Nate and Henry Danger and all these cool Nickelodeon properties I've been able to be a part of, are helping to define the childhoods of kids in 2022. So that's been a really rewarding experience. That's what I love about social media. I've got about four and a half million followers on TikTok, and it's a very young audience that follows my Nickelodeon work. I get to hear from kids on a daily basis about their level of enjoyment of this Nickelodeon stuff. So it's a really full-circle moment, and I'm just so grateful.
Catch Big Nate's animated debut on Paramount+ on Feb. 17.