Ever since he wrapped on his popular television show “The King of Queens,” actor Kevin James has been building his reputation as a movie star, first with his appearance in Will Smith’s Hitch, in the Adam Sandler comedies I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry and last year’s Grown Ups, as well as in his own mega-hit family comedy Paul Blart: Mall Cop.
His new comedy Zookeeper is more in the vein of the latter, a movie that has something for kids as well as their parents as James now plays zookeeper Griffin Keyes, who spends five years moping after his marriage proposal is shot down by his girlfriend Stephanie (Leslie Bibb). When she shows back up in his life, he tries to figure out how to win her back, something he does with the zoo animals who mysteriously are able to communicate with him in voices that sound suspiciously like Sylvester Stallone, Cher, Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow and more. Griffin’s pet project though is Bernie the Gorilla, voiced by Nick Nolte, who seems to lead a similarly secluded lifestyle, while Rosario Dawson plays Kate, Griffin’s co-worker, who agrees to attend a wedding with Griffin in an attempt to make Stephanie jealous.
ComingSoon.net sat down with Kevin James, Rosario Dawson and Leslie Bibb for the following interview where we talked to them about working with animals, about working with each other and how to let someone’s marriage proposal down lightly.
Zookeeper opens nationwide on July 8.
