“Finding Dory ” isn’t just about a little blue fish searching for her family. In a way the long-awaited sequel to “Finding Nemo” also reflects the journey of Ellen DeGeneres.
Like Dory, she had been feeling a little lost 13 years ago, when she first voiced Dory, the happy little fish with short-term memory issues.
DeGeneres had publicly come out as gay in 1997, and had the title character on her sitcom “Ellen” do the same. It became a cultural flash point for the gay rights movement.
Then the show was canceled in April 1998, and two years later DeGeneres’ relationship with Anne Heche came to a painful ending.
“For a while, I didn’t imagine that I would have anything again,” says DeGeneres, 58, in an interview, her blue eyes bright and direct. “So then I just kept swimming.”
She returned to the stand-up circuit and started over. Then in 2003, DeGeneres launched her daytime talk show.
“Just keep swimming” is Dory’s motto. The little fish may not always know where she is or why she’s there, but she keeps moving ahead.
DeGeneres says, “It was weird that (writer-director Andrew Stanton) was writing that (motto) at the same time that I was really wondering what was going to happen to me.”
Now her Emmy-winning show is in its 13th season. She’s a CoverGirl spokeswoman. She has hosted the Oscars, Emmys and Grammys twice each. And last year, she introduced her own lifestyle brand, ED.
For years, she lobbied on her talk show for a sequel to “Nemo,” but was shocked when the call about it finally came in — especially when Stanton told her Dory was the main character this time.
“That’s a day I’ll never forget,” DeGeneres says.
“Finding Dory” introduces the blue tang fish as a baby, long before she meets her clownfish pals Marlin and Nemo. Little Dory’s doting parents are helping their daughter develop skills for dealing with her memory troubles when an undertow whisks her out to sea. Dory quickly forgets why she’s in the open ocean, and just keeps swimming until she makes new friends.
Along the way, she discovers that what she thought were liabilities are actually strengths. Her spontaneous way of approaching challenges inspires her fish friends to ask themselves, “What would Dory do?”
The film role represents DeGeneres’ first major acting gig since “Nemo.” She spent three years recording bits of Dory’s vocals alone in a sound booth — the same one where her “Nemo” work was recorded.
“She walked in, and we picked up exactly where we had left off,” Stanton said.
Just as when she agreed to host the Oscars a second time, DeGeneres was ready for a challenge when Stanton phoned.
When asked if she can she move audiences emotionally with just her voice?, she says, “This is, to me, harder than acting with your body and your facial expressions. It’s challenging ….”
In a scene where Dory cries, DeGeneres says she shed real tears. “I love being able to express myself in different ways and be emotional and not just be funny all the time.”
The entertainer is also expressing herself via her latest passion, the ED collection of clothing, accessories and home decor.
During our interview, she is sporting yet-to-be-released ED sneakers that say “love” on the sides. Her black-and-white floral blouse is from ED, too, and she’s expanding the line to include jeans, menswear, furniture and pet items.
“To launch my talk show at the same time ‘Nemo’ was coming out, and then to end up where the sequel is now about Dory — I’ve got so many good things going on,” says DeGeneres, who married actress Portia Di Rossi in 2008.
“It’s really weird timing that Dory is looking for her home, and I’m in a place where I am home,” DeGeneres adds. “I feel really, really amazed that I was able to come back to this point.”