Who plays the duck in chicken little

10 Things You Didn't Know About Abby Mallard, The Duck

The story of Chicken Little, Walt Disney Animation’s first fully computer-animated venture, is about a pint-sized rooster high-schooler and his motley crew of animal misfits who must save their town from an alien invasion. One of the main characters is Abby Mallard, Chicken Little’s reliable confidante and, later, love interest.

RELATED: 5 Best Disney Animated Movie Climaxes Ever (& 5 Worst)

Abby mostly acted as the voice of reason for Chicken Little and his friends and helped to resolve the former’s relationship with his father, Buck Cluck. That is just the tip of the iceberg for her endearing qualities that go beyond her “ugly duckling” looks.

Other Actresses Considered

Abby Mallard is voiced by comedienne Joan Cusack. However, she is not the only actress considered for the role. Other names who are called include Jodie Foster, Laura Dern, Sigourney Weaver, Geena Davis, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Helen Hunt, and, on as a joke, Madonna.

However, in the videogame version of the movie, Pamela Adlon lent her voice for Abby. To their credit, they made a fine job providing a voice for a high-schooler who is clearly the mature one in the group but is secretly crazy about Chicken Little.

Joan Cusack’s Second Voice Role

Chicken Little is not the only animated project where Cusack provided her voice. She is best known as the voice of Jessie the Cowgirl in the Toy Story franchise. Her endearing performance in Toy Story 2 actually won her an Annie Award for Female Voice Acting in a Feature Production.

RELATED: Toy Story: The 10 Saddest Scenes From The Whole Franchise, Ranked

Her other notable voice roles include the evil witch Verushka in Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil, the Mission Control Elf in Arthur Christmas, the belligerent Mrs. Krum in Klaus, and the motion-capture of Milo’s loving mother in Mars Needs Moms.

Originally Conceived As Male

Not all animated movies are accomplished from the way they were first pitched. Originally, the character was a straight-up male ugly duckling, with Sean Hayes reported to have been cast as the character. However, the character was soon rewritten as a female, though she retained her Ugly Duckling arc.

Abby was not the only character given the gender-flip treatment. Chicken Little was initially conceived as a female, with Holly Hunter brought in to provide the voice. However, after eight months, the decision was made to change Chicken Little's gender.

Speech Impediment

The character of Abby is implied to have a slight speech impediment, which, along with her asymmetrical face, granted her the nickname as “Ugly Duckling." She lent a slightly noticeable lisp in every exchange she has, but that did not deter her caring nature and cathartic observations about her classmates.

Her speech patterns seemingly reminded of other Disney characters like Donald Duck, Huey, Louie, and Dewey with the same mannerisms—this pattern will soon be relevant later. But, much like Abby, their impediments did not stop them from standing out and rising to the occasion.

Chicken Little’s Only Female Ally

Throughout the movie, ever since the “sky is falling” incident wreaked havoc in his town, Chicken Little has been labeled as a nuisance by the citizens of Oakey Oaks, including his father. Thus, he sorely relies on his friends, most importantly his best friend, Abby.

RELATED: Friends Characters And Their Disney Counterparts

This makes Abby his only female ally until the end. Even though there are other female characters like the bully Foxy Loxy, her confidante Goosey Loosey, and the alien mother Tina, they never quite matched Chicken Little's unfortunately-featured pal.

Resemblance To Another Disney Character

Abby’s design and personality are almost exactly like those of Gosalyn Mallard of Darkwing Duck . First, on the physical side, they both have pigtails. Then, they wear a T-shirt with a similar purple hue. Finally, they are both diminutive compared to the people around them.

But, character-wise, they almost bear resemblance since they both pose as a sarcastic personality. They are also tomboyish and confident in themselves, yet are caring and courageous. As if that weren't enough, Abby’s middle name is “Ducktail," a pun on Ducktales.

One of the Many Disney Ducks

More into character parallels, Abby is just one of the many duck characters that Disney had. In fact, there are more than 200 duck characters within the Disney animated pantheon, most of which came from the Ducktales and Darkwing Duck universe—and they are just as vibrant as Abby Mallard.

To name a few, several duck characters include the aforementioned Donald Duck, Gosalyn Mallard, Huey, Louie, Dewey, Scrooge McDuck, and many more. With this amount of duck characters, it would not be surprising if Abby was part of Clan McDuck.

Scrapped Direct-to-Video Sequel

It was initially planned that Chicken Little would have a direct-to-video sequel, entitled Chicken Little 2: The Ugly Duckling Story. The proposed movie would revolve in Chicken Little finding himself in a love triangle between Abby and a new student named Raffaela, a French sheep.

RELATED: 10 Other Disney Live-Action Films That Deserve A Sequel After The Lion King

An arc for that movie would have Abby be compelled to go through a makeover to win over Chicken Little. There are even animation reels that helped to convince Disney to greenlight the film. However, DisneyToon Studios was closed before it could be produced—and that's probably a good thing.

A Friends Reference

Aside from Gosalyn, Abby has several parallels to, of all people, Rachel Green from Friends. In the movie, there is a recurring bit centering on Abby convincing Chicken Little to open up to his father and strive for closure with him. Helped by Abby, the two reconciled in the end.

The “closure” element is in reference to the Friends season two episode “The One Where Ross Finds Out” where an intoxicated Rachel is told by her date that she needs closure from Ross to move on. Ross and Rachel eventually made up in the end.

Not A Mallard?

Finally, here is the important fact about Abby Mallard: she is not a mallard. Abby is implied to be a swan with a grayish plumage. For one fact, mallards have green plumage on their heads and long bills with a black stripe on the tips.

Unlike a mallard’s brown and white fluff, Abby has grayish-brown all throughout her body. Beyond the non-logic, it does make sense for her to be a swan to bring up a subtle parallel to the ballet Swan Lake, which centers on a black swan transforming into a white swan.

NEXT: Lilo & Stitch & 9 Other Animated Disney Characters, Reimagined As Live-Action, By Fans

Joan Cusack's Abby Mallard - CBS News

The Early Show

By Tatiana Morales

November 7, 2005 / 10:45 AM / CBS

Being the mother of two, Joan Cusack knows the importance of family entertainment. Her animated film "Chicken Little" debuted in the top spot at the box office over the weekend.

This is Cusack's second major starring role as an animated character for Walt Disney, following her alternately hilarious and heartbreaking turn as Jessie the Cowgirl in the Disney/Pixar hit "Toy Story 2."

"It's fun to be in those projects because they're interesting and different and easy in some ways, which is nice when you're trying to be a mom," Cusack tells The Early Show co-anchor Hanna Storm.

As Chicken Little's sensible pal, Cusack plays Abby Mallard, who is a voracious reader of magazines and quick to share a bit of advice with her friends.

The work was done over a year in a recording booth all by herself, Cusack says. Director Mark Dindal was not even present, only one of the animators.

"They don't give you the entire script. They give you your lines and the lines of the other characters in your scenes," she says. "They show you a picture of what your character will look like and show you a couple of scenes on a computer on how she moves. Then they film you as you read your lines and try to animate the character to your personality and make them connect. It's actually so much easier. You become much more focused on your lines and you can try it so many different ways. It's very liberating as an actress."

Abby Mallard, a.k.a. Ugly Duckling, has bucked teeth and not very pretty eyes. "At first, I thought, 'Oh, sweet!' " Cusack says. "But it's just great. It's like, you know, depth."

On the screen and off, looks are not important to Cusack, or "how much money you have, or how successful you are. Those are nice things. But the nicest things are the ordinary things. I think those are extraordinary," she says.

Having started her acting career when she was young, the actress says what she holds dear is her family.

"After a while, you kind of get to know the business a little bit, and what's in it, and how it works, and you get older and realize, my god, this is just part of life. You want to really have a life, too," she says.

Now that her boys Dylan John and Miles are 8 and 5, she says she is fortunate to be able to work and be a mom, especially on projects her children enjoy.

"They thought it was cool I was in a movie with Buzz Lightyear. Not my character," she says with a smile.

Cusack can be seen next in a project she shot in Vancouver with her brother, John Cusack, over the summer called "The Martian Child." Her kids were with her and they got to hang out with their uncle, she says.

This would be their seventh collaboration. The others were "Sixteen Candles," "Class," "Say Anything," "Grosse Pointe Blank," "Cradle Will Rock," and "High Fidelity."

Click on page 2 to track her career.

About Joan Cusack:

• Born in Evanston, Ill. on Oct.11, 1962.
• Attended Piven Theater Workshop in Evanston, Ill. She majored in English in 1985 from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
• In 1980, she made her feature debut in "My Bodyguard," and went on to appear sporadically in films while attending university.
• In 1984, she worked with her brother, John Cusack in John Hughes comedy "Sixteen Candles"
• After college she joined the cast of NBC's "Saturday Night Live" for the notable 1985-86 season, in which original producer Lorne Michaels made his much heralded return.
• In 1987, she was the sprinting, harried production assistant in "Broadcast News," who utters the memorable line to her boss (Holly Hunter): "Except for socially, you're my role model."
• In 1988, she was a Long Island Mafia wife in Jonathan Demme's "Married to the Mob," and she gave an Oscar-nominated performance in Mike Nichols' "Working Girl," as a big-haired Staten Island secretary who can't fathom why an executive (Sigourney Weaver) paid thousands of dollars for a dress when "it's not even leatha."
• In 1989, she teamed up with her brother again as his on-screen sister in Cameron Crowe's glowing romantic comedy "Say Anything."
• In 1990, she continued to build her reputation with an atypical dramatic portrayal of a mature seductress in "Men Don't Leave. "
• In 1992, pigeonholed as a comic sidekick or supporting player, Cusack continued to impress with roles in "Hero" and "Toys," and particularly in "Addams Family Values" (1993) as a voluptuous blonde nanny who is less benign than she seems.
• In 1997, she was a secretary to a youthful hit man (John Cusack) in "Grosse Point Blank." And she took the leading lady role in Frank Oz's "In & Out."
• In 1999, she appeared as Tim Robbins' wife in the paranoiac thriller "Arlington Road," and worked with Robbins the director in "The Cradle Will Rock." The film also featured her brother John, though they did not appear in scenes together. Also that year, Cusack played Julia Roberts' best friend Peggy in director Garry Marshall's "Runaway Bride." She also received kudos for her voice performance as the lonely cowgirl puppet Jesse in Disney/Pixar's winning CGI-animated sequel "Toy Story 2."
• In 2000, Cusack re-teamed with her brother again in "High Fidelity," and she followed up with a character turn as a hard-boiled talent agent in the meandering comedy "Where the Heart Is. "
• In 2001, she worked on the ABC sit-com, "What About Joan?" The series failed to lure in many viewers and, even after a creative revamp, was axed just a few months into the full fall season. Cusack next appeared in NBC's "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie," playing miserly banker Rachel Bitterman, who gives the Muppets until Christmas Eve to come up with the money they owe her or else she'll foreclose on the beloved Muppet Theater.
• In 2003, she was back in the big screen in the comedy "School of Rock," playing a seemingly stern and imperious private school principal.
• In 2004, she also provided a brittle comedic edge to the lightweight comedy "Raising Helen," playing the disapproving older sister of Helen (Kate Hudson), a party girl who finds herself raising the three children of their late sibling.

Trending News

First published on November 7, 2005 / 10:45 AM

© 2005 CBS. All rights reserved.

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The whole truth about chickens: they are not stupid at all

• Colin Barras
• BBC Earth

10 February 2017

Image copyright Ernie Janes/naturepl.com

Despite a reputation for being hopelessly dumb, chickens are remarkably intelligent and empathetic, BBC Earth columnist found.

reputation: to Uritsa is a stupid bird, a walking meat factory and tasty eggs.

In fact: e the most common bird in the world is intelligent and perhaps even able to respond to the condition of its fellows, which raises a number of ethical questions for the poultry industry.

The situation with chickens is somewhat unusual.

There are over 19 billion chickens on Earth, making them one of the most common vertebrate species on our planet.

Photo copyright, Klein & Hubert/naturepl.com

Does it take a lot of intelligence to peck grain?

However, most people rarely see them or do not see them at all - at least in living form.

This leads to rather strange ideas about chickens.

According to some studies, people often do not even classify them as ordinary birds.

However, they are typical members of the order Galliformes, which includes bird species such as turkey, partridge and pheasant.

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In addition, chickens are often thought of as stupid animals that do not have the complex psyche of "higher" species, such as monkeys or great primates.

This attitude, promoted by the typical depiction of chickens in popular culture, may help people to eat eggs and meat from factory-farmed chickens without much worries.

But chickens aren't really stupid at all.

They can count, have some degree of self-awareness, and even manipulate each other in ways that Machiavelli would not neglect.

In fact, they have such a high intelligence that even a short acquaintance with these birds can break the ingrained stereotypes.

As part of a study published in 2015, Lisel O'Dwyer and Susan Hazel conducted practical exercises with graduates from the University of Adelaide in Australia. While studying psychology and perceptual processes, students conducted experiments that included training chickens.

Before the start of classes, the students answered the questionnaire. Most of them admitted that they had little to do with chickens and perceive them as primitive creatures, incapable of feeling bored, disappointed or joyful.

Just a two-hour training session was enough for the students to be very likely to recognize that chickens can feel all three of these emotions.

"Chickens are much smarter than I thought before," one of the students wrote in the comments to the final questionnaire.

Another student added: "I never suspected that chickens are quite smart and learn fast enough."

Photo credit, Tony Heald/naturepl.com

Male jungle hen (Gallus gallus), the closest wild relative of the domestic chicken got the same results.

"We took two completely different social groups and found that they had the same initial attitudes and their same change," she explains.

Now she intends to study whether such an experience will influence people to change their eating habits - for example, whether they will switch to more ethically sourced chicken.

Along with many other contributions, O'Dwyer's research was included in a scientific review on chicken perception by Laurie Marino of the Kimmel Animal Welfare Center in Kanab, Utah, and published in January 2017.

"This document is part of a collaborative project called Someone organized by the Animal Refuge Network and the Kimmela Center," says Marino. ".

According to Marino, the scientific evidence clearly shows that chickens are not nearly as dumb and stupid as many people think.

Photo copyright, Ernie Janes/naturepl.com

Chickens have amazing skills

A series of studies published over the past decade by Rosa Rugani and her colleagues at the University of Padua (Italy) can serve as an example.

Based on experiments with newly hatched chickens, the researchers found that chickens can count and even perform basic arithmetic.

Since birth, the chicks have had five objects near them - plastic containers from Kinder Surprise.

A few days later, the scientists took these containers and, in front of the chickens, placed three of them behind one screen and two behind the other.

The chickens approached the screen more often, behind which more objects were hidden.

An experiment was then conducted to test the chicks' ability to memorize, add and subtract.

Having hidden the objects behind two screens, the scientists started moving them from one screen to another in front of the chickens.

The chickens probably kept track of the number of items behind each screen and still approached the screen with more containers more often.

From an early age, chicks show good math skills even with little training, says Rugani.

Photo author, Pete Cairns/naturepl.com

This hen doesn't have a "chicken" mind at all

She believes that not only chickens, but also higher animals in general, can have such abilities.

"Skills like these help animals in nature, for example, to get more food or find a larger group of animals to join," says the scientist.

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Chickens are also to some extent able to "mentally travel through time", that is, to imagine what will happen in the future in order to eventually get more food.

Such conclusions are contained in a study dated 2005 by Shevon Abisingh, then working at the University of Bristol (UK).

In Abaysingh's experiment, hens could peck one of the buttons to gain short access to food after a two-second delay, or the second, which opened the feeder for a longer time, but after six seconds.

The birds pecked at the second button much more frequently, choosing more food after a longer wait.

In other words, they exhibited willpower, a quality that some biologists believe indicates some degree of self-awareness.

In addition, chickens have a complex system of social relations.

Photo copyright, Ernie Janes/naturepl.com

Chickens have a complex social life

According to some research, birds can understand how their fellow birds see the world and apply this knowledge to their advantage.

If a rooster finds a particularly tasty morsel in search of food, he will usually "dance" and make a distinctive call for food, trying to impress the surrounding hens.

However, if subordinate males behave in the same way, the dominant rooster may notice this and attack them.

Therefore, in the presence of a dominant cock, subordinate individuals usually "dance" silently in order to both impress the females and not attract the attention of the dominant male.

At the same time, some males try to attract females by deceit and make sounds characteristic of calling for food, even if they cannot boast of tasty finds.

Not surprisingly, hens are quick to bite roosters who use this trick too often.

Some evidence even suggests that chickens may experience a rudimentary form of empathy for their fellows.

Photo credit, Klein & Hubert/naturepl.com

Chickens can be very social

In a series of experiments over the past six years, Joanna Edgar of the University of Bristol blowing their chicks with air.

Previously, chickens were given the opportunity to experience first hand that this procedure caused slight discomfort.

When a stream of air was directed at the chickens, the heartbeat of the chickens increased and they called the chickens more often.

However, if the air was blown into an empty place next to the chickens without causing them discomfort, the chickens behaved as usual.

In an experiment published in 2013, chickens were able to distinguish by color a "dangerous" box that had bad airflow from a "safe" box that didn't.

At the same time, the hens were worried when the chicks were placed in a "dangerous" box, even if they were not actually blown with air and were unaware of the threat.

These results suggest that hens may be reacting to potential chick discomfort based on their own experience, and not simply on signs of dissatisfaction in the young.

Photo copyright, Ernie Janes/naturepl.com

Chickens are raised in many countries

According to Edgar, the experiments are not yet complete. "We have not yet determined whether the behavioral and physiological responses of hens to their chicks' slight discomfort are indicative of an emotional response or whether they are simply akin to excitement or interest," she says.

If it turns out that chickens are able to sympathize with their fellows in need, this will raise some serious questions about the methods that are used during the breeding of chickens on industrial farms.

"On farms, all animals often see, hear and smell other animals when they are in pain and stress," says Edgar. "It is important to understand whether such situations have a negative impact on their well-being."

Marino also believes that the time has come to discuss this topic.

"Perception of chickens as clueless and stupid animals is partly due to the reluctance to recognize their intelligence and sensitivity, because people eat them," she says.

The inconvenient truth is that chickens understand a lot more than people think.

But will the consumers who find out about this agree to change their route through the meat department of the store?

Read the original of this article in English can be found at BBC Earth .

Baked duck and chicken - step by step recipe with photo

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Baked duck and chicken with apples and quince in the oven - a universal festive option. Such a luxurious dish is associated with something festive, and on the table they look very appetizing and beautiful. Due to the fact that the duck has a lot of subcutaneous fat, the meat does not dry out, and if you cook the duck correctly, a golden, fried tasty crust is formed. The cooking process is not very complicated, but you need to know some rules so that everything works out as it should. Girls who follow the figure, do not be afraid of the calorie content of the dish, because most of the fat is rendered and does not fall on the plate.

Author: Vera Kirilenko,
reader and author Food. ru

Nutritional value per 100 g. Calories calculated for raw foods.

Will be ready in

2 hours 30 minutes

Time in the kitchen

45 minutes

Difficulty

We estimate the complexity of recipes so that you can calculate your time and effort.

Levels 1-2: very simple and simple dishes.

Level 3: preparation is clear, but experience is needed, it may not work the first time.

Levels 4 and 5 require special technique, skill and time.

Spicy

Assessing how spicy a dish will turn out, to which pepper or spices are added according to the recipe.

1 - food was peppered quite a bit.

2 - pepper is felt, but the dish does not have a sharp aftertaste.

3 - A slight "sharp" aftertaste appears.

4 - pepper is strongly felt, but the dish can still be eaten without drinking.

Number 5 is very spicy food, not everyone will eat it!

Cuisine

Russian, Ukrainian

Common allergen

Here we draw your attention to whether the dish contains common and dangerous allergens. Before cooking, make sure that you do not have an individual intolerance to other products from the list of ingredients.

No

Make sure you don't have an intolerance to other ingredients.

Products for the recipe

Pieces

For the dish

ARIS AND AND EXPLOSED THE CASE:

Step-by-step Photo Recipe

Get Ready

List all items on the ingredient list. Rinse apples and quince well. Rinse the duck and chicken meat thoroughly, cut off all excess fatty layers and tear out the remaining feather needles, if any, wipe with a paper towel or paper. Prepare the utensils you will use.

Step 1

Cut off the chicken and duck ribs and cut the rest into portions. Salt and pepper the meat pieces to taste.

step 2

Cut apples and quince into wedges.

Step 3

Arrange the marinated meat pieces in a baking dish and randomly arrange the apple and quince slices between the meat pieces.

Step 4

Cover a baking sheet with foil and bake until done, at 180 degrees, about 60 to 90 minutes. Periodically pour the dish with juice from frying.

Step 5

10-15 minutes before the end of cooking, carefully remove the foil and roast the meat until golden brown.

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