While talking to ComingSoon, actress Wanda Sykes who plays 'Stella' spoke about her experience on DreamWorks Animation latest film.

ow do you react when somebody says to you that you'd be great as a skunk?
Wandy Sykes: They were smart enough to save that little piece of information for last. First it was, "We hear DreamWorks wants to meet with you"-that'll get you in the door, right? "It's an animated movie and the guy directing, he did 'Antz.'" The way they pitched it was like, "Hey, you're going to be the female lead. There's romance and a very empowering character and she's tough" And I'm, like, "Okay, alright. Sign me up!" I loved the story and then, "Oh, she's a skunk". So, they had me. They had me before they gave it up that it was a skunk.

CS: When you rendezvous with the cat in the film, is that homage to Pepe Le Pew?
Sykes: Right, it's a little homage to Pepe Le Pew. I wasn't as perverted with mine. Pepe could have had charges brought up on him. Pepe's a little touchy-feely, you know.

CS: Do you listen to the other recorded voices while doing your part?
Sykes: I wanted that. I thought they would play back what the other guys did, but we didn't even get that. You're just in there by yourself. This was the first time I really had to act in a movie. It was the first time that I was really directed. That's all you really have to rely on is what the director gives you. He paints the scene for you, tells you what's going on, and even the distance away from the [character] you're having the conversation with. So I could totally trust him.

CS: Did you get to ad-lib?
Sykes: We did-they encouraged that. What was on the page was really good and then [directors] Tim [Johnson] and Karey [Kirkpatrick] were like, "Okay, now play around with that a little bit more if you want to add something." Sometimes it would just happen and they loved it. But we were able to do that in the early stages of the process because once they get the animation thing going, you get kinda locked in.