How Seth Green Landed His Role Of Chris On Family Guy
The titular family presented in "Family Guy" may not be the sharpest tools in the tool shed, but none quite achieves the heights (or lows) of Chris Griffin (voiced by Seth Green). The family's middle child, Chris is very much a copy of his father, with low intelligence and even lower common sense, but we wouldn't want him any other way.
Within the madness that is "Family Guy," Chris offers a peaceful, comforting presence that few other characters on the show can provide, even if it is more of a result of his naivety than a general mellow attitude. At the same time, he is amongst the show's most relatable characters. Whether he's trying to do right by his family, find someone to love, or struggle with his self-image and body issues, there's a good chance that we've all had at least one moment within the show where Chris' dilemmas hit closer to home than expected.
Voicing such a lovable character is the equally lovable Seth Green. While Green is known for acting in such shows and movies as the "Austin Powers" series, the 1990 "It" miniseries, and the 2012 "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" cartoon, he is perhaps most well-known for creating, producing, and voice acting in the stop motion sketch comedy series, "Robot Chicken." His involvement in the Seth Macfarlane-created animated series was not simply based on his myriad of past performances but rather on something fresh he brought to the table that piqued the show creators' interest.
Green's performance was inspired by a landmark horror movie
It would take a unique voice to take on someone as stand out as Chris Griffin on "Family Guy." However, Seth Green still managed to take everyone by surprise. "It was originally a sort of play on Buffalo Bill from 'Silence of the Lambs,'" he explains on a virtual Comic-Con panel. "And the original pitch was just so weird I guess everybody liked it." He goes on to describe how the voice would evolve over time to have a variety of pitches as the character became more fleshed out. Series creator Seth MacFarlane goes on to add, "Everyone was coming in, doing surfer dude voices based on the look of the design. Seth was the only one who came in and did something way off the rails."
Perhaps the very last place anyone would assume that Chris' voice originates from is the antagonist played by Ted Levine in the 1991 psychological horror film. However, Green's approach to the voice wasn't especially straightforward. Green explains in another interview with The People's Party that the voice originated while making jokes with his "Can't Hardly Wait" co-star, Charlie Korsmo. "One of the riffs that we got into was Buffalo Bill, and how did that guy earn a living?" Green explains, referencing the character's strange voice. After hearing the muffled sounds of fast food employees through speakers, they envisioned the serial killer working there, which Green pitched up for his audition.