From Chuck E. Cheese to Freddie Benson, Nathan Kress Talks Bringing Childhood Icons To Life
We all grew up with the iconic Chuck E. Cheese restaurant mascot and now he’s headed to the silver screen with an equally legendary co-star: Santa Claus! In A Chuck E. Cheese Christmas, Chuck E. and friends work to throw a Christmas party for Santa, while saving their town from a holiday hating elf. iCarly star Nathan Kress spoke with Pop Culture Planet’s Kristen Maldonado about bringing Chuck E. to life in this holly jolly animated adventure.
What makes now the perfect time to bring Chuck E. to the screen? Let’s just say the nostalgia is real! “I can’t think of a better time to have a character like the original party animal to liven up the holiday season!” Kress told me. “Plus, I think we are just starting to hit the perfect generational intersectionality where the adults who grew up going to Chuck E. Cheese and feel that nostalgia on a deep level are having kids who are going to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time. [They’re] primed to fall in love with a character and a story like this.”
Kress marks the eighth voice actor to bring the character to life. “It was a matter of experimentation and inserting a healthy dose of my own vocal qualities and energy into what my imagination figured that a character like Chuck E. Cheese must sound like,” he said about finding the voice and energy for Chuck E. “That said, I was definitely not convinced that my version of the character was the right one, during the audition process. In fact, I actually deferred to my agent, whether or not to even send my audition at all. Fortunately, the writers and directors felt that my initial instincts were correct and worked with me to fine-tune exactly what they were looking for. It didn’t take long at all to find something that we all felt was the right mix of energy, heart, and the raw joy that a character like that has to have!”
Chuck E. and his friends get up to tons of festive fun in A Chuck E. Cheese Christmas, even allowing Kress the room to improv. “My favorite bit was a rant that I delivered, which was left totally unscripted. Zac [Moncrief] and Jon [Colton Barry] basically let me go wild and improv an extended, spiraling diatribe as Chuck E. starts to panic at the undertaking he’s put on himself and the gang. I always love a chance to go off script!” he explained. “I don’t think there was a specifically challenging moment. That said, playing this role definitely hits the upper end of my vocal register, so when I’m recording for hours at a time, it wipes me out. We recorded the entire special in one session, so my voice was just about gone by the time we were done!”
Chuck E. learns that the best way to celebrate Christmas isn’t through doing things “by the book,” but from the heart. “Our menu has never really lined up with traditional Christmas fare!” Kress said about his own family traditions. “We have tamales for Christmas breakfast, which has always been a highlight for our family — especially my kids!”
Speaking of traditions, visiting the Chuck E. Cheese restaurant is a rite of passage for kids of all ages. It was a particularly big milestone in the Kress family. “Our family tradition was that the fifth birthday was the epic pilgrimage to our local Chuck E. Cheese. It always stood out as the best birthday of my young childhood, hands-down. The Jurassic Park arcade game was permanently etched in my mind and diving head first into the ball pit is something that every kid has to do before they realize how many boogers and germs are in that thing,” he shared. “Now that my kids are the age where they are going to their own birthday parties at Chuck E. Cheese, I immediately feel the nostalgia come flooding back whenever I step through those doors!”
The restaurant chain was founded in 1977, becoming a pioneer for family friendly restaurants as they integrated food, arcade games, and entertainment together. Originally a joke-telling rat with a New Jersey accent, there’s so much lore around the character of Chuck E. Cheese. “The early history surprised me the most, as the creators of the brand worked to fine-tune what we’ve come to know and love today,” said Kress. “It just shows that good things take time, and staying flexible is key to finding that sweet spot.”
Kress rose to prominence as Freddie Benson on Nickelodeon’s iCarly, which debuted in 2007 and aired for six seasons. He later returned to the beloved role for the 2021 revival on Paramount+. “It’s honestly a dream come true, on both counts. iCarly was a show that was so ahead of its time in terms of its subject matter, and the characters that came from it are evergreen in their relevance to pop culture, and this world of streaming and content creation that we now inhabit,” he said. “I’ve always been curious where a guy like Freddie would’ve ended up, and it was an absolute blast to bring about the next evolution of the character — especially as a dad, like myself! I got to break out all of my embarrassing Dad-behavior, which felt a little too natural in hindsight.”
From Chuck E. to Freddie, how would his iCarly character fare in Chuck E’s world? “I think Chuck E. and Freddie would get along exceptionally well!” he enthused. “Freddie would probably be filming some kind of documentary or live streaming the various antics of Chuck E. bringing the party everywhere he goes.”
The most recent continuation of iCarly ended on a shocking cliffhanger, with Kress teasing what he hopes comes next. “Assuming that we’re able to get the movie officially green lit, I’m looking forward to wrapping up the epic cliffhanger that the world was left with during the season three finale,” he hinted. “We hate leaving the fans hanging, so I think I can safely say that everything that we set up during that last episode will be brought to a satisfactory conclusion by the time this movie is over. These characters are absolutely precious to us, and we are determined to make sure that we do right by them!”
Kress calls it fulfilling to play characters like Chuck E. and Freddie that are such a staple of people’s own childhoods. “Regarding both characters, I feel a strong sense of responsibility to make sure that what people are seeing is something that feeds their sense of nostalgia, and brings back all the feels of their childhoods,” said Kress. “If I can bring the world half of the happiness that I’ve felt while playing these characters, I will have fulfilled my purpose!”
Kick off the holiday season right with A Chuck E. Cheese Christmas streaming November 27 on Prime Video and YouTube.
