Blake Shelton's Next Role Is Unexpected

On Tuesday it was announced that the country heartthrob and host of The Voice, Blake Shelton, will be voicing a pig in the upcoming Angry Birds movie. While the species might be a little bit of a stretch for him, when you think about it, the character — named Earl — is actually quite perfect for him: the down-home, back woods voice of his character is perfect when you consider Shelton’s super country roots. Because, according to Shelton himself, this pig is about as country as they can get — and playing the role has apparently forced Shelton to stretch his normally pretty Southern twang even more country.

About the process of getting into character, Shelton told Entertainment Weekly exclusively that the director "kept saying, ‘More country!’" when he was voicing Earl. As a result, Shelton said he felt like he “was going a voice-over for Dukes of Hazzard.” I didn’t think it was possible for Shelton to sound even more southern than he already is, but apparently he pulled out the big voice acting guns for this role. I wonder if audiences will even be able to tell that it’s him playing the part.

Either way, it sounds like Shelton is relying on his southern roots in a major way to get into this back country character, even if he doesn’t have much experience being shot out of a slingshot or being bowled over by angry birds.

The Angry Birds movie is set to hit theaters on May 20, and you can bet that Shelton’s voice is the one I’m looking forward to hearing the most. The film also stars Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, and Danny McBride — but I’m going to be holding my breath until that little green pig hits the big screen.

The movie is, of course, based off of the popular game by the same name and will feature a song written by Shelton for the film.

Fancy, right?