Not every role was right for a celebrity voice. Before most of them were cast, the crew recorded a temp track with their own voices, and a lot of those temporary voices worked so well they were never able to find anyone else who could do them better. That's how some behind-the-scenes talent found themselves on the cast list, including writer Bob Peterson as Nemo's enthusiastic, singing teacher Mr. Ray and co-writer Joe Ranft as Jacques the cleaner shrimp.
As it turns out, some of the most memorable voices in "Nemo" came from its director. Stanton appears as both Crush the surfer-dude sea turtle and the chorus of seagulls, who, even in a world of talking animals, still can't express any thought more complex than "Mine!" In the commentary, Peterson asks him, "Were you going to let anyone else do voices in this film?"
In fact, Stanton resisted using his own voice for Crush as long as he could, trying to hunt down the perfect actor all the way through the first test screening. That first audience liked his performance so much that it finally stayed in. Based on Unkrich's description of the recording sessions, it's no wonder: "A lot of the Crush dialogue was just one two-hour session in my office. ... [Stanton was] just a vessel for a higher surfer that day. It all started flowing, it was great. I just got out of [his] way."
