Care worker in running to voice solider in Toy Story 3

PRETENDING to be soldiers is a game little boys both young and old know well. And now a city care worker has been given the chance to play soldier in a Hollywood movie role that will make his friends green with envy.

Eric Brennan will not get to see his face in the big screen, however – after being put up for the chance to provide a voice role in the blockbuster movie Toy Story 3. Mr Brennan's 11-year-old stepson Patrick entered him in a competition open to dads all over Britain, to play a cameo role as the voice of Green Army Man in the UK release of the film.

The 46-year old, who works in Greendykes children and family centre in Craigmillar, was chosen ahead of competition to be in the final four and laid down his voiceover at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire this week.

Now the Walt Disney Studio team in the US are mulling over the tapes and Eric's on tenterhooks waiting for the result.

He said: "I think it went quite well. I had a cold recently which helped me give a 'gravelly' soldier-like performance and, of course, I had to deliver it in an American accent! It took about 20 minutes but it was so exciting it seemed like five or ten.

"Everybody was helpful and friendly, which made it much easier than I expected it to be. They gave me a few takes as well."

Eric was surprised when Patrick told him he had put him up for the part. "I've done a bit of drama tutoring at the centre and maybe that's why Patrick put me forward. They phoned to tell me I was through to this stage on 1 April, so I thought it was an April Fool."

Patrick, who thinks his stepdad has a good chance of winning, added: "I thought it would be a bit of fun and I knew he had done drama before. I liked Toy Story 1 and 2, and my little brother Elliot, who's three, watches them a lot."

Now Eric has a 25 per cent chance of hearing his voice coming out of a little plastic green soldier when the eagerly anticipated Disney Pixar movie is released on 23 July.

"I don't know if there's a screen credit at the end or not. It won't matter because if I get through, I'll be telling everyone 'that's me!' It's not every day you get a chance to be a movie star.

"But I don't think I'll be packing up the day job just yet."

Eric entered in March along with hundreds of other hopefuls, by recording a line from the movie and uploading it to the Disney XD website.

As a finalist, he has already received a prize of a video camera recorder to document the memories of his behind-the-scenes experience at Pinewood. The video diary footage from his audition will also be aired on the Disney XD YouTube channel in the run up to the Toy Story 3 cinema premiere.

He hopes to hear if he's been successful by the end of this week.

He said: "But I'm a winner already. It's been great fun."