Paul Simon, of Simon & Garfunkel (and Tom and Jerry) fame, may have been born in Newark, but he was raised in Queens, went to Queens College (Art went to Columbia) and did a stint at Brooklyn Law. Either way, the dude’s a legendary singer/songwriter, 12-time SNL host, husband to Edie Brickell, and massive Yankees fan who will be voicing the role of Yankee great Thurman Munson in Henry and Me, an animated film set to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival next year.
“Thurman had a big love of music,” writer/creator Ray Negron wrote for the YES Network. “He liked all forms of music: country, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul. To get a guy like Paul Simon to play Thurman, to do the voice of Thurman, I feel it’s so appropriate.”
Negron, a children’s book writer and former Yankee staffer, not only got Paul Simon to lend a voice to his animated feature, but Alex Rodriquez, Reggie Jackson, Yogi Berra, Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera, and Hideki Matsui are all set to play themselves in the flick. No worries though, master thespians, Richard Gere and Chazz Palminteri (as Babe Ruth) will join Paul Simon for lead roles in Henry and Me.
Your move, Red Sox. Might I suggest Mark Wahlberg, Matt Damon, and the melodious tones of one David Ortiz for your rival animated blockbuster.