Griffin Family - Casting

Casting

MacFarlane voices three of the show's main characters, Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin and Stewie Griffin. He has stated that he already knew what kind of voice he was looking for the main characters so it was easier to do it himself. Peter's voice is inspired by the voice of a security guard MacFarlane overheard talking while attending the Rhode Island School of Design. Stewie's voice was based on the voice of English actor Rex Harrison, particularly on Harrison's performance in the 1964 musical drama film My Fair Lady. Brian's voice is MacFarlane's regular speaking voice. In addition MacFarlane provides the voice of various recurring and one-time characters, most prominently those of the Griffin's neighbor Glenn Quagmire, news anchor Tom Tucker and Lois' father Carter Pewterschmidt. Alex Borstein voices Lois Griffin, Asian correspondent Tricia Takanawa, Loretta Brown and Lois' mother Barbara Pewterschmidt. Borstein was asked to provide a voice for the pilot while she was working on MADtv. She had not met MacFarlane or seen any artwork and said it was "really sight unseen". At the time, she was doing a stage show in Los Angeles, in which she played a redhead mother, whose voice she had based on one of her cousins. The voice was originally slower, when MacFarlane heard it, he replied "Make it a little less annoying and speed it up, or every episode will last four hours". Seth Green primarily plays Chris Griffin and Neil Goldman. Green admittedly did an impression of the Buffalo Bill character from the thriller film The Silence of the Lambs during his audition. His main inspiration for Chris' voice was how "Buffalo Bill" would sound if he worked at a drive-thru in a McDonalds (speaking through a PA system). Mila Kunis and Lacey Chabert have both played the voices of Meg Griffin. Chabert voiced Meg Griffin for the first production season (15 episodes). However, because of a contractual agreement, she was never credited. Chabert left the series due to time constraints with her acting role in Party of Five, as well as schoolwork, while Kunis won the role after auditions, a slight rewrite of the character and because of her performance on That '70s Show. MacFarlane called Kunis back after her initial audition asking her to speak slower; she was called back again later, this time instructed to enunciate more. Kunis said that she had it under control, and MacFarlane hired her. In an interview with a Sun Media correspondent in 2007, Kunis was asked about her character and said: "She's the scapegoat". "Meg gets picked on a lot. But it's funny. It's like the middle child. She is constantly in the state of being an awkward 14-year-old, when you're kind of going through puberty and what-not. She's just in perpetual mode of humiliation. And it's fun."