Russ Cargill

### Goals

Trap the town of Springfield in a dome to prevent them from spreading pollution (succeeded, later failed)
Capture the Simpsons and put them back in the dome (partially succeeded).
Annihilate Springfield and their inhabitants to create a New Grand Canyon.
Kill Homer and Bart Simpson for ruining his plan (both failed)

### Crimes

Attempted populicide
Vandalism
Stalking
Animal cruelty
False imprisonment
Public endangerment
Child abuse
Kidnapping
Incrimination
Corruption
Treason

### Type of Villain

Corrupt Official

**Russell "Russ" Cargill** is the main antagonist of the 2007 animated film *The Simpsons Movie*. He is the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who plots to destroy all of Springfield to make money for a new Grand Canyon plan. Although his character's motivation and goals remained mostly the same across the film's development his design and personality went through significant changes throughout production.

Just like in the final product he was voiced by Albert Brooks in the few found deleted scenes featuring this version of the character.

## Personality & Appearance

This is where the biggest differences with Cargill arise.

Originally he was an older, smaller and more unassuming man with grey, thinning hair, yellow skin, wrinkles and a large unibrow. He mainly wears a red sweater-vest, blue shirt, darker blue tie, khaki trousers and black shoes.

In terms of personality Cargill was similar albeit slightly more ditzy and meeker compared to the version we see in the final film, being less confident, persuasive and stoic and far more humorous compared to his final version.

These changes were made due to the writers finding that the original version of Cargill wasn't working particularly well and lacked the gravitas and seriousness they wanted for the movie, on top of this Albert Brooks expressed difficulty with finding the right balance for his performance with the way Cargill was written at the time, making both parties involved feel as though an overhaul to the character was necessary for the story to work as best as it could.

## Biography

Like in the final cut of the film Russ Cargill was the head of the EPA who wanted to wipe Springfield off of the map following the discovery of obscenely high pollution levels in the town thanks to Homer Simpson dumping his pet pig Spider-Pig's waste into the town's lake, polluting the waters beyond repair and even mutating animals unlucky enough to enter the lake. He reports his findings to President Schwarzenegger who he offers five options on how to deal with the problem, with the latter landing on number 3, allowing Cargill to encase the entire town within a dome.

His actions throughout the rest of the movie presumably remains the same aside from two scenes. One where he accidentally unleashes the mutated chipmunk from Lake Springfield onto a park mascot much to the horror of himself and the ranger at the scene and finally his ultimate defeat which although similar to in the final cut (the dome is destroyed, and Homer & Bart Simpson are at his mercy) he is incapacitated by President Schwarzenegger as opposed to Maggie Simpson like in the final cut.

## Trivia

* Russ Cargill's character changes came very late into the film's production and several pieces of promotional material and merchandise (most notably a Burger King toy) feature Cargill's original design.
* Throughout production the idea for the film's main antagonist went through a few different characters before the filmmakers landed on Russ Cargill, for a long time it was intended for another Albert Brooks villain in the series Hank Scorpio to have the role, however this was dropped early-on as both Brooks himself and the writers thought that such a serious and malicious role wouldn't fit with Scorpio's established character especially considering the latter's good relationship with Homer Simpson himself.