I Know That Voice Page #8

---

But uh, that's a lot

of auditions.

Auditions are

our chance to shine

and to really show the writers

and directors and producers

we're the right person

for the job.

The directors bring

voice actors in

because they know

they'll perform

and they'll do it

right on the spot.

You gotta be able to do it

or you'll get the heave-ho.

The union standard

is a four hour session,

it's either nine to one

or two to six and uh,

they've also gotta record

an 11 minute episode

or a 22 minute episode

plus a whole bunch of ADR

from an episode that you did

a couple weeks ago,

and then the animation came

back on this other episode

and some of the lip

assignments aren't right,

we had to change the lines

and these jokes weren't clear

so we rewrote some of these.

So, you know, and that's all

in a four hour session.

You don't really have a job.

So you could be going

to Cartoon Network all the time

and you feel like

you have a job,

you feel like

you're involved there,

but you actually don't work

at Cartoon Network.

You were hired for an hour,

like, every other week

for eight weeks and then

maybe you'll be able

to go back there,

but it's kind of

a very tenuous thing.

You know, it's this

vagabond kind of lifestyle

and you go in and, you know,

you hang your shingle

in different little places

and then it's time

to be moving on.

CD complete, Skipper.

Excellent, Kowalski.

Now all we have to do

is blow up your hard drive.

Yes, of course... what?

I'd just like to say

that today is the last day

of "Penguins" record.

So that's what

we're shooting today,

and it's a very sad day,

but it will be

a very funny day,

so that's that.

All right, we're gonna

look at cue one,

this is show 327.

Here we go.

It's got everything.

You got laughs,

you got villains,

you got people just

having a good time,

cracking each other up.

That's what we have to

get as well is, like,

the behind the scenes

because usually the show

is the show behind the show.

I get to sit here and watch

these guys goof off.

Explode!

Excellent.

And here it comes, cue 39.

Oh, oh.

Oh.

Good.

That's good.

See you at the pool party.

There's a bunch of us

that literally say

we get fired after every job.

And that sort of mentality

to live by

in your day to day thing

when you've got bills to pay,

that fear and that terror

that comes with that,

I think sort of subsides

when you're so grateful

every day for when

that job does come,

and I didn't start doing

voiceover full time until

I was 40 years old.

Spike Spiegel from

"Cowboy Bebop"

that became a huge benchmark

because right around

the time that recorded,

and none of us really

knew how big that thing

was gonna be,

and as it turns out that was

one of the biggest things

that ever happened

in my career.

And fans pointed out to me that

that was the first anime

that was their gateway

into that whole genre.

With foreign dubbing

or anime shows like "Pokemon,"

"Naruto," it's already been

completely created,

animated, released

somewhere oversees.

You go into a studio

by yourself

and you sync it up

to the picture.

So they will take

each sentence line by line

and you will sync it

to fit the lip flaps

of the preexisting picture.

You literally watch TV

and talk at the TV all day

and hopefully you've got

good writers and on that

fourth imaginary beep you

try and bring this character

to life, you try to lift it

off the page,

with the constraints of...

of time because it's already

been animated,

the flaps are already there

and you wanna try and make it

sound as natural

as possible so it's not

one of these

"You have destroyed my village"

kind of a thing.

I never really knew

this world existed until,

I mean, I grew up watching

"Speed Racer" and everything,

but I never, I don't know,

it's weird,

you never sort of

make that connection with,

"Oh, I can do this

for a living?

That's pretty awesome. "

People knew I was

a fan geek way before

George Lucas' movies.

But, to me, you use

your imagination

whether you're playing

Robin Hood

or you're playing Zorro,

Superman, whatever it is,

it's not that different.

It really isn't.

With voiceover,

I'm just telling you, I said,

"Where has this been

all my life?"

Because it's the ultimate

kind of fun job to do.

This iteration of

"Star Wars:
Clone Wars"

came out, not only was

the artwork tremendous,

not only was the writing

outstanding,

not only was

the voicework great,

but it was also in a world

that had evolved

from, you know, my little

17 year old boner life

to... to this really

super sophisticated comment

about what's been going on

and what could go on

and how it should go on.

I mean, it's...

it was kind of outstanding,

and yet had this

nostalgic feel.

Currently I'm um,

I'm the voice of the clones

on "Star Wars:
The Clone Wars. "

The trick and the fun of it

is to flavor them

a little bit differently

each time we do them

to... to make one

a little bit younger,

to make one a little bit older,

to... to make one, you know,

with a little bit

more swagger to him

so they all sound

a little bit different.

That's the fun acting part.

The hard part is just making it

straight ahead, honest, real.

He'll strike a crippling

blow to the republic.

Something has to be done.

We can't risk the possibility

that he might escape.

As long as Krell's alive,

he is a threat

to every one of us.

I agree.

George Lucas and Dave Filoni

have said,

"Look, this character,

Alec Guinness"

will never be

Obi Wan Kenobi again,

Ewan McGregor will never

be Obi Wan Kenobi again.

You're the representation

of Obi Wan Kenobi,

"so make it your own. "

So I take a little,

"These aren't the droids

"you're looking for," a little,

"I have a bad feeling

about this"

and I combine them

into my own, you know,

Obi Wan Kenobi.

Prepare yourself.

The real fight

is about to begin.

With the force all things

are possible, yes.

Find a way, we shall.

We all grew up

"Star Wars" fans,

we know these characters

like the back of our hands.

You know, Dave is the same way.

Dave was a fan before he was...

was an employee.

It's my job to get

the best out of them,

to get their greatest

performance,

to get their greatest part,

what makes them creative,

into the episodes um,

and you just,

you can't disturb them while

they're being part

of that creative process.

Just like there's... there's

an actor for every role,

there's a director

for every project.

You usually start out

with a table read where

we just hear the script

for the first time

and I am beginning to tune in

on what the different actors

are doing and making notes

about what we might

fix or adapt.

Come in with a plan,

right or wrong,

and uh, if it's wrong

you'll fix it,

and if it's right

you're a hero.

Gordon Hunt was, yeah,

like the godfather

of all of us.

And this was passed on,

by the way,

to Ginny McSwain,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes