JL: Throne of Atlantis Premiere

Lessons in Voicing Superheroes

'Justice League Throne of Atlantis' Cast & Crew (back left to right: Character Designer Phil Bourassa, Writer Heath Corson, Casting Director Andrea Romano, 'Batman' Jason O’Mara, 'Mera' Sumalee Montano, 'Orm' Sam Witwer, 'Aquaman' Matt Lantar )

What do you look for in a superhero voice?

Good Acting
Andrea: “I look for the acting first, I look for good actors. That’s basically the bottom line. I look for really good actors.”

Matching the Look of the Character
Andrea: “We certainly have the ability to manipulate the voices. We can mess with them electronically and play with the voices but it’s really is a matter of ‘what does the character look like’? ‘Does the voice I am working with sound like the model’? So I get the models ahead of time from Phil [Bourassa (Character Designer)]. ‘Are we doing a Batman with big strong shoulders or are we doing a slighter Batman’? All depends on what the model looks like and making sure they can all exist in the same world.”

Why do you recast characters?

Updating Artistic Styles and Availability
Sometimes with the change of artistic styles the same actors are not used because [the filmmakers] want a different sound. Often it is about availability. Andrea explained there is a window of only about a month before sending the audio tracks off to animation. In Justice League: Throne of Atlantis Shemar Moore (voice of Cyborg) was asked to reprise his role but was not available for first round of recording so another actor was brought in. (Takes about 4 hours for each major character’s recording session.) However Shemar was able to squeeze in a dubbing session on a Saturday later and Victor Stone kept continuity.

Tips for those interested in a Voice Acting Career?

Again, Good Acting
Andrea: “Being able to do different voices helps” but again it is really about being able to act in the different voices.

Originality
Andrea: Also be original! “We’ve all heard the Margaret Hamilton Wicked Witch before.”

Andrea Romano agreed that voice acting was “competitive” but that there is “always room for excellence”. So get to work on new takes of favorite roles for you never know when a schedule conflict might create an opening

- V