McFarlane Casting Animated Spawn Using Live-Action Instead Of Voice Actors July 2nd 2005 12:11pm | Posted by: Michael Stevens, HNR Senior Editor Todd McFarlane, Canadian creator of comic book phenomenon "Spawn" continues voice casting Film Roman's upcoming Spawn animated series. "The voice of the character is extremely important as it must convey many of the subtleties that are difficult to portray in animated body language," said McFarlane. "We had to convince our producing partners Film Roman to use live-action actors instead of voice-over actors when filling our roles." "Our characters are from various walks of life living in lower Manhattan and anyone who knows anything about New York City knows not everyone sounds the same... One of the main things I listen for when casting animated characters is realism... Although you cannot see the actual person talking, you can tell if a voice sounds fake. This is one of those small nuances many people don't find important, yet are actually vital to achieving the high standards that are expected when working with any of my companies, be it toys or animation. "In my experience, the best way to achieve realism in the voices is to use real actors especially since I am treating this project as live action as compared to traditional animation. "Overall I like the actor to resemble the character they are to voice. Not so much in appearance, but in background and ethnicity. For example, if we were casting a Puerto Rican from the Bronx we'd like to find someone who has experience around this type of person, or is from there, so they can take from their own personal reference how they should sound and what slang they should use." Source: Sneak Peek: Spawn In: Movie News |Visit the HNR Forums

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