Rob Paulsen takes some time from his busy voice acting schedule to spend some time with host Whitney Grace and things get weird.
Archives for : Voice Actors
Hello and welcome to sixteenth episode of Fanboy Nation’s Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews. Have you ever wondered what happened to kid voice actors when they grow up? Whitney Grace has! After watching Walt Disney’s The Jungle Book, Whitney wondered what happened to Mowgli. It turns out that Mowgli is Bruce Reitherman, son of Wolfgang “Woolie” Reitherman, one Disney’s Nine Old Men! Bruce was more than happy to discuss his experiences voicing Mowgli and growing up at the Walt Disney Animation Studios in the 1960s.
- Bruce voiced Mowgli in The Jungle Book and he is also the son of Wolfgang “Woolie” Reitherman, one of Disney’s Nine Old Men.
- Growing up in the Disney Studios was like being alive during the Renaissance.
- Some of his earliest memories include that it was a very family oriented place and some of the people he ran into.
- Whitney praises the Ink and Paint Club.
- Bruce delves into the creativity he witnessed at the studio, including how individuals added to the big picture.
- Woolie took over the art department after Walt Disney passed away. He was always eager to go to work everyday, was a great father, intelligent, and talented.
- Bruce stresses that all animators had the same attributes as his father and this made them great animators able to capture the illusion of life.
- Woolie was in charge of the Xerox age of Disney animation. Whitney loves this era, because you can see the original pencil sketches and the animation process. Bruce gives a history of the Xerox process, why Disney implemented it, and what he enjoys about this animation process.
- Bruce talks about his experience voicing Mowgli in The Jungle Book and the fun he had.
- Whitney wonders how The Jungle Book changed from the original concept and Bruce explains how Disney was interested in making an enjoyable character film and take it in a new direction from the original story.
- When Bruce got the Mowgli role, he wasn’t a child actor. His dad needed a regular voice from a regular kid and Bruce was in the right place: living under the same roof as Woolie Reitherman.
- Bruce shares his views on Mowgli’s different relationships with the animals.
- Whitney wanted Mowgli to go back to the jungle and live, while Bruce likes the ending where Mowgli goes back to the man village. He likes this ending, because it shows that Mowgli accepts growing up.
- Bruce “wants to be like you!” and he has never seen The Jungle Book 2.
Links
Welcome to the 2nd episode of the new FanboyNation podcast: Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews. Toon-In-Talk is hosted by Whitney Grace and is dedicated to bringing you great stories straight from the animation industry. In the premiere episode, Whitney interviews famous voice actors Jim Cummings and Carlos Alazraqui. Jim has a resume as long as it is fantastic. He has voiced Winnie the Pooh, Darkwing Duck, Raymond from The Princesss and the Frog, and more. Carlos Alazraqui is known for voicing Rocko on Rocko’s Modern Life, Mr. Crocker from Fairly Oddparents, and many live action roles.
Show Notes
- Carlos got started in voice acting from his stand up comedy career, where he did a lot of character voices.
- Nickelodeon loved his Australian character voice so much they cast him as Rocko in Rocko’s Modern Life.
- Carlos is extremely proud to have worked at Nickelodeon during its Golden Age.
- He also confirms that the Nicktoon was written for a more mature audience and is very happy that there is still a very big fan following.
- A fan comes up and compliments Carlos on his performance in Reno 911, which is quite the opposite of of the innocent Rocko.
- Daniel Tosh doesn’t have a vendetta against Carlos for taking his job away as the Taco Bell mascot. Carlos was the voice for the “Yo quiero Taco Bell” chihuahua.
- The Fairly Oddparents character Denzel Crocker combines Gene Wilder, Montgomery Burns, and Richard Dreyfus in one kooky voice.
- He says he’s recycle voices for different roles but altered the voices a little bit for each one. He’s a genius at playing different accents.
- Having worked at many of the major studios, Carlos says Disney is more familial, Nickelodeon is more subversive, and Cartoon Network is the most “out there.”
- When he’s working, Carlos prefers group recording sessions because they’re fun.
- Carlos came up with the Al Pacino voice for Ernesto the penguin in Happy Feet and he also did his own singing.
- Carlos explains Lazlo’s character from Camp Lazlo and what happened to Rocko when the series ended.
- John DiMaggio and Carlos were riffing in a session one day and created an entire improv cartoon series on Mondo Media from it.
- He loops voice for Billy Crystal.
- Compared to the 1990s, Carlos thinks cartoons aren’t as subtle and are made weird for weirdness’ sake.
- He plays El Chupacabra in Planes and General Posada in The Book of Life.
- To hear about how Jim Cummings started in voice acting, check out Rob Paulsen’s Talkin’ Toons Podcast.
- Jim is most well known for voicing Darkwing Duck on the Disney Afternoon.
- He doesn’t collect voices, but he does a lot of impressions of people.
- Jim became a Disney go-to voice actor, because he started out around the same time the Disney Channel and the Disney Afternoon started.
- He never got the chance to meet Sterling Holloway, but he did encounter him in a restaurant from a distance. He now follows in Holloway’s footsteps by playing Winnie the Pooh.
- Jim discusses his take on villains and sometimes they’re a bit more fun for him to play.
- Whitney asks what would happen if some of his characters faced off.
- He discusses voice Scar’s singing voice on The Lion King and his character Ray on The Princess and the Frog.
- He loves working with Rob Paulsen and considers him to be one of the voice acting greats.
- If he was stuck on a desert island, he’d want Darkwing Duck to be with him.
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