Celebrity Voice Acting Round-Up: Dec-Jan Feature

I’ll be posting additions to this article through the end of January, so please keep checking back for updates.

1.28.2010 — Romano, Davison Talk ‘Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths

– RIP, Zelda Rubenstein

1.27.2010 — Forbes Lists Most Trusted Celebrities

1.26.2010 — Weird Al Developing Live-Action Movie

– William Shatner to Host Annie Awards

– 1.19.2010 — Disney’s Pocahontas Irene Bedard Interviewed

– Scrubs’ Donald Faison Inspired by Robot Chicken

1.14.2010 — CVG Interviews Mark Hamill

– Hollywood Actors Face Special Challenges in Voice Acting

1.13.2010 — Ming Na Interviewed

– Voice Actors Performing at SF Sketchfest

1.12.2010 — Cast Announced for Yellow Submarine Remake

1.11.2010 — Adam West Film Among ‘Worst of Netflix’

– The Faces Behind The Simpsons

1.07.2010 — Impressionist Rich Little Becomes U.S. Citizen

1.06.2010 — Pete Docter Talks ‘Up’ Voice Casting

1.03.2010 — 37th Annual Annie Awards Nominees

1.02.2010 — SlateV Tests Your Ear for Celebrity Voices

12.30.2009 — Comedy Central Cancels Jeff Dunham Show

12.21.2009 — King of the Hill Star Brittany Murphy Dies. This article has been updated several times since it was published to include breaking news, video, photos and other information.

12.20.2009 — Pope Benedict XVI VO

12.18.2009 — Baldwin, Noth Talk ‘Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths

12.17.2009 — Golden Globes Nominees Announced

12.16.2009 — Voice Actor Dopplegangers: Mike Myers

Update: 12.16.2009, 4:30 PM (EST):

– Guinness World Records has posted highlights of their “Top 100 Records of the Decade”, proclaiming Samuel L. Jackson as the “Highest Grossing Actor” of the last decade, which includes Jackson’s roles in the animated features Astro Boy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and The Incredibles. He also has an upcoming role as the voice of “Fear” in the computer-animated feature Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey (previously reported here).

This news comes courtesy of Entertainment Weekly’s Popwatch Blog, which challenges Guinness’ claim with what the blogger calls a “silly assessment of box office power” but it’s an interesting read with the *real* top grossers if you’re interested.

– Following up on my previous coverage of Spike TV’s Video Game Awards, the winners in the four voice acting-related categories are as follows…

No. I can’t post them. It’s just too disappointing. For starters, Jack Black beat Mark Hamill. If that doesn’t depress you as a voice actor fan, you don’t deserve to call yourself one.

And none of the nominees I personally voted for won, but that’s not why I’m disappointed.

The winners are depressing because they are all celebs who basically won due to their current popularity, and the fans who voted for them are too short-sighted to realize that. The categories were supposed to be based on the “best performance,” not the most popular. And even objectively, none of the winners legitimately qualified and I believe the gamers who played these games know that too. Unfortunately, this was an open poll.

If you want to read the poll results, click the link. I just can’t bring myself to type them here. And you can’t make me do it either.

– Firstshowing.net reports that Leonardo DiCaprio will voice Jack Frost in DreamWorks Animation’s The Guardians, an adaptation of the upcoming book series by author William Joyce. The plot involves “an Avengers-like assembly of imaginary icons like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny who protect children from the forces of evil.”

It’s currently slated for a 2012 release.

– From TheHollywoodNews.com:

Owen Wilson is set to play the voice of a dog in canine comedy ‘Marmaduke’.

The movie, based on a popular comic strip, will follow Marmaduke’s owners as they relocate to Florida with their Great Dane.

Other dog voices will be provided by Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie, comedian Steve Coogan and [Damon and Marlon Wayans], whilst humans are played by Judy Greer, Lee Pace and William H. Macy.

‘Marmaduke’ is set for a June 2010 release.

– Here’s an unintentionally amusing excerpt I found in a local paper (The Barrow County Shopper: Entertainment Spotlight) from a feature article on Robert Zemeckis’ computer-animated adaptation of the Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol:

[Jim] Carrey joins a host of notable actors who have played Scrooge, including Alastair Sim, George C. Scott and Mr. Magoo, to name a few.

Funny, I didn’t realize that Mr. Magoo was considered an actor.

On a related note, while I still haven’t seen this film (but plan to, having been a fan of Carrey’s work since he first starred on the sketch comedy show In Living Color in the 90s) it’s worth noting that the supporting cast includes Cary Elwes and Robin Wright. I don’t know if “reuniting” these two was a deliberate nod to the fantasy cult classic film The Princess Bride, but either way the fans (like myself) certainly appreciated it.

I’m also curious to see this film for the performances by Ryan Ochoa, who has a recurring role as Chuck on the popular Nick tween series iCarly. IMDb credits him with 6 voices in the film, and I’m very intrigued to hear that from an actor barely into his teens being entrusted by Zemeckis with so many roles.

Originally posted 12.11.2009, 7:11 AM:

– USA Today reports that Martin Sheen (West Wing, Wall Street) will lend his voice to the video game “Mass Effect 2.” Other cast members include Shoreh Aghdashloo (Fast Forward, 24), Keith David (Gargoyles, Spawn), D.C. Douglas (Resident Evil series), Michael Hogan (Battlestar Galactica), Seth Green (Family Guy, Robot Chicken), Yvonne Strahovski (Chuck), Adam Baldwin (Firefly, Chuck), Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix Trilogy, Fido) and Lance Henriksen (Aliens, Transformers Animated).

In a bit of related news, ShockTillYouDrop.com reports that Lance Henriksen has signed on to appear in the still-untitled “Aliens VS Predator” video game which is scheduled for release in February 2010:

Lance Henriksen will play Karl Bishop Weyland, a descendent of Charles Bishop Weyland (who Henriksen appeared as in AvP), the founder of the infamous Weyland-Yutani corporation from the Aliens universe. He will lend his likeness and voice to the production.

“They’ve made me look very good,” said Lance Henriksen, “This is the first time I’ve been fully represented in a game, with my voice and how I look, and the Rebellion guys have done a great job. I might score from this game!”

Additional source: Gamespot.com

– Wes Anderson talks with The National on the voice cast for “The Fantastic Mr. Fox”:

Even though he has used animation in other movies, taking on a full film using stop-motion would always be a challenge, and it has brought up a new appreciation of voice actors for Anderson. “The main thing I learned while making the movie is what the voices give the animators,” he says. “You record the voices first and the animators then animate the puppets based on those performances … their inspiration comes from those moments with the actors.”

– Jesse McCartney revealed via Twitter that he is “recording yet another Kingdom Hearts game.” Although he doesn’t say which character, he states that “first recordin [sic] was in 2005 for game 1.” (He’s technically incorrect since the 2005 game was “Kingdom Hearts II” in which McCartney voiced Roxus for the English dub.) Kindgom Hearts Insider has confirmed a few other voices for the English dub of Kingdom Hears: Birth by Sleep (as of this posting): Bret Iwan as King Mickey, Russi Taylor as Minnie Mouse and Chris Sanders as Stitch. IMDb.com has a list of other cast members speculated to be involved in the game but they have not been officially announced to date.

The game is currently scheduled to release January 10th, 2010 for the PSP.