Tara Strong talks Huntress, Batman: The Brave and The Bold, and voice acting with Comic Book Resources. Here are some highlights:
– On working with Diedrich Bader:
I’ve worked with Diedrich before, and generally he’s always very comical and silly, on camera or off. So I was actually pretty skeptical to see him do Batman, because I was Batgirl in the original “Batman: The Animated Series.” We had the very dark Kevin Conroy doing Batman, and I wasn’t sure what (Bader) was going to do. He actually surprised me in terms of how playful he was, but still keeping the sense of the dark. He had good comedic presence, but not whacky-silly. He still kept that kind of true to character Batman sense without being too comical. He brought in just the right amount of comedy for this particular Batman run.
– On working with Andrea Romano and doing group VO sessions:
Andrea Romano, who is the voice director of all the Batman series, tends to prefer having a full cast to record. I think it’s beneficial to getting the actors to play off each other and getting a sense of where you all come from. You know, it makes a huge difference, particularly in action stuff. If someone said something with a really heightened sense of energy and you‘re a little bit lower than them, there’s no way of knowing exactly what they did unless you guys are together. So in general, she’s really good at keeping us all together, which tends to be a difficult concept with how busy everyone is. So it’s definitely fun to work that way. We get to play off each other, and everyone in the booth is so much fun. If you’ve ever gotten to sit in on an animation session, all the actors are really easy and wonderful to work with.
And when asked about working with series director James Tucker, whether he gives “any insight or direction to the DC characters, since he knows them inside and out,” Tara says:
“Not really, unless the actor is not a big comic book fan, which to be honest with you, there are only a handful of us. Most of us came in to voice acting from doing on-camera, theatre or other kinds of acting, so we come from an actor’s standpoint. We read the script and we work on the character, so whenever we get some back-story it’s always incredibly helpful. But for me, I’m really focusing on the scenes and what’s going on in the moment. I need to know what’s happening right before she says, “Ahh!” If she’s falling off a cliff or going, “Ahh,” for me it’s very time specific on what we’re doing in that moment, as opposed to a huge back-story. For instance, Phil LaMarr (“Justice League”), when I’m doing a game with him or a show that has anything to do with comic books, he knows every history of every character. It’s pretty interesting to watch him. It’s fun.”
Continue reading: Tara Strong Talks Huntress on “Brave and The Bold”.