Warner Bros has issued press releases (via Toon Zone) containing interviews with Juliet Landau discussing her role as Labella along with director Lauren Montgomery‘s thoughts on the voice cast for the upcoming animated direct-to-DVD feature, Green Lantern: First Flight. Here are some excerpts:
QUESTION: What is the enticement of voiceover for animation?
JULIET LANDAU: It is so much fun! You get to sit with a bunch of actors and play. Really play! There’s no hair and make-up, no primping – just absolute, uninhibited creativity. That’s the real joy of acting. And it doesn’t get any better than working with Bruce Timm and Andrea Romano.
QUESTION: Tell us about Labella?
JULIET LANDAU: There was a lot of room for invention in this character, especially with the device they use with her. I don’t want to give it away, but she does go through a bit of torture and it causes a rift between Sinestro and Hal. I really liked the sexuality and the flirtatiousness of the character. She’s very different from any of the characters I’ve voiced on Justice League Unlimited or Ben 10: Alien Force – she’s a completely unique character.
QUESTION: What do the four main voice cast members bring to their roles?
LAUREN MONTGOMERY: Christopher Meloni is a very serious actor and really got into the character to understand all the little nuances of exactly what Hal was thinking at every moment. He would ask very interesting, detailed, unexpected questions so he could totally get the mind set, and in doing so he was able to deliver an incredible performance that that really defines Hal as a confident hero, but not cocky or a jerk. Hal Jordan has a humor to him that isn’t quite as big as the Flash, but still not stiff like Batman. Christopher was able to give us that fun side of Hal, too.
Victor Garber has this intimidating presence and power behind his deliveries where you can hear that Sinestro knows what he’s doing, he’s been through this before and he’s pretty sure of himself. He gives Sinestro a very believable sense of suave sophistication. Sinestro is not your typical evil villain, and Victor Garber makes him seem like an incredibly intelligent, worldly guy who believes he is doing the right thing, even though he might not be doing it the correct way.
Kilowog is this big, hulking creature and he needed a voice that was really recognizable and had a strong presence. Michael Madsen was able to give us these line readings that we really didn’t expect – you can’t help laughing at his intonations – and he ends up with some of the funniest lines in the whole script. He even did some fake burps that are just ridiculous – you’ll actually hear a couple of those in the movie. It was just a match made in heaven, really.
Boodikka is not just your doe-eyed, token female – she has strength and believability without losing the feminine qualities of our primary female character. There aren’t a ton of women in the Green Lantern Corps – apparently it’s a male-dominated industry (she laughs). Tricia Helfer has a really sympathetic quality to her voice that captures the quieter side of Boodikka, but Tricia also has this amazing strength in her voice. She was able to make Boodikka this wonderful, relatable, three-dimensional character.
Previous news: 5.11.2009 — Victor Garber on Voicing Sinestro.