James Arnold Taylor: Voicing Jedi Masters

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James Arnold Taylor: Voicing Jedi Masters

Words: Bonnie Burton

What do Spider-Man, Fred Flintstone, Capt. Jack Sparrow, Willy Wonka, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Plo Koon have in common? Actor James Arnold Taylor has lent his voice to all these characters and more for an impressive list of cartoons, animated films and video games. His Imdb.com credits reads like the ultimate Who's Who in comics and pop culture icons. Taylor can switch from Pippin in "Lord of the Rings" to an impeccable Christopher Walken impression in the blink of an eye.

For The Clone Wars series airing on Cartoon Network, Taylor voices Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (continuing his voice work for the character from the original Clone Wars 2-D animated series), and Jedi Master Plo Koon. Starwars.com chats with Taylor about his work on the new TV series, his preparation for each role, and why even as a kid he was excited to channel his inner Jedi.

Here's the FULL interview below.


How did the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi come to you for the new Clone Wars TV series?

I actually began doing the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi for the Clone Wars micro-series awhile back. I had done some voice over work of actor Ewan McGregor doing an American voice in the past -- he has such a wide range, and we have very similar tones. So I had auditioned for the Obi-Wan micro-series role not knowing what it was for because they were so secretive about it as they should be. Then from there I voiced him for the Star Wars video games, The Clone Wars film, and now the new Clone Wars TV series, which is so much fun to do.

Considering that Ewan McGregor studied the voice patterns and inflections from Sir Alec Guinness in the original trilogy, how do you prepare to voice a beloved character like Obi-Wan Kenobi?

I went back to the roots of the character Obi-Wan as voiced by Sir Alec Guinness and thought to myself, "What would he sound like but younger?" Ewan and I have similar tones, so I tried it first as a young man in that voice. There's a lot that goes on in my head when I match people, which is one of my specialties. I picture the person in my head, I feel my throat change, and go through all of that. So I really kind of pictured this young Obi-Wan and match that with what Ewan was doing for the films. In my iPod I have every line he's ever said as Obi-Wan. And I keep all of those as my background template.



Did you do any kind of Method Acting techniques to really get inside Obi-Wan's head like reading books or comics that have more of his back story, or is it pretty much just concentrating on the sounds of the actors voices who portrayed Obi-Wan in the past?

Since I deal primarily with the voice itself, I was really trying to get into who the character is through his voice. So I mainly studied their voice patterns and acting styles, and how they came together and find a happy medium of all three of us. Basically, I'm doing Ewan McGregor doing Alec Guinness doing Obi-Wan Kenobi.

So how does that experience differ from voicing a character like Plo Koon who doesn't already have a well-known voice? Do you have more freedom to give him mannerisms and a completely new tone and diction, or is a lot of that decided already from the director -- especially considering that Plo Koon is Clone Wars director Dave Filoni's favorite Star Wars character?

Initially Dave asked me when we were in a session if I could try out Plo Koon as Ian McKellen as Gandalf in "Lord of the Rings" to see where it went. And to really think of the inner wisdom of Gandalf but put his voice in my own slant as Plo Koon. So I came up with this voice and the sound designers help manipulate it even more. It is so much fun to do Plo Koon's voice because I get to take it wherever I think that voice should go, but Dave keeps me in that realm of Plo's reserved demeanor. All these Jedi Masters are contained in their manner and way of speaking, and are always in control. So it's fun to let him go sometimes. I do stay within a range of the voice and where I can take it.

Which of the two voices is your favorite to do? Or is that too much like having to pick your favorite child?

It really is like choosing between your children. [laughs]. In the series Plo has a great story arc, but it goes even deeper in the video games and he has a lot of dialog where we can all learn even more about him. So in those sessions, sometimes I'm voicing Plo and then Obi-Wan right after. And as a voice actor that's the funnest thing to be all these different people all the time. So I can't really choose favorites. I just love getting into that character that I'm voicing at that specific time. So it's a blast to do both Obi-Wan and Plo Koon.

As a kid did you ever impersonate your favorite Star Wars characters when you were playing with your toys or with other kids?

When I was four years old I decided I wanted to do cartoon voices and impressions, and be a comedian. Or at least that's the story my mom tells me. [laughs]. But I remember the first time I saw Star Wars and then getting the Han Solo outfit with the vest and the stripe up the one pant leg and all the things just right. I'd do my best little kid Harrison Ford impression. And I'd do the Obi-Wan line "The Force will always be with you" in the voice. We had our blasters and action figures. I was the total Star Wars freak fan.

Who was your favorite Star Wars character of all time?

As a kid, Han Solo was my favorite. Though I don't think I've ever admitted this in any other interview, Raiders of the Lost Ark was my favorite film of all time, and when I was a kid I would go watch it play every day during the summer at the Magic Lantern Theater in Santa Barbara where I grew up. That movie was kind of my babysitter. I literally saw it hundreds of times, and I still have all the ticket stubs in a box. So clearly I was always partial to Harrison Ford's work. But now, before I was even cast, Obi-Wan is the stand out character for me. There's a lot to admire about him. If you really go back and see all the films, you realize you're seeing his life unfold through these stories. So I'm split between the two characters.

As a voice actor do you feel like you have more freedom with a character than you would if you were on camera?

There is more freedom in voice over work, especially for someone who's 5'4 and 110 pounds and doesn't look the part that I'm doing most of the time. Like being the voice of Fred Flintstone, for example, for the first session the director refused to buy that I was the person doing the voice. I have that happen quite a bit where people who haven't heard me yet think I can't possibly do the voice, just based on my appearance. But if I do my job right, people won't hear my voice and think James Arnold Taylor, they'll think of the character. I love the people I get to work with when I'm voice acting. As opposed to a wretched hive of scum and villainy, you'll never find a more generous group of humble people. [laughs]



So do you read from a script and then the show is animated, or is it the other way around? And do you get to record the session with all the actors there, or are you sequestered from the group when recording lines?

For all The Clone Wars stuff we get in the room together, and Dave sits us down and goes over the story. And of course confidentiality comes into play in that we get the scripts just a little before we read them, which is good to be fresh right before a session. Generally speaking, most of the cast is in the room together. We read and record it all. Then they animated it amazingly fast. Then they come back and we do pickups.

It's great that you get to record your lines as a group together to capture that genuine interaction amongst the characters. As you know from your long history as a voice actor, lot of TV shows and movies often record the actors separately instead.

Exactly. A good portion of shows I do, all video games, and generally most movies are done that way. There are a lot of shows that do recordings with a single actor because they think it's more efficient. Which was great about The Clone Wars film in that we got to do it together, and I think that makes a difference in the performances. You get all of us together and we have a good time. Then again, voice actors are kind of used to talking to ourselves. [laughs]

Since you do both voices of Obi-Wan and Plo Koon, how hard is it to do a take where they are talking to each other?

I've done it for so long I have no problem flipping back and forth between both characters, and usually in shows I'll do that. I'm pretty comfortable as Obi-Wan saying - [Talking in Obi-Wan's voice] "Master Plo, what do you do?" - and then saying [Talking in Plo Koon's voice] "You must be mindful of the Force." It's fun.

That's so awesome! Your young daughter must get such a kick hearing you talk at the dinner table.

[laughs] Yeah she does a lot of the voices with me. She talks about Obi-Wan all the time.

It must be surreal to hear her dad do voices of some of her favorite cartoon characters considering how much voice over work you've done for The Powerpuff Girls, The Justice League, Teen Titans, Duck Dodgers and Scooby-Doo.

Actually, we limit her TV time quite a bit, so we treat her to story time instead. So I'll do various voices when we read her bedtime stories at night. She knows I do voice work, but the funny thing is, she thinks that I do all the voices on TV.

Well, looking at your bio, you kind of are.

I've been very fortunate to be involved in lots of different projects for sure.

Do you ever get to use your own voice on other projects?

Doing Leonardo's voice for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was probably the closest to my regular voice, as well as Ratchet in the Ratchet and Clank series. There's a new series call Batman: The Brave and the Bold that I'm working on as Green Arrow which is pretty close to my normal voice. Ironically, I have a harder time acting in my regular voice than I do someone else's voice. I had to do some singing in my regular voice for a project and I felt more exposed than I do in another voice.<

We have quite a few Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans here and we always talk about the great all-musical episode that Joss Whedon did. So maybe one of us should be hinting to Dave Filoni that there needs to be an all-musical Clone Wars episode so we can test our your Plo Koon singing voice!

[laughs] We would all love that!

Obviously you're already a Star Wars fan, but also as a parent, why do you think the next generation of Star Wars fans will get a kick out of the new Clone Wars TV series?

It really gives us a chance to see our favorite characters and what they go through on a daily basis, not just the specialized moments within their lives we've seen in the films. We get to really experience a moment in time in their lives more so, which certainly for us as actors we can pull from. It allows everybody into that world on a more regular basis which is fun. It becomes a new part of our world other than just films. I think fans will be really blow away by it. One of my favorite episodes is one where we really get to explore Obi-Wan and some of the past relationships he's had, so it's something you can only explore properly in a series like this.

Lastly, I have to ask about something on your credits list -- what were you hired to do to sound like Christopher Walken?

[Answers in Christopher Walken's voice] "Well the thing is, I did Christopher Walken's voice for a James Bond game." I guess I did a good job because when people reviewed the game they said Walken's performance was great and gave him a great review. It was a younger Walken.

I wonder if Walken just assumed he did it?

[laughs] He might. It was a fun voice to do, and I've done his voice for other projects.

There is of course the Christopher Walken - Star Wars connection thanks to actor Kevin Spacey's impression of Walken as Obi-Wan Kenobi from that hilarious screen test skit on Saturday Night Live.

Oh yes!

It would be great to get Walken to do a voice acting guest appearance on The Clone Wars, but if he can't it's good to know you can do his voice.

We actually have had some fun during Clone Wars recording sessions where Dave will ask for different voices. In The Clone Wars film there's a medic droid who pops up for a little cameo and gets a nice laugh in the movie, and that's me doing an impression of actor Jeff Goldblum. One of my favorite impressions to do is Doc and Marty from Back to the Future, so I may do a character that is similar to Christopher Lloyd. I did actually do a scene just for fun for Dave with Obi-Wan and Anakin as Doc and Marty. [laughs] So there's little bits of other people you may find throughout the series.


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SOURCE: Starwars.com (partial interview)