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Kyle MacLachlan
Voice of Superman
Justice League: The New Frontier
From his head-turning debuts in “Dune” and “Blue Velvet” to his iconic
Special Agent Dale Cooper in “Twin Peaks” and his current plum primetime
role on “Desperate Housewives,” Kyle MacLachlan has had a memorable
career.
Now you can add a new benchmark for the actor: MacLachlan makes his
animation debut as the voice of Superman in the highly-anticipated
direct-to-DVD film, “Justice League: The New Frontier.”
“Superman stands for so many things that I believe in – strength,
justice, fighting for what’s right,” said MacLachlan. “You just can’t
turn down the opportunity to play a guy like Superman.”
MacLachlan is an integral part of an all-star cast that includes Neil
Patrick Harris, David Boreanaz, Brooke Shields, Miguel Ferrer, Jeremy
Sisto, Kyra Sedgwick and Phil Morris. Casting for the film focused on
finding actors that could channel the tones of the Korean war era of the
mid-1950s without sounding corny or old-fashioned.
“Kyle MacLachlan is the perfect example – he sounds exactly like what
you’d think a ‘50s era Superman would sound like,” explains executive
producer Bruce Timm. “He’s very righteous and good, but still very
natural. We didn’t want the sound of Superman in 2008, and Kyle gave
such a great, stylized performance in capturing that mid-50s feel.”
MacLachlan doesn’t claim any specific talent for a ‘50s super hero – he
just tried to echo the Superman in his psyche.
“There’s a sort of moral imperative that Superman has, and I think the
language he uses is a little more proper -- he’s just not a guy who uses
his words casually,” MacLachlan said. “So maybe, unconsciously, that
1950s tone just creeps in there for me.”
MacLachlan enjoyed his first voiceover experience in animation, though
it was not without challenges. As usual, the cast recorded the script
before the animation began, then the cast returned to the booth about 10
months later to add and tweak the dialogue and effects. While MacLachlan
is accustomed to live-action looping, the animation equivalent proved
more challenging.
“When I’m synching to myself in live action, which is what I usually do,
my mouth moves the same way and I can see it visually and it somehow
connects,” MacLachlan said. “This is a little more difficult because the
animated mouth moves a little differently -- the animation doesn’t quite
have the same amount of detail that you would see in a real-life
performance. Like the word “strategy” – we were having trouble in the
booth getting that one right because I couldn’t really see how it was
formed in my animated mouth. But we made it all work.”
MacLachlan found particular amusement in the voicing the action
sequences within the film, particularly those moments that called for
going beyond even the far-reaching imagination of his roles in David
Lynch films.
“The physical performance is fun – you have to use your imagination a
lot more,” he said. “It’s a lot of grunts and oomphs and ughs, which you
just can’t help but act out physically. I’m sure it looks funny from the
other side of the glass. Like in one scene, it was about getting hit
with a pterodactyl wing versus getting punched by a super villain.
There’s apparently a difference in that sound. So you have to shade it a
bit and use the imagination.”
MacLachlan admits it will be tough to accept another super hero role
after his performance in “Justice League: The New Frontier.”
“Once you’ve done Superman, it’s hard to go anywhere else,” MacLachlan
said. “So I think I’ve reached the zenith of my super hero experience.”
Interview and images provided by Warner Bros. Animation.
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