Backstage
- John C. McGinely Interview
John C.
McGinley scrubs in as super villain
Metallo in Superman/Batman: Public
Enemies Scrubs star joins stellar
voice cast for all-new DC Universe
Animated Original PG-13 Movie
From
the trauma of war in Oliver Stone films
to hospital humor on Scrubs, John C.
McGinley has covered the acting gamut.
But in his latest role – as the voice of
Metallo in Superman/Batman: Public
Enemies – McGinley finally gets to
delve into a characterization he has
rarely been offered: pure villainy.
McGinley voices one of the featured
villains in Superman/Batman: Public
Enemies, a blockbuster blast of
super heroes and villains alike that
includes the voices of Kevin Conroy
(Batman), Tim Daly (Superman), Clancy
Brown (Lex Luthor), Allison Mack (Power
Girl), Xander Berkeley (Captain Atom),
Ricardo Chavira (Major Force), LeVar
Burton (Black Lightning), CCH Pounder
(Amanda Waller) and a host of others.
Warner Premiere, DC Comics and
Warner Bros. Animation are set to
release the all-new Superman/Batman:
Public Enemies on September 29, 2009
in a Blu-Ray™ Hi-Def edition, a special
edition 2-disc DVD, and a single disc
DVD. Warner Home Video will distribute
the action-packed movie, which will also
be available OnDemand and Pay-Per-View
as well as available for download that
same day.
Superman/Batman:
Public Enemies is based on the
popular Jeph Loeb/Ed McGuinness comic
series/graphic novel. Animation legend
Bruce Timm (Superman Doomsday,
Green Lantern: First Flight) is
executive producer. Michael Goguen (Justice
League: The New Frontier) is
supervising producer. Sam Liu (The
Batman) is directing a script
written by Stan Berkowitz (Justice
League: The New Frontier).
In
the film, United States President Lex
Luthor uses the oncoming trajectory of a
Kryptonite asteroid to frame Superman
and declare a $1 billion bounty on the
heads of the Man of Steel and his
“partner in crime,” Batman. Heroes and
villains alike launch a relentless
pursuit of Superman and Batman, who must
unite – and recruit help – to stave off
the action-packed onslaught, stop the
asteroid, and uncover Luthor’s devious
plot to take command of far more than
North America.
McGinley has
crafted a well-rounded career in film
and television, forcing audiences to
instantly take note with his
performances in Oliver Stone films like
Platoon and Born on the Fourth
of July. McGinley has garnered
top-notch reviews for his turns in
Any Given Sunday, Office Space,
Wall Street, The Rock,
Nixon and Point Break, and he
is instantly recognizable to television
audiences for his portrayal of the
sarcastic, abusive, hilarious Dr. Cox in
169 episodes of Scrubs. Mc Ginley
is also no stranger to animation, having
spent significant hours in the sound
booth recording for The Boondocks,
Justice League (as The Atom),
WordGirl (as The Whammer) and in
guest spots on King of the Hill,
Kim Possible, Robot Chicken
and Spider-Man.
McGinley
took a few minutes after his recording
session as Metallo to discuss the
pleasures of preparation, the
similarities of Andrea Romano and Oliver
Stone, his personal commitment the
National Down Syndrome Society’s Buddy
Walk, and the definition around
Hollywood casting departments of the
“John C. McGinley type.” But enough of
our words, here are his – a Q&A with
John C. McGinley, the voice of Metallo
in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.
QUESTION: What were the
joys and challenges of getting behind a
microphone for a character like Metallo?
JOHN C. MCGINLEY: It’s a
real treat to collaborate with the
creative folks once you get in the
booth. Ten out of ten times the people
on the other side of the glass know the
character better than you are ever going
to – they have been working on this for
months or years. All you can do is try
to return serve because you are given
all this wonderful, precise direction.
I’ve found over the years it is really,
really helpful to just integrate and go.
It’s also a treat that the people on the
other side of the glass are pretty much
the top one percent of their
industry, and I get to have this kind of
creative input. You get on a lot of film
sets and everybody is rolling the dice.
Everybody is guessing their best. The
people in that booth are not guessing,
they know this stuff backwards. That to
me is a huge asset.
QUESTION:
What were your impressions of the script
for Superman/Batman: Public Enemies?
JOHN C. MCGINLEY: The fun
part for me showing up on any set is the
preparation. A lot of times when you are
doing a play or a film, things are going
to go wrong. You’re going to lose the
light or the sound is going to stop
working. Even in a controlled
environment like that booth, which lends
itself to things going right and to
things flourishing, there are sometimes
things that can go wrong and, thus,
compromises will need to be made. So it
behooves the actor to come loaded for
bear. If you are 100 percent ready and
we have to make 40 percent compromises,
then unless you have that other 60
percent ready it is going to kind of
just go flat instead of elevating it. My
favorite thing, which may sound a little
presumptuous, is to try to elevate the
material.
QUESTION:
Did you enter the world of super heroes
through comic books or otherwise?
JOHN C. MCGINLEY: My
earliest memories of Batman are watching
the live-action series with Batman and
Robin. That was the coolest Batmobile
and you had Frank Gorshin as the Riddler
and Caesar Romero being the Joker. As
far as Superman goes, it was more about
the Christopher Reeve films. I was not a
comic book reader. When we played as
kids, we were always acting out stuff we
saw Batman doing, or the Green Hornet or
Aquaman. But that inspiration came from
Saturday morning cartoons and not proper
comic books.
QUESTION:
As a non-comics reader, does voicing a
comic character still lend itself to
some child-like thrill for you?
JOHN C. MCGINLEY: Well, of
course, it is big fat privilege to work
with these characters – and it is really
fun now with Hi-Def. It just kind of
jumps off the screen, and the transfers
(to Hi-Def) are so beautiful now and
perfect. It’s completely thrilling
because the state of the art has
exceeded anybody's wildest expectations.
It is astonishing. It is not as fun to
see my voice come out of a character as
it is really rewarding. To be a tiny
component in the evolution of animation
as the voice of a character is
thrilling.
My son is old enough
to hear and recognize my voice coming
out of the characters, but it doesn't
resonate with him yet. My daughter will,
and that is pretty cool. Not necessarily
to be a killer robot, but we will see
how things evolve.
QUESTION:
Actors tend to be very self-critical. Is
it easier to watch an animated film with
your voice coming out of a character
than it is to watch yourself on-screen
in live-action productions?
JOHN C. MCGINLEY: If I have a
script early enough, I have a room set
aside in our house as a rehearsal space.
I set up a camera and I rehearse in
front of the camera, especially for Dr.
Cox on Scrubs, who has these long
two-page, single-space rants. So it is
almost like somebody practicing foul
shots. It sounds simple – go to the free
throw line and shoot a foul shot. But
Larry Bird shot a million foul shots in
French Lick before he ever tried for
Indiana State or the Boston Celtics. So
I feel like if you have text early
enough, it really is in the actor's best
interests to go just hash about in front
of a lens.
One thing the lens
does is it exposes bad habits. Like an
X-ray machine taking a picture of a
fracture. We all have nervous ticks,
things we do when you can't remember a
line. But if you watch yourself, you can
see for yourself – the camera exposes
those liabilities like an X-ray machine.
So yes, I watch myself on film as much
as possible because the learning curve
just objectively is through the roof.
QUESTION: You’ve worked
with some impressive live-action
directors. What’s it like working with
Andrea Romano in the animated realm?
JOHN
C. MCGINLEY: Andrea Romano is not
dissimilar to Oliver Stone in a lot of
ways, in as much as they’re both like a
thoroughbred at The Kentucky Derby. They
both put on creative blinders like a
thoroughbred. Oliver and Andrea both put
on blinders and invite you into that
narrow creative vision which is the
perfect division for the piece. So that
you don't have to do anything, you don't
have to guess. Come right inside here
and it is going to be good. When you
come in there with Oliver Stone or with
Andrea, it is Nirvana. You will now
shine.
QUESTION: We’ve
heard the expression, but can you define
a John C. McGinley “type”?
JOHN C. MCGINLEY: The John C.
McGinley type usually is one of about
seven different things. It is a niche
that I fell into, not of my own doing,
but it became the part in the films
where either you are the best friend,
the co-worker, the bad guy, the brother
who dies and compels the hero into
action in the third act, the boss, now
the father of the kids, the head of the
hospital usually in a position of
authority. For a long time there was a
group of us – Ving Rhames, me and about
a half a dozen other guys – who would be
the component in the story. Who would
reiterate the who, what, where, when and
how a couple times throughout the movie.
You need somebody who can speak the
speech without getting in the way of the
speech. The hero is not going to do
that. So every once in a while
throughout the progression of a story,
we need to be reminded where the bomb
is, when it is going to go off and who
the bad guys are. So that the hero can
do his job. That “type” has paid the
bills for a long time.
QUESTION: You’re a bit of a super
hero yourself as the national
spokesperson for the National Down
Syndrome Society’s Buddy Walk. What’s
the essence of this endeavor?
JOHN C. MCGINLEY: The Buddy Walk
is our national day of empowerment,
encouragement and elevation. There are
nearly 300 walks that happen in
September and October throughout the
United States – and these are great,
great days. When you have a child born
with special needs, a lot of parents
think they did something wrong. They
beat themselves up and they don't
realize that there is a much larger
community out there who also have kids
with special needs. This is a day of
inclusion, where we want people to know
that you have a chance now to be a great
parent, which is what it is going to
take. The day is as much about including
and loving the caregivers as it is about
the kids. We attempt to raise money, but
that is not really my mantra. It is
about coming out and just getting the
love. It is all about introducing people
to nutritional intervention and further
education. It’s a short walk – not a
marathon, just a mile. And it is a
lovely day where we include, elevate and
celebrate the similarities that the
children and the parents have instead of
their differences. It’s a very important
cause.
For more information,
images and updates, please visit the
film’s official website at
www.SupermanBatmanDVD.com.
Suggested captions for attached
images:
S-B2.jpg
Batman helps a wounded Superman escape
the relentless pursuit of Metallo in the
next DC Universe animated original
movie, Superman/Batman: Public
Enemies, which is set for
distribution September 29, 2009 by
Warner Home Video. John C. McGinley
provides the voice of Metallo.
Metal_02.jpg Metallo emerges from the
flames to challenge Superman in the next
DC Universe animated original movie,
Superman/Batman: Public Enemies,
which is set for distribution September
29, 2009 by Warner Home Video. John C.
McGinley provides the voice of Metallo.
Metal_05.jpg Metallo morphs his
appendages into weapons to take on a
weakened Superman in the next DC
Universe animated original movie,
Superman/Batman: Public Enemies,
which is set for distribution September
29, 2009 by Warner Home Video. John C.
McGinley provides the voice of Metallo.
Metal_09.jpg Metallo scans a
cemetery in search of a beaten Superman
– in hopes of finishing off the Man of
Steel – in the next DC Universe animated
original movie, Superman/Batman:
Public Enemies, which is set for
distribution September 29, 2009 by
Warner Home Video. John C. McGinley
provides the voice of Metallo.
Trademark information for the images:
SUPERMAN © Warner Bros. Ent Inc. BATMAN
© Warner Bros. Ent Inc. "SUPERMAN" and
“BATMAN” and all related characters and
elements are trademarks of and © DC
Comics. © Warner Bros. Entertainment
Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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