Ok, interest in the movie has peaked further.
Huh. I mean, I was already going to watch it, but now I guess I’m going to watch it harder.
Ha! Agreed!
First of all, this has Seth Rogen, who everyone loves. Rose Byrne voicing Leatherhead. Four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles who totally kick ass. And you got no Michael Bay.
F’n A to no Michael Bay!
Seth Rogan doesn’t really have the range for voice over work at least not recently, donkey Kong and now bebop have just been his regular voice without even any editing after the fact.
He’s a good actor, I just don’t think I’m convinced he’s a good choice actor yet. Maybe he just needs more time, Cena wasn’t great in that animated surfing movie, but from what I’ve seen he’s a pretty good Rocksteady.
He’s what the industry calls a stunt casting, which refers to the tonal archetype your character has behind them. Stunt casting doesn’t have to be bad or done poorly, and there are many beloved actors who would fit into the role. For example, the character of J. Jonah Jameson led to J.K. Simmons being stunt cast for a general in Justice League Unlimited, which effectively launched his voice acting career. He was then stunt cast again for The Legend of Korra as they wanted specifically his voice but he’d also shown how diverse a range he was able to deliver with Cave Johnson in Portal 2 and some featured animated movies.
Comparatively, Seth Rogan has literally said in interviews regarding the Super Mario Movie that he doesn’t ever plan to do anything but voice act as himself because he doesn’t need to. Which IMO is a bit of a disservice to the work that voice actors put in. The same show J.K. Simmons stars in Invincible with Seth Rogan, Allen the Alien’s character has no effort put into his lines, they’re all just him exploding basic sentences. It’s disappointing considering how much I used to like him, but between the association with Franco and his Gwenyth Paltrow product line for stoners (mostly just expensive junk) has really soured me on him. Then I read his interviews and his implications about voice acting put me off him now, he’s an enjoyable comedian but there’s not much more to it than that for him.
Regarding Cena - if you haven’t I highly recommend checking out James Gunn’s Suicide Squad and the following Peacemaker. That sold me on Cena’s ability, it just has to be the right roles and direction.
J.K. Simmons is amazing, I adore him. Cave Johnson was perfect and one of the big things that makes portal replays so fun.
He’s honestly a great voice actor! He does a wonderful job in pretty much everything he’s done. He also seems very attached to his characters, it seems like he genuinely enjoyed his recurring roles as Cave J. Johnsenson.
I’m also glad he was actually cast as Commissioner Gordon, I’ve always thought he’d be great for that role and he nailed it despite the rest of the junk that happened to surround him lol.
Other stunt cast mentions: Gilbert Godfried as Iago, Danny Devito as Philoctetes, Giancarlo Esposito as The Dentist (Payday 2)
Minor note: Stunt casting can also refer to just the sheer weight of someones name being attached to an otherwise unlikely to be popular film, or like what happened with Chris Pratt in Super Mario where it’s a publicity stunt. But it has a range of meanings, and for the VA industry it refers to the actors stunt of their performance - who they are is all they need to be.
And that being said, Chris Pratt put more effort into being an Italian American than Seth Rogan put into being an ape.
Danny devito might always sound the same, but the writing and his effort always make the characters feel different, both as an actor and a voice actor.
Touche on Gilbert though
Like I said, stunt casting definitely isn’t a bad thing! It’s all about the effort the actors put into the work, and I wholeheartedly agree with you. Chris Pratt also didn’t sound great during the released trailers for the Super Mario Movie, but the movie itself was much different from how he sounded in the trailer so I think it was a case of internet hate.
Even though Gilbert Godfried is a bit of a different story with just how unique his voice was, he still managed to have more range than Seth Rogen phoning it in on these roles the last few years lol. The sad part is I wouldn’t fully mind if he had fewer roles and were a little more respectful
He plays himself in everything. Literally 0 range.
He’s one of those actors that doesn’t do any of the work. Just shows up and does the same as always.
Well, apparently not everyone loves Seth Rogan. ;) With that said, Rogan gets a +1 from me for roping in NIN to score the movie, which is what this post was about.
