Interview with Guests: Corinne Orr, Peter Fernandez, Sonny Strait at Anime North 2007
Interviewer = Other Media Groups.
The PRE-Interview Jokes
Interviewer: Peter, why don't you tell us about all of the wonderful voices you've done? You've done Speed Racer, Marine Boy, Ultraman; you did stuff for the Enchanted Journeys, Galaxy Rangers, Thunderbirds, Gigantor, Astroboy; you've done some of the most classic anime, what was it like?
Peter: A job. *everyone laughs*
Peter: Well, I mean, we were all just professionals in the studio to do the jobs that we were hired for.
Interviewer: Did you ever thing it would get so big?
Peter: What, Speed Racer? No, it was just another job at the time, I was given the series from Japan, my only instructions were to Americanize it, so in doing the scripts, I could name all the characters, and try to sneak humor in where I could. Maybe it was adult humor, but it was stuff like "this dangerous situation is getting dangerous!"
Corinne: The crooked straights.
Sonny: And Trixie! Wait... Was that an adult joke or not?
Peter: No, do you want to make one? *everyone laughs*
Sonny: With a name like Trixie. *laughs again*
Interviewer: Why don't you tell us about your experience? You did Nova on Star Blazers, and that’s one of my favorite characters of all time.
Corinne: I love doing voices, I just enjoy doing it so much, but Speed was awesome as Spritle, peter hated.
*Peter Interjects*
Corinne: Yes?
Peter: Well, I was just gonna say, I'm doing a new Speed series now and it takes place 25 years or so after the original series, and Speed is no longer there and so forth, but I'm playing a character who was in the original series. And you'll never guess what character.
Interviewer: Who?
Peter: Spritle
Corinne: First I was Spritle now he's Spritle! Something's wrong in here!
Interviewer: (referring to Corinne) So naturally you have to play Speed.
Corinne: He'll have a sexual operation *laugh*
Peter: Now I'm a 40-year-old man who runs a driving school.
Corinne: He's come a long way from a kid with a monkey in the trunk.
Interviewer: Another favorite character you do is snuggle.
Corinne: *snuggle voice* It's soft and fluffy! *everyone laughs*
Corinne: I've been doing it 18 years.
Interviewer: You did a lot for Sesame Street, one of the greatest kids shows ever made.
Corinne: I did a lot, I played Penny the Garbage Can and the Letter M Mom.
Anime Station: What inspires you? Where do you pull your inspiration from?
Peter: Well, if it's dubbing, you pull it from what's on the screen.
Sonny: We're fortunate now because we have so much manga as well as anime, when I got the part as Krillin, I went and got all the Dragon Ball Z manga I could find to get inside the head of this character. Didn't have that luxury back then but we have it now.
Corinne: I find that, even with commercials I look at the picture and try to imagine what they would sound like, as well as body movement, that tells a lot, how the body is shaped.
Sonny: Yeah that's true, the physicality and facial expressions. There was a character I did named Sinshiro and he had buck teeth and I got the part because I was actually showing buck teeth in the booth.
Corinne: Exactly, thats how it does it. The visual helps me a lot.
Interviewer: So Sonny, why don't you tell us about yours, I mean you've done Dragon Ball Z, Full Metal Alchemist, Lupin III, and Toonami Tom. What was it like doing those?
Sonny: it was great because we had done dubbing up to that point, so you had to match mouth flaps and everything. Well, Tom didn't have a mouth so I could just read the lines any ways I wanted to and it was the easiest and funniest gig I ever did.
Interviewer: Peter, can you tell us about the Godzilla movies?
Peter: I only saw the loops of my character and we just went in and did our parts and that was it. We didn’t see the full movies until many years later when they were released on DVD. We only went in as an actor to do that days job.
Anime Station: Was there ever a challenging script you ever had to work with?
Anime Station: Sonny this question is for you – in terms of illustrations how did you get into that industry?
Sonny: I have been struggling in that industry for years and I’ve had 12 books published here and there. Then I got into Dragon Ball Z and went to Comic Con, and Wendy Pini who created Elf Quest - was a fan of Dragon Ball Z and she drew out the characters for the voice actors, so I thought I would surprise her and draw her characters and give it back to her. So she said “I didn’t know you could draw – do you want to draw for me?” And so I moved to LA to become an apprentice in her studio and drew two 58 page stories for Elf Quest and the book I’m doing now is the first project I’ve done after that – and it’s for Tokyo Pop.
Corinne: That’s just so great Sonny! I’m so proud of you!
Sonny: Aw… So is my mom!
(Everyone laughs)
Anime Station: What’s the best way to get into voice acting if you’re interested?
Sonny: If you know a producer or just see them and sleep with them... hahaha Really, though if you want a voice actor just get into acting and get as much experience as you can get even if its just community theatre.
Peter: To be a voice actor you must be an actor first.
Sonny: Exactly! Because you need to be able to compete against the others out there who may also have acting experience behind them. It’s not always about the resumes, if I’m casting a show I want to know that you’ll be able to do a character or not. If you’re good you’ll get a call back.
Anime Station: Who is your favorite person to work with?
Corinne: (points to Peter) Peter, we’ve done so many cartoons together and worked together so long. I’m very relaxed with working with him.
Peter: I don’t really have a favorite person who I’ve worked with…
Corinne: OH PETER! My heart is broken! *everyone laughs*
Peter: No, what I mean to say is that I enjoy working with good actors, it makes a job so much easier for one thing and I’m an actor.
Corinne: You like working with professionals - real actors who have talent.
Sonny: My favorite was working with the Lupin The Third cast.
Anime Station: How did you record at Funimation? Would you audition in groups or solo.
Sonny: Mainly we do it one at a time, and a lot of people ask if we know “so and so”, but we don’t because there are over 100 actors, but if it was someone I directed then I probably would know of them.
Anime Station: Where do you see yourself in the future? Do you have any goals?
Corinne & Peter: Jobs!!
Peter: But I’m doing work on a big one now… I’m working on the live-action Speed Racer, and they start shooting this month and it’s being done by the Wachowski brothers – the guys who did The Matrix and I’ll be meeting them in about two weeks.
Interviewer: So you’re going to be in the film?
Peter: Yes, I am doing a cameo – I’ll be a sportscaster flying over one of the races. They will be shooting in front of a blue and green screen – so I have no idea what the scene will even look like.
Corinne: They didn’t want me…
Everyone: Awwww…
Corinne: It doesn’t matter though because I’m having a ball here at this Anime Festival! It couldn’t be more fun!
Sonny: I’m having a blast drawing manga right now – I’ve just started drawing We Shadows for Tokyo Pop and I’ve just finished the first one and I’m actually working on the second one right now. So I’m still writing it. I would love to keep doing that and working in anime too but eventually I would like to retire and become a mad scientist. I have some theories on time travel. (everyone laughs)
Anime Station: You previously said you enjoyed evil characters. Who were your favorites?
Anime Station: Do you watch your own productions which you were involved in?
Anime Station: Do you have stories that you can share with us which relates to a fan?
Peter: At some autograph sessions, some people have some very touching stories. One was at an auto show and a fellow came up and said “I want to thank you – I owe my whole career to you” and I said “what do you mean” and he replied “Speed, I use to rush home to watch the show and I would think about what I wanted to do when I grew up. Thanks to Speed I knew what I wanted to do.” So I asked him what he wanted to do and he told me that he worked for The Ford Motor Company.
Corinne: No fans really come up to me… hahaha!
