What do Spider-Man, Fred Flintstone, Captain 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 read like the ultimate Who's Who in pop culture characters. Taylor can switch from Pippin in The 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 micro-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.
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 a while back. I had done some voiceover 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 Obi-Wan 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 of Sir Alec Guinness in the original film trilogy, how did 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 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 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 Clone Wars director Dave Filoni? Was there extra pressure on you to make Plo awesome since that's Dave's favorite character?
Initially, Dave asked me when we were in a session if I could try out Plo Koon as Ian McKellen as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings to see where it went. He wanted me to really think of the inner wisdom of Gandalf but put 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 asking 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 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 voiceover 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]
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.
