Featured Voices: Omara Portuondo

Shoutcastblog.com reports that Latin Grammy-winner and legendary Cuban singer Omara Portuondo has been cast as Moma Odie for the Spanish dub of Disney’s The Princess and the Frog (‘Tiana y el sapo’).

Learn more about her career on her official site: OmaraPortuondo.com.

Previous Featured Voices.

Golden Globes Nominees Announced

The toonzone reports (via GoldenGlobes.org) that the nominees for the 67th annual Golden Globes have been announced.

While the nominees do include a few celebrities who have had voice roles, none of their voice acting roles were nominated so I’m not mentioning them here.

However, nominated in the category for “Best Animated Feature Film” are:

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Coraline

Fantastic Mr. Fox

The Princess and the Frog

Up

Additionally, James Cameron’s Avatar — the big-budget live-action/computer-animated/motion-capture epic — has surprisingly received four nominations: Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director – Motion Picture, Best Original Score – Motion Picture, and Best Original Song – Motion Picture.

Yes, you read that correctly: Best Motion Picture – Drama.

I know. Shocking, isn’t it?

And 20th Century Fox is touting Avatar as “the next generation of 3D” and furthermore (and rather presumptuously, I must say) as “the greatest adventure of all time.” Cameron even says in an interview, “It doesn’t look like anything you’ve seen before.”

I’m reserving my judgement until I see it, but if you believe the advance hype, this movie is some sort of life-altering event that will change everything: the way films are made, the way sandwiches are made, and the way babies are made. Next comes people painting themselves blue and thinking they can jump off cliffs and not be injured.

It’s just beyond rare for this sort of special FX, sci-fi/fantasy extravaganza to get such accolades from an organization like the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (host of The Golden Globes).

And you might be wondering, as I am, why Avatar received four nominations and yet none involve the cast, nor is a single actor from the film even acknowledged… like Sam Worthington who performs triple duties in this film: live action, motion-capture and voice actor (and likely did some of his own stunts too).

Aussie blogger Giles Hardie with The Sydney Morning Herald makes a great case for this. Give it a click. It’s well worth the read.

James Cameron’s Avatar opens in theaters Friday, December 18th and stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel Moore, Wes Studi and Laz Alonso. Also look/listen for CCH Pounder as Moat. Pounder has voiced characters in such animated series as Justice League, W.I.T.C.H., Static Shock, Batman Beyond and Gargoyles.

IMDb.com has a full cast list as well as a video link with a behind-the-scenes featurette interviewing Cameron and members of the cast and crew.

On a related topic, the toonzone blog has been doing a series reflecting on the worst and best animation of this past decade: Toons of the 2000s, and among them is a spotlight on the Top 5 Animated Features.

The Jim Cummings Interview: Outtakes, Photos and Biography

Jim Cummings in an undated publicity photo. (Photo credit: Disney PR)

Toon Zone has published my interview with cartoon voice acting legend Jim Cummings, originally conducted by phone July 28th just prior to the August 4th DVD release of The Tigger Movie 10th Anniversary Edition.

In this candid and extensive interview, Jim discusses The Tigger Movie; his process for performing voice matches/sound-alikes; his role as Ray the firefly in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog (and the controversies surrounding the film); his Daytime Emmy nomination; Sterling Holloway (Pooh’s original voice); Phil Harris (Disney’s Jungle Book, Robin Hood); his cameo in the live-action Comic Book: The Movie; and the infamous “Carol Channing Story.”

I’m also pleased to announce that Jim’s full audio from this interview will be available here exclusively in the near future.

And to my fellow Jim Cummings fans out there — especially those reading this by way of Toon Zone, Jim’s Facebook fanpage (hosted by Hillary DePiano, webmaster of The Cult of Cummings), The Voiceover Bulletin Board, and The Acorn Cafe — if you’re curious to know how it was to get the chance to chat with Jim on the phone…

Well, words like “thrilled,” “excited,” and “beyond ecstatic” come to mind. I lost count how many different character voices did during the course of the interview (which you’ll hear in the audio later), so it was like getting a private, one-man show (which others will be able to enjoy later when the audio is posted).

I should mention that this interview was booked on very short notice, giving me very little prep time. But I’m very grateful and appreciative to Ed at Toon Zone for passing the opportunity along to me.

Initially, it was scheduled to be only a 10-minute interview. However, Dustin Sandoval of Click Communications graciously honored my request to extend my interview to 20 minutes, and then my Disney contact permitted it to run a full 30 minutes. Otherwise, I would have never had time to cover the core topics I hoped to address.

Here’s an excerpt from my original interview, omitted from the published version at Toon Zone because it was a dated question about the status of Jim’s official website: JimJCummings.com. Up until the time of the interview, his site had been down for quite some time, so I asked him when it might return. And unfortunately, my audio recording software glitched during part of his response and thus made it un-transcribable (if that’s a word). So to summarize, Jim explained his site had been down due to switching servers, although he didn’t quite know how to express it that way. He explained thusly:

I have to be honest with you. I’m still a bit of a “Luddite” – I think I topped out at VCRs. (laughs) I’m part Amish. I kind of put the site up [in 2007] in the original form and it’s kind of stayed there ever since. It’s been fun [to make] for people. What can I say…my mom likes it.

Jim also assured me that it would be back for good after it relaunched, which as you can now see is back — probably happened sometime in early August due to the release of The Tigger Movie and other interviews Jim did concerning his Daytime Emmy nomination.

Another excerpt you won’t hear in the final version of the published audio is my confession to Jim that I went — by myself — to see The Tigger Movie when it first premiered in February 2000, simply because Jim was involved in the movie.

In 2000, I was almost 30 years old and single with no kids. So for me to be sitting — by myself — in a theater with parents and kids just to hear Jim’s performance… well, that’s true fan devotion for you. (Although I’m sure parents in the audience who saw me by myself, watching a kids movie, thought I was some kind of creepy, weirdo geek.)

But Jim seemed flattered that I had done this, and said that it was nothing to be ashamed of.

Moving onto the reason the interview was scheduled in the first place — The Tigger Movie 10th Anniversary Edition DVD…

In spite of the film’s flaws and young target demographic, it’s an entertaining film on the merits of the traditional animation, the musical numbers composed by the legendary Sherman Brothers, and the great character voice performances, including:

– Jim Cummings skillfully performing both Tigger and Pooh (who also sings as both characters in the film)
– Ken Sansom as Rabbit
– John Fiedler as Piglet
– Peter Cullen as Eeyore
– Andre Stojka as Owl
– Nikita Hopkins as Roo
– Kath Soucie as Kanga
– Tom Attenborough as Christopher Robin
– John Hurt as the Narrator

It’s also visually appealing as the animators were able to recreate the animation style from the original Winnie the Pooh cartoons. And for those of you with younger children, it’s a lighthearted, fun family film (the DVD press release Disney provided states that the previous DVD release of the movie “is the best-selling pre-school DVD of all time” according to a 2008 Nielsen report).

And two previously-unreleased to DVD vintage Pooh cartoons are included as bonus features: “King the of Beasties” and “Tigger’s Houseguest” from The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh (1988), which features (besides the aforementioned cast who reprise their roles in The Tigger Movie) Paul Winchell as Tigger, Hal Smith as Owl, Michael Gough as Gopher, and Tim Hoskins as Christopher Robin.

Other features include a bonus digital copy of the movie (for Macs, PCs, portable digital devices), “Your Heart Will Lead You Home” Kenny Loggins music video, and for the kiddies: “Round My Family Tree” sing-along, Movie DVD Storybook, and interactive trivia and matching games. The trivia game is actually worth noting because, as Toon Zone’s Ed Liu says in his review, “correctly answering all the questions unlocks a pleasant, brief video on the history of Winnie the Pooh as a liteary figure and a Disney character.”

Unfortunately, Jim was not asked to record any new materials for this DVD release, as he stated in my interview.

I mentioned Jim’s role in Comic Book The Movie earlier — I’m actually planning a feature on CBTM since 2009 marks the 5th anniversary since the movie was released. I covered CBTM extensively for Toon Zone back in 2003 (here’s the archive of the original feature article). And then after the movie released on DVD January 27, 2004, I still had some additional materials related to the movie which I wasn’t able to publish due to lack of internet access.

I need some time to finish compiling data and recovering files and photos from an old hard drive, so this feature will be published sometime in November. I also hope to have some follow-up interviews with CBTM’s cast and crew to coincide with the article.

In the meantime, here are a few photos from the CBTM panel Mark Hamill hosted at the 2003 San Diego Comic-Con — easily one of the most entertaining con panels I have ever attended:

L to R: Roger Rose, Debbie Derryberry, Donna D'Errico, Jess Harnell, Jim Cummings, Mark Hamill

L to R: Roger Rose, Debbie Derryberry, Jess Harnell, Billy West, Jim Cummings, Mark Hamill

Jim Cummings with Craig Crumpton after the 'Comic Book: The Movie' panel at SDCC 2003.

And finally, Disney also provided a bio on Jim, added here for archival purposes:

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“Tell the kid he’s got it,” said the legendary Mel Blanc with a smile, after listening to a young man’s first demo tape of cartoon character voices. The year was 1984, “the kid,” was Jim Cummings. Since then, “the kid” has gone on to give life and voice to some of America’s most beloved animated characters, even a few of the late Mel Blanc’s, and in May, Cummings was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for his work as the lovable Tigger on Disney Channel’s “My Friends Tigger and Pooh,” in which he also voices everyone’s favorite bear, Winnie the Pooh.

Born and raised in Youngstown Ohio, Cummings spent Saturday mornings riveted to the TV screen as he mimicked the characters in his favorite cartoons, all the while dreaming that one day he would voice them himself. At age 19, he moved to New Orleans, where he performed as a drummer, a singer, a deck hand on riverboats, and even designed and created Mardi Gras floats, all the while absorbing the rich characters and accents that would some day find expression in animation.

Years later, Cummings relocated to Southern California and managed a video store as he pursued his childhood dream. He gave his first demo tape to a customer who was also a movie producer, and the rest, as they say, is history. In 1984, Cummings landed his first role as Lionel the Lion, in Disney Channel’s “Dumbo’s Circus.” During his illustrious career, he has worked extensively for the Walt Disney Studios voicing classic characters such as Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, King Louis, Kaa the Snake, Pete (formerly peg-legged Pete), and more. His many other Disney credits include Darkwing Duck, Bonkers, Fat Cat, and Monterey Jack on “Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers,” Don Karnage on “Talespin,” and too many others to mention here.

Cummings has done scores of voices for Warner Bros. as well, including Taz the Tasmanian Devil himself, Steven Spielberg’s “Animaniacs,” “Tiny Toon Adventures,” “Batman,” “Pinky and the Brain,” “Taz-Mania,” “Duck Dodgers,” and more. Other credits include “King of the Hill,” “Bump in the Night,” “Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius,” “The Replacements,” “The Addams Family,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Star Wars Clone Wars,” “The Simpsons,” “Barnyard,” and “Catdog.” He was also “AC,” the lead singer of the famed claymation “California Raisins” cartoon series.

Not limited to the small screen, Cummings has acted in several blockbuster feature films for Dreamworks including “Shrek,” “Antz,” “Kung Fu Panda’s Furious 5,” “Hook,” “The Bee Movie,” “Balto,” and more. His credits read like a top-list of animated and live-action films. Credits include “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” “Tarzan,” “Pocahontas,” “The Lion King,” “Babe: Pig in the City,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “Brother Bear 2,” to name a few.

Cummings’ uncanny ability to sing in character and voice match for stars who are, in his words, “great actors, just not great singers,” has led to many platinum and gold records for soundtracks like “Anastasia,” “The Lion King,” “Fox and the Hound 2,” “Pocahontas,” “Hercules,” and more.

His most recent musical turn will be as Ray, the Cajun firefly, in Disney Studio’s feature, “The Princess and the Frog,” due in theaters Christmas 2009 with Oscar-winner Randy Newman as composer. Cummings’ work in voice over includes hundred of television and radio commercials, movie trailers, promos, and videogames. “Pretty much anything involving microphones, music, noise in general, and padded walls,” jokes the affable actor, and “remember, only you can prevent forest fires,” so says Smokey the Bear, aka, Jim Cummings. No matter how busy Cummings’ schedule may be, it all stops when Famous Fone Friends or the Make-A-Wish Foundation call on behalf of a very ill child and distraught family in need of a phone call from their favorite cartoon character. “Just bringing a respite, however brief, and perhaps a smile and giggle or two means so much to the child and their families. I consider it a true blessing to be able to do that.”

Cummings is a proud father of four and resides somewhere in Southern California with his wife Stephanie, their beautiful daughters Grace, Lulu Rose, and their critters.

================

I’d like to offer a special thanks to Jim for his time and participation in the interview (it was indeed an honor and a privilege), as well as Dustin Sandoval (Click Communications) and Alexis with Disney PR for helping to set the interview up.

Related post: 8.27.2009 — ‘Rescue Rangers’ Voice Cast Featured in Vintage Video Clip

Comic-Con 2009: Continued Con Coverage

The latest updates are time-stamped below as they are added. Please keep checking back for more updates that will be added throughout the week. More photos forthcoming as well.

And speaking of photos, I’m repeating this request again — if you have any featuring voice actors who appeared at Comic-Con that you would like to share with your fellow voice actor fans who weren’t able to attend, please send them to voiceroyNOSPAM@yahoo.com (just remove the NOSPAM).

Previous reports:

7.26.2009 — Comic-Con 2009: Friday-Sunday, covering Batman: The Brave and The Bold voice details, Marvel’s Hero Up! Super Hero Squad Show, Metalocalypse: Dethgame, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, OMG! Marvel Anime!, Futurama updates, Stan Freberg, Mark Hamill, Star Wars, Robot Chicken, The Cleveland Show, and Much Much More.

7.25.2009 — Comic-Con 2009 Thursday-Friday, covering Disney/Pixar, Futurama, Marvel’s The Super Hero Squad Show, Batman: The Brave and The Bold, Robot Chicken/Titan Maximum, and More.

7.24.2009 — Comic-Con 2009: Wednesday-Thursday, covering Disney 3D/A Christmas Carol, Astro Boy, Halo Legends, Robot Chicken, and More.

Updates: 7.31.2009:

3:45 PM — IGN has a brief talk with John DiMaggio about his role as Aquaman on Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Here’s an excerpt:

DiMaggio acknowledged that when he got the role, Aquaman didn’t have the most tremendous reputation, especially in animation. As DiMaggio put it, he was known as, “the guy who’s busy summoning whales – ‘Meanwhile, back at the Hall of Justice!'” However, any early trepidation is gone, as DiMaggio told me, “It’s been so much fun to play such a bombastic character. He’s so full of himself that he doesn’t realize he’s not in on the joke. It’s so much fun to play and it’s a joy to work with these people on this crew. They’re just unbelievable.”

DiMaggio first auditioned for the role of Batman on the show, but stressed there was no ill will, noting that the man who got the job, Diedrich Bader, “is great. He’s the best Batman for the job. I had auditioned for it and I was like, ‘Oh man, I’m close, I’m close!’ Then I found out he got it and I was like, ‘Well, yeah! Of course, of course!” It’s funny, because James Arnold Taylor [Green Arrow] had said he saw [Bader] go in to read and he was like, “oh, that’s a gimmie!” But just being able to be a part of this is just oh so much fun.”

3:25 PM — IGN has a report on the Coraline panel, with quotes from director Henry Selick and cast member Teri Hatcher on Teri’s character voice acting in the film.

3:15 PM — G4TV talks with Justin Cowden (Ozzie & Drix, The Emperor’s New School) how he got into voice acting, being a geek, and advice for aspiring voice actors. Here’s an excerpt:

Q: What’s auditioning like?

A: Auditioning, once I broke in, became a fun process. I didn’t always get the job, but I got to read for stuff that was just amazing. Got close on a couple of big comic book heroes, but came up short, which is always a bummer, but I’m a big believer that the voices I’m supposed to do will come at the right time.

Q: When you’re trying to create a character, what’s your method?

A: When trying to create a character, I usually look at the sound they want, then I look for people I know, or people in pop culture and merge ideas to create something really fun. I’m also very flexible with what the producers want.

3:05 PM — Wally Wingert (Family Guy, Invader ZIM) has photos and a blog report on his visit to Comic-Con.

Wally and Chuck McCann also participated in an “impromptu dance video” (the “Yatta”) at the con which is now available on YouTube:

Look for an upcoming feature article and interview with Wally here soon.

Update: 7:29.2009, 2:50 PM — RiffTrax’s Comic-Con promo trailer:

More news on Rifftrax to come.

Update: 7:29.2009, 2:00 PM — An update on the news posted below regarding a sequel to a previous animated DVD release: Thanks to a Twitter post by cartoon voice actor April Winchell (posted today on the blog here), it seems we have confirmation of what one of the sequels might be.*

* Note: To clarify, Bruce Timm stated that the specific sequel he was working on is still in the script phase, so this appears to be a completely different DCAU animated production that April is providing a character voice for. At first I thought she might be referring to Batman/Super: Public Enemies, but I believe voice recording was completed for that some time ago.

Update: 7:29.2009, 3:10 AM — SDNN.com has a June Foray biographical article that includes quotes from her Comic-Con panel.

3:00 AM — TVShowsOnDVD.com< has the press release for Farscape: The Complete Series Megaset. Among the many bonus features included is episode commentary by Lani Tapu (voice of Pilot) and producer Brian Henson, documentary/featurettes such as “In the Beginning: A Look Back by Brian Henson,” and behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast.

On a related note, Brian Henson received an award at Comic-Con from The Guinness Book of World Records for “most visual effects in a TV series.” (Via A&E Home Entertainment Twitter.)

12:05 PM — Just received confirmation that I’m doing a phone interview with Jim Cummings this afternoon. I only get 10 minutes with him. TEN MINUTES! How do you narrow down your list of questions when you only have 10 minutes to talk with a cartoon voice acting legend?

11:55 AM — Screencave.com has a full report on Disney’s con preview of their upcoming traditional, 2D-animated The Princess and the Frog. (Thanks to “Doctor Nick” for the heads-up on this via the forums at Toon Zone.)

11:50 AM — Toon Zone has a press release from Warner Bros Animation interviewing Christopher Meloni on his role as Green Lantern for the new animated feature Green Lantern: First Flight which released on DVD and Blu-Ray today (Tuesday). Here’s an excerpt:

QUESTION: This is a relatively new form of acting for you. Did you encounter any difficulties in the process?

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: The most difficult part of the voice over process was that they actually had Sinestro in the booth with me – he’s played by Victor Garber, and he’s not a very good actor (he laughs), so that was tough for me to work off of (laughs harder). But I did the best I could. No, really, I love Victor, and he is amazing.

Really, the most difficult thing was when the director was reading all the actions, where this happens and that happens, and then there’s an explosion and you’re hurtling through the air and then you grab onto someone and you save them, and you’re line is “I gotcha.” That’s 45 seconds of action all I got was “I gotcha!”?

I’ll admit it – while I was performing the lines, I did have a tendency to stand with my chest out, hand-on-hip, heroic-style. You know, the way they used to draw the super heroes all the time. I assumed the stance.

But it is fun. And it’s a great exercise for your instrument – your emotional instrument, your vocal instrument, and your imagination, I mean, it’s like you’re a child – you get to have your imaginary play-friends all over again. I know it opened up for me certain things creatively. So just to be involved with anything creative that I’m not usually exposed to is always good.

QUESTION: Green Lantern is your first voiceover for animation, but you did supply the voice of Spike in Dinosaurs. How did the two experiences differ?

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: For the Dinosaurs role, they would shoot the show and there were actors in costumes, so it was more like looping a scene. I had to loop my lips to what the puppeteer was doing with the dinosaur. For Green Lantern, the animators have to follow my lead. It’s so exciting and so rare that you’re the leader of the parade as an actor. I had my little baton (laughs) and I’m sitting there going like that (waves arms, conductor style), everyone has to follow my rhythm, my beat. It’s not usually that way.

Search this blog on “Lantern” for previous coverage.

In related news, Toon Zone also reports that Bruce Timm revealed during a press roundtable event that there is a sequel to one of the prior animated features in development, but he was unable to offer more details at press time.

4:30 AM — Video footage of the Drawn Together panel featuring Cree Summer, Jess Harnell, James Arnold Taylor, and Tara Strong. [Caution: Adult language and content.]

(Thanks to Jeff Birnbaum for the heads-up!)

4:23 AM — Anime Diet has a review of legendary anime director Miyazaki’s Ponyo (US-dubbed and released by Disney), including a good deal of commentary on the voice acting.

4:20 AM — SciFiWire.com has a full report of the Disney/Pixar panel’s Toy Story 3 presentation. Incidentally, I neglected to mention this in my previous con coverage, but it is not actually “breaking news” nor much of an announcement that Michael Keaton is performing the voice of Ken. IESB.net was the first to break this news back in August, 2008. Their original article is kaput, but The Pixar Blog reported it afterwards.

Elsewhere, Toon Zone has official photos and stills from the aforementioned Disney 3D and Disney Animation panel presentations.

4:15 AM — Comic Vine has a video interview with John DiMaggio. Listen for his great impression of Diedrich Bader as Batman around the 3-minute mark.

Celebrity Voice Acting Round-Up 2

Because my previous report on celebrity voice acting turned out to be so popular on this blog, I may just have to do this on a regular basis.

Here’s another summary of “celebrity” voice acting news:

– Victoria Beckham, aka “Posh Spice,” will guest star as a princess in an upcoming episode of SpongeBob Squarepants. Mirror.co.uk reports:

Posh, 34, recorded the voice-over late last year in LA. She was persuaded to take the part by youngest son Cruz, four – who is a huge fan of Spongebob.

And her performance impressed Nickelodeon bosses so much, the former Spice Girl is being lined up for more voice-over work.

A source said: “Victoria was a complete pro and finished all her takes in a day.

“She isn’t interested in becoming an actress, but voice-over work is something that appealed. She joked that she could simply rock up to the studios in a trackie and no make-up and no one would ever know.

“Scriptwriters created the role of a posh British princess especially for her and were blown away by what a natural she was. Victoria enjoyed every minute and is keen to do more. Network bosses have been in touch since, offering more work – she really does have her pick of projects.”

– Variety reports that Tobin Bell will likely reprise his role as the voice of Jigsaw for an upcoming video game from Konami based on the Saw film franchise.

– Just Jared reports: “Beyoncé will make her voiceover debut in Nickelodeon’s Wow, Wow, Wubbzy, providing the voice for Shine, lead singer of a girl group.

– Just in case you missed the most recent trailer for Pixar/Disney’s Up (opening in theaters May 29th, 2009) you can view it on the official site. The voice cast includes Edward Asner, Jordan Nagai, Christopher Plummer, Paul Eiding, and John Ratzenberger.

– 20th Century Fox’s Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is releasing July 4th 2009. Most of the main cast members from the previous films are reprising their roles: Ray Romano, Queen Latifah, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Josh Peck, Seann William Scott, and Chris Wedge. Joining the cast is Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Run Fatboy Run) and child actors Joey King and Atticus Shaffer.

– Disney’s live-action/talking animal family feature G-Force (definitely NOT to be confused with the classic anime series of the same name) opens July 24th, featuring the voices of Nicolas Cage (Speckles the mole), Penelope Cruz (Juarez the guinea pig), Sam Rockwell (Darwin), Tracy Morgan (Blaster the guinea pig), and Steve Buscemi (Bucky the hamster). Will Arnett, who does quite a bit of voice acting work, has a supporting live-action role in the film.

– 411 Mania has an op-ed on celebrity involvement in video games. Nothing new, but it’s interesting to see a gamer’s POV on the subject. (Just be advised that the article linked contains adult language.)

– Another op-ed piece on celebrity voice acting: When an Oscar talks, it sounds like these actors [TampaBay.com]

– The September 18th release of Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs features the voices of SNL alums Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, and Tracy Morgan, as well as Anna Faris (The House Bunny, Scary Movie series), James Caan (The Godfather, Las Vegas), Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead series), and Mr. T (The A-Team). [While I may not always support celebrity voice casting, having Bruce Campbell and Mr. T voicing characters in the same movie is just so unbelievably full of win.]

– The February release of THQ’s Deadly Creatures for the Nintendo Wii features the voices of Dennis Hopper and Billy Bob Thornton.

– Yahoo Movies has a new trailer for the computer-animated feature film Astro Boy, due in theaters October 23, 2009. It features the voice talents of Freddie Highmore, Nicolas Cage [sensing a trend here? -Ed.], Kristen Bell, Nathan Lane, Matt Lucas, Eugene Levy, Donald Sutherland, and Bill Nighy.

– From a Nickelodeon press release for Glenn Martin, DDS, this summer’s first Nick-at-Nite animated series for adults:

A star-studded voice-over cast featuring Kevin Nealon (Weeds, Anger Management), Catherine O’Hara (For Your Consideration, Chicken Little) and Judy Greer (27 Dresses, Arrested Development) has been tapped for Nick at Nite’s upcoming stop-motion animated comedy, Glenn Martin, DDS set to premiere this Summer. The first television production to come from Michael Eisner’s Tornante Animation, Glenn Martin, DDS follows a beleaguered dentist and his family trading in the suburbs for life on the road. Crisscrossing the country, the Martins are beset by an array of colorful locals and crazy situations in locations ranging from Las Vegas to Amish Country. Many of the characters they encounter are voiced by enough instantly recognizable guest stars to fill a parking lot of RVs, including: Chrissie Hynde, Betty White, Gene Simmons, Wendie Malick and more.

Each of season one’s 20 episodes follows the life of Glenn Martin (Kevin Nealon), who yearns for a change of scenery and a deeper connection with his family. Determined to bring the family closer together, Glenn takes the Martins on a road trip to protest the destruction of a beloved childhood park. As things unravel right from the get-go, the family is forced to make the dental-mobile – replete with a giant decorative toothbrush on the roof – their new home. Glenn, Jackie and Courtney (Jackie Clarke) – an 11-year-old future corporate maven who brings along her personal assistant, Wendy (Judy Greer), a 14-year-old North Korean exile – and son, Conor (Peter Oldring), the 13-year-old hormone-addled tween who’s not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed–quickly learn when hitting the road that the road can sometimes hit back in unexpected ways. The Martins are accompanied on their journey by the family dog, Canine, who’s pronounced buttocks only add to the hilarity.

– The release date for Disney’s traditional, 2D animated musical, The Princess and the Frog, has been bumped up to December 11th, 2009. It includes the voice talents talents of Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls), Broadway singer Jennifer Cody, Keith David (Gargoyles), Jenifer Lewis (The PJs), John Goodman (The Emperor’s New Groove), Bruno Campos (Nip/Tuck), Oprah Winfrey, and VA fan favorite Jim Cummings.

– While watching VH1’s “Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80’s” this past week, I was very surprised to hear that musician Billy Vera (whose heart-wrenching ballad “At This Moment” was a #1 radio hit in 1986) has also had a successful career as a voice-over artist. A quick Google search later, and I recognized him as the image voice for a recent Burger King ad campaign via his demos on SBVTalentAgency.com.

– Although it’s not due in theaters until 2011, there’s already been a lot of buzz about the computer-animated action-adventure, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, which is being planned as a trilogy. Steven Spielberg is directing and John Williams is scoring the film. The cast appears to be made up entirely of Britains: Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot), Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead), Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead), Daniel Craig (007: Quantum of Solace), Tony Curran (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings), Mackenzie Crook (Pirates of the Caribbean), and several others.

Previous reports: 3.31.2009 — Celebrity Voice Acting Round-Up (yee-hah.)
3.20.2009 — Forbes Ranks Animation’s A-List Actors