Voice Actors Need Love Too
After looking at last week's Oscar (TM) ceremonies, I had a revelation. There ought to be Best Voice Actor and Actress awards handed out. Seriously, animation directors and writers do get their moment in the spotlight in those overblown egotrips (I happened to like this year's ceremony, contrary to what the snooty critics may have thought of it). The thing is that in every single animated film, as much work as the animators, designers, scriptwriters, and artists do, the film really comes to life courtesy of the voice artists behind the mikes. About a couple of years before his untimely death, Phil Hartman (a great voice artist in his own right whose final performance was in Kiki's Delivery Service) hosted a behind-the-scenes segment of How The Grinch Stole Christmas celebrating what Boris Karloff's voice did for the character. Mr. Hartman impersonated several famous celebrity voices reading the script in the role of The Grinch. He proved that the voice does matter. Imag...