Billy West is a legend in the world of voice acting, and he's brought a seemingly endless list of iconic characters to life on the big and small screen over the years. One of his biggest early roles, however, was when he got to lend his voice to Bugs Bunny in Space Jam, a movie that's celebrating its 25th anniversary by being released on Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack and Digital on July 6th.
A couple of weeks ago, we had the privilege of sitting down with Billy to discuss his role in the beloved movie but took this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ask him about his time in Futurama.
In that iconic animated series, he brought Philip J. Fry, Dr. Zoidberg, Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, and a number of others to life on screen. Now, with the Futurama franchise falling under that Disney umbrella, would Billy be open to reprising the role in an arguably long overdue revival on Disney+?
"I've always said that I would love to see that happen because I have separation anxiety from the show," West admitted. "That was my favourite thing I was ever involved with because of the writing. Even if I'd had nothing to do with it, I'd have gone crazy over it over the writing. I have to compartmentalise when I'm watching and pretend I have nothing to do with it because I'll be over critical of my own performances. I'm getting over the stuff, but there's this thing in you that says, 'I could have done it better!' Then, you find out that what you did was perfect. People think it's perfect and they love it, so that's good enough for me, of course."
We had to ask if Billy has a favourite character from the series, and unsurprisingly, he found it impossible to choose. However, it definitely sounds like Fry remains a very special creation to him.
"I don't know. I was presented with such an amazing opportunity to express myself. These characters are Matt Groening characters and bigger than life. It was my responsibility...you can't do a throwaway voice for any character even if it's the space garbage man. You have to give it something that has some meat on it because you can't just go, 'Hey! I'm collecting garbage!' That's something anybody could do and I thought long and hard before I opened my mouth with any of those characters. Fry was something I had never done before which was use my own voice for a character, but as a 25-year-old version of myself."
Now, if you followed Futurama right to the end, you'll know that it had a beautiful ending with Fry and Leela. There's certainly room to tell more stories in this world, but if that is it for the series, how does Billy feel about the series finale? We asked if he was satisfied with how things wrapped up, and he responded with a resounding, "Yes, absolutely! It was very satisfying. It was bittersweet in a way because I know these people so well. I worked with them for so many years and always knew where I was going. At the end, it was, like, 'Okay, now I get to go and live among mortals again!' [Laughs]"
You can watch the full interview below, but check back here tomorrow the transcribed version!