Digital Sky recently launched an audio/video hybrid podcast which utilizes a motion-comic approach to the animation for the series. We recently had thrilling chats with producer James Gavsie and voice talents Cooper Barnes (Henry Danger) and Julie Nathanson (Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay) in support of the new motion-comic series.
The latter is also the voice actress who plays the animated version of Yelena Belova, or the Crimson Widow, in Marvel's Avengers Assemble. When talking to her about her different voice roles and voice demos, we asked for her thoughts on the upcoming MCU incarnation of the character she's played for the animated side of Marvel over the past few years.
To listen to our chat with Julie, click the podcast player below. We have also included our conversation with Ride Share producer James Gavsie in the transcript for those who are interested in learning more about her newest series.
12m 39s - Comic Brooks: I noticed you were a part of Avengers Assemble as Yelena Belova. What are your thoughts on being someone who lent your voice to the role, and being one of the first to do so, now she's going to be in a movie?
12m 53s - Julie Nathanson: I am so excited, and I'm unnaturally excited about it. I love Yelena Belova, and there's a great graphic novel called the "Itsy Bitsy Spider," which has both Black Widows together.
Whenever I got to play with Black Widow, who is voiced by Laura Bailey on Avengers Assemble, I loved that chemistry and excitement and loved their antagonism. And not to spoil the series, but there are some moments where they might have to work together.
And that to me was so exciting, and it's an unusual matchup. I had in my calendar that Laura and I were going to go together to the theatrical release.
13m 46s - Literary Joe: You guys can do a zoom watch party. It's Crimson Widow, right?
13m 54s - Julie Nathanson: Yes. Crimson Widow. She's Black Widow, and I'm Crimson Widow.
13m 57s - Literary Joe: So we're finally going to see her in the MCU, which is huge. And I think that this is going to be like a baton-passing thing, because when we finally get the all-female Avengers movie, Yelena Belova will probably be part of it. She's going to be the new Black Widow.
What do you hope to see happen with that character after your experience with Yelena? You already mentioned that you liked that specific storyline, so what would you like to see in the Black Widow movie or going forward in the MCU with her?
14m 31s - Julie Nathanson: Well, I certainly have no idea where they will take her or the Black Widow crown next after this movie. But for me, I'm always curious to go back to beginnings, and the red room, and I'm still wondering if there's something in the history that continues to need uncovering.
In terms of the mission moving forward, I'd have to see what they're going to do with the movie. But, I think there's always potential with Black Widow to play with both sides of who she is. And I love that.
15m 11s - Literary Joe: And the thing about her getting a lot more exposure now is that you're just going to get a lot more chances to play her, which will be awesome.
15m 19s - Julie Nathanson: I hope you're right. I like that plan. Let's do that.
1m 38s - Literary Joe: I wanted to say, I like the little compilations you have, like of the retail voice and video games voices. I'm curious if you use those on your resume or send them in when applying for a specific role?
1m 56s - Julie Nathanson: In general, having a demo is an important thing for a voice actor. Sometimes an agent will be asked by casting, who would you like to send in on this? Or who might you want for this? And they'll send a demo along.
I created a computer voice demo. That's something that most people don't have because it's a bizarre area of specialization from me as a really animated and very human person. For some reason, I do a ton of computer voices. So I thought, let me throw that together. And it's actually contributed to my getting some specific jobs knowing, "Oh, this is something that she does a lot, and here as a smattering of computer voices."
Retail stuff, again, if you're a person who does a lot of retail, which I have in the past, it's not a bad idea to have. But you know, I like it. It might be a little overkill, but I love to be able to show variety when I'm up for a gig.
17m 3s - Literary Joe: I love your AI voice; it's so awesome, mostly because we've been doing a lot of interviews for Artificial where there's an AI, so the actresses talk like you.
And that's what I was thinking about when I was watching your YouTube. You have this one YouTube, "Computer Voice Demo," that was like two minutes of that. And I thought, "This is cool, this girl's got it down."
Do you look to any specific performances when you pull up a computer voice? I know you have a commercial voice. Are there any particular kinds of influence you pull for those things or your performance as Amanda in Ride Share?
18m 7s - Julie Nathanson: For computer voices, you know, a lot of that gets dictated by how sentient they want the voice to be. So if you have a very static, very robotic, emotionless voice, there are times I will look up the way, what would it be?
I mean, when they say we want something that feels like Siri, I will dictate a text to myself using the copy and listen to how Siri would say it. Then I throw my phone down, and then I add my flair to it. There are times I've listened to Scarlett Johannson and her, but usually, that has so much humanness to it for me. Portal is a great example. There's incredible AI voice work there.
But it varies. And I think because I've gotten to do so many different voices like I do on Dallas and Robo, which has been airing on SyFy lately. It's a cool cartoon with Kat Dennings and John Cena. And I play the ship's voice, and that's "three two one launching." But there are other times it's "commencing retinal scan, but not scan complete. It appears you do not have clearance for this sector".
And then, like for Mighty Number 009, it would be "Hello Dr. White." So for me, it's almost layering in what would feel like a programmed voice on top of what I feel the character could be, were she human.
*This interview has been edited for clarity. Audio is co-hosted by Comic Brooks.*
"At some point we all have to choose between what the world wants you to be and who you are.”
You can check out Ride Share on Youtube and all other podcast platforms, with new episodes releasing every Tuesday. Black Widow is scheduled for a tentative May 7, 2021 release date.