When I conducted my
first interview at The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills prior to the world premiere of DC Entertainment's latest animated feature,
Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, I was afforded nearly 15 minutes to speak with acclaimed casting and dialogue director
Andrea Romano. Unfortunately, the event began to run behind schedule, so I only had three minutes to chat with
Susan Eisenberg, the woman who has become the definitive voice of Wonder Woman, having voiced the princess of the Amazons in over 50 episodes of the
Justice League Unlimited cartoon and reprised the role for
Apocalypse. Susan spoke about how working in animation is a coveted job for voice actors, and also discussed how it feels to take on such an iconic role.
BRENT SPRECHER: Hi, Brent Sprecher from ComicBookMovie.com. How are you?
SUSAN EISENBERG: I'm well, thank you.
BS: How does it feel to be the embodiment of this character that has been so famous for so long?
SE: It's thrilling. …Having been hired in 2000 to play her and to still be here, in 2010, that's extraordinary. It's extraordinary for many reasons. In this town, it's extraordinary to have a job for a long time. And, also, you know, she's so iconic, so to be associated with her…it's a privilege.
BS: Do you see yourself continuing to move forward [in animation] and to seek out more roles like this?
SE: I mean, I think actors are always seeking out roles like this. I—you know, they're gifts to get them. And I think we're always auditioning and always trying to get roles…in voiceover—I do a lot of commercial work, [which is] very different from animation—love the commercial work, but there's nothing like being in the room with Kevin [
Conroy, the voice of Batman] and
whoever you're working with.
BS: So, you do record your scenes with the other actors?
SE: You do. Not always. I mean, I've done with everybody, where we're all together, and I've done where I'm just by myself doing ADR [Automatic Dialogue Replacement, or "looping"], you know, for the fight scenes and all of that. But, it's very different, the commercial and the animation, but just rewarding and there's nothing like it, so I think everyone wants to do animation and everyone pursues it.
BS: When you first took the role, was it intimidating?
SE: Very.
BS: How did you approach—because she's an Amazon and she's so iconic—how did you make it so that she's not a caricature of that character?
SE: Interestingly enough, I think that one of the reasons they hired me is because when I first started playing her she wasn't bigger than life, she was this woman. She was, like, on the verge of womanhood, and I didn't have to play it as a
character, if you will. She was this person, this woman who was conflicted about her powers, her mother and she were at odds about certain things, and so there were some real things to hook into that made it very real. It wasn't like this big
cartooncharacter, if you will. So, I didn't have a problem with that. The material that I auditioned with originally in 2000, or 1999 even, is like real. And, of course, there is some bigger stuff, you know, like, "Let's go!" The Amazons! But it was just real human moments.
BS: Thank you.
SE: You're welcome. My pleasure.
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