Messin’ With Astro Boy



Astro Boy popped on to my radar during several trips to LA in recent months. One couldn’t miss the billboards promoting the film.
Then an audition for the video game landed in my inbox. I didn’t land the job, but had a blast voice acting like a 10-year old boy. My audition is attached above.

Astro Boy is iconic, even though the animated feature is geting so-so reviews. I read an interview with Freddie Highmore, (who played Charlie in “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory” ) while he appeared at San Diego’s Comic-Con this Summer. Highmore said Astro Boy had a lot of adapting to do, since the beloved character’s emergence in 1951 from comic book hero to television series that aired in 40 countries as one of the first anime characters ever.  Because the world has become so modern  and technologically advanced since ’51, Astro Boy’s identity had to be established in a new way.  Being a voice talent  without acting in front of a camera also beckoned that identity challenge.

For Highmore and Kristen Bell (Cora in the film), working in animation requires a “giant shift” in approach, a different type of experimentation because the acting is done with the voice.  And Bell says, “Best of all, if you wanted, you could work in your pajamas”.

That last comment made me laugh.