Mark Hamill’s Most Iconic Voice Roles: From the Joker to Chucky

you draw from all different elements I was doing Claude Rains from The Invisible Man crazy you'll think I'm crazy I'll show you was crazy so you know when other kids were studying algebra I was working on my smarter than the average bear the way I did it was when I would be in a record store go to the children's record section and look at Rocky and Bullwinkle albums Looney Tunes albums that had the list of who did what and I would recognize voices I said okay Huckleberry Hound he sounds like Andy Griffith snagglepuss is Bert Lahr I don't stay fresh and I can fight there was one that had a particular impact on me and I think it was before I even started first grade that's probably five Walt Disney's TV program pulled back the curtain on how movies were made probably more than any other single entity in the 60s and they'd show you the making of this the making of that and you'd see the camera crew and the carpenters in the wardrobe department there was one that had a particular impact on me Clarence Nash this distinguished-looking man in a suit doing the voice of Donald Duck a light bulb went off in my head it made me really think about the people behind the voices it's the ultimate character actors dream because the character actor disappears into his role and you don't see the after you see the character will an animation they do that for you they cast with their ears not their eyes so you're going to be able to play characters you would never get if you were on camera [Music] I was a teenager and just a year out of college and I got a job on Ana Barbara's genie which was the teenaged version of I Dream of Jeannie and I played the Larry Hagman part this was big for me I walked in and they were all these idols from when I was a kid I met Don Messick and DAWs Butler with Mel Blanc he pretty much did everybody but to see who all those wonderful voice actors were I is something I aspired to to be a cartoon voiceover actor [Music] basically you read the script and say what's required of my character to make this story work of course if you have the director there or even the writers you can talk to them and then arrive at a voice sometimes gonna scare you because I was going in to do a character where I said well he's very potent so I'll give him sort of a fed voice I'll make him a little moist and I'm a I thought I make I guess I made it from somewhere in New York and they said we love what you're doing but we don't like the lisping thing if you dig that out and also the Brooklyn thing we don't want to identify where he's from and he sounds a little sort of portly or pretty much they took away everything I had presented to them but that's part of the fun I mean you don't have time you can't go over and have a coffee you're on the clock so what you do is you start going through your little repertoire you know they'll say a little higher that's good you know and you arrive it's something that makes everybody happy because when they're happy I'm happy the one that I was most intimidated by was the Joker because I auditioned thinking there's no way they could handle the backlash of Luke Skywalker being this icon of villainy of course your friends always point out your actor friends they did I wouldn't want to follow Jack Nicholson in anything I want forgot about that in the old town but you know I but I thought the only way I can do this is do my version and it's based on the script that they gave me and the one drawing of him he seemed to be all teeth ooh teeth Iran near the the Blue Meanies in Yellow Submarine you draw from all different elements because I was doing Claude Rains from the Invisible Man crazy you'll think I'm crazy I'll show do is crazy I had so much fun doing that character because he's insane and if you're insane you're unpredictable and if you're unpredictable you never boring and he had that incredible love oh my god where did that come from so I had quite an arsenal of laughs in my repertoire already I said to the producers I don't want him to have just one laugh I think his laugh should be like the colors on a palette where it reflects his mood and I remember reading an interview with Frank Gorshin where he talked about it's not that the Riddler laughs it's what he laughs at that defines who he is so his Riddler's like one of my favorite comic book villains of all time I love Frank Gorshin where the line that really struck me is in the man who killed Batman that Matt Frewer placed this two-bit crook who accidentally kills Batman too everyone believes he's dead this terrible feeling he's really not coming Joker loses the will to live he what his vers on death row is gone and he says without Batman crying has no punch line I thought wow crime has no punch line like it needs one but Batman he needs Batman and I had my favorite Batman Kevin Conroy when they offer me roles now I said is Kevin Julian they said yeah he said oh then I'm in I didn't have to read the script if Kevin's doing it I'll do it [Music] first of all I tried to play him like I'd never played him before and then you would look at the script and it would call for different things there was an episode where Harley Quinn and poison ivy team of was sort of a Thelma and Louise and so jokers left at home shuffling around in the house you know so he in that instance he was used for kind of pathetic comedy so like you say every project is different that's what keeps it fresh and interesting so you're not done with a character well I don't know you never know that how you treat everyone is your last job because there's been some spectacular Joker's over the years brent Spiner and Kevin Michael Richardson Jeff Bennett John DiMaggio and on and on Michael Emerson and to tell you the truth I listened to them other oh that was a really good choice I wish I'd thought of that because everyone it's like the hamlet of villains it'll be endlessly reinterpreted by actors in the future and I'm just lucky I got a chance to do it at all I'm not taking orders from you anymore you will obey me or this defiant breath will be your last fire lord ozai when I read it I thought this thing's not gonna last cause it's too smart it's too intellectual doesn't have the flash bang wallop that seemed to be what was popular at that time I got a lot of feedback from parents saying that I watched this with my my children and that's the best when you can be a part of something that appeals to the entire family much better than any of us could have imagined and that was largely due to the writing I'm trying to remember I remember looking at the drawing thingy he's got a very david Hyde Pierce vibe going on sort of you know Niles crane a little bit of superiority and entitlement dubbing is much more difficult because normally the processes they record your line and they go off and animate to your line in this case it's the finished film and I'm blanking on the name who worked with me Henry the director he's so good because he specializes in dubs so he'll be there with you he'll watch you do a take and then he'll either add a couple syllables or subtract a couple of syllables to make it more synced with the original animation but again this guy me is on he's a genius the script is everything let me read the script I got a really nice letter from Lars clever Berg the director where he was talking about how he saw it as a Greek tragedy and the Chuck he's an innocent and how he hopes that the audience will have some understanding or some sympathy for him so I thought wow the fundamental change that made me really want to do it was unlike the original he wasn't a serial killers the personality transposed onto a doll he was an innocent doll where someone when maliciously goes in and takes off the safety measures that totally justified it it was scary because again I'm sort of old-school I want Chucky Chucky but you know you have to serve the script and then that wouldn't have been that wouldn't have worked did you have a particular favorite line from this film well I love when he says are we having fun now he doesn't know and I can relate to that because you know as you get older you look at your kids [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: undefined

Views: 6,510,482

Rating: 4.951581 out of 5

Keywords: rotten tomatoes, voice acting, voice actor, mark hamill, mark hamill voice acting, voice over, joker, batman animated series, firelord ozai, chucky, childs play, childs play 2019, luke skywalker, mark hamill interview, interview, mark hamill history, mark hamill acting, mark hamill joker, entertainment, movies, mark hamill chucky, mark hamill joker voice, mark hamill chucky voice, voice actors, famous voice actors, best of mark hamill, mark hamill iconic roles

Id: snFXyWzRRrA

Length: 9min 40sec (580 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 14 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/DerpressionNaps]

I love most of his roles but I honestly don't think his voice for chucky will hold up as well as Brad Dourifs.

[u/Sgarden91]

That “Good night Andy” line legitimately channels Brad Dourif. That delivery was great.

[u/[deleted]]

You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

[u/j-la21]

What about Skips?

[u/DreamWarrior_V]

I love this...

[u/teentytinty]

Love Mark Hamill. But from this video I'm kinda getting that this Chucky literally doesn't know he's being evil?...