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Backstage - Ed Asner Interview
SEVEN-TIME EMMY AWARD WINNER ED ANSER REPRISES GRANNY GOODNESS ROLE IN
SUPERMAN/BATMAN: APOCALYPSE
Seven-time Emmy Award winner Ed Asner
(Up) reprises his Superman: The Animated Series/Justice
League role as Granny Goodness in Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, the
ninth entry in the popular, ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original
PG-13 Movies coming September 28, 2010 from Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment,
Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Home Video. Granny Goodness is the
primary henchwoman for the evil lord Darkseid, ruler of the distant planet
Apokolips and a cruel, ominous being even more powerful than Superman. Asner
first voiced the role for four episodes of Superman: The Animated Series,
and returned to those evil female roots for two episodes of Justice League
and Justice League Unlimited.
Asner’s storied career boasts seven
Emmy Awards – three supporting actor honors for his role as Lou Grant on The
Mary Tyler Moore Show, two more as the title character in Lou Grant, and a
pair of awards recognizing individual supporting performances in the landmark
miniseries Roots and Rich Man, Poor Man. He has won more acting
Emmys than any other performer, and is the only actor to ever win Emmy Awards
for playing the same character in both a comedy and a drama.
The
five-time Golden Globe winner also served as President of the Screen Actors
Guild from 1981-1985.
Live-action accolades aside, Asner has been
ever-present in animation for nearly 25 years, running the gamut from guest
spots on shows like Animaniacs, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Johnny
Bravo, King of the Hill, The Boondocks and Hercules (to
name but a few) to regular roles in Gargoyles, Freakazoid,
Batman: The Animated Series, Spider-Man and Captain Planet and
the Planeteers. He also voiced the role of Santa Claus in the animated
television special Olive the Other Reindeer (he’s played Santa Claus for
four different film/TV productions).
Asner’s stirring, funny, wonderful
portrayal of Carl Fredrickson in Disney/Pixar’s Up had critics wondering
why the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences had yet to add a voice acting
category to the Academy Awards slate.
Asner joins a Superman/Batman:
Apocalypse cast led by fan favorites Tim Daly (Private Practice) and
Kevin Conroy (China Beach) reprising their seminal roles as Superman and
Batman, respectively. Also featured among the celebrity-laden guest cast is
Andre Braugher (Men of a Certain Age) as the daunting Darkseid, and
sci-fi heroine Summer Glau (Serenity/Firefly, Terminator: The
Sarah Connor Chronicles).
Based on the DC Comics series/graphic novel
Superman/Batman: Supergirl by Jeph Loeb, Michael Turner & Peter
Steigerwald, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse is produced by animation legend
Bruce Timm and directed by Lauren Montgomery (Justice League: Crisis on Two
Earths) from a script by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Tab Murphy (Gorillas
in the Mist).
Asner, who turns 81 this November, had a few short
minutes to answer questions following his latest recording session as Granny
Goodness. Take note … or Granny will know.
QUESTION: How does
Granny Goodness compare to playing other female characters?
ED ASNER:
I don’t think I have played any other female characters before (he laughs). But
if I did, she’d have more balls than any of them. It’s become the fashion lately
– there’s Brian Bedford in Stratford doing Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde’s play.
What hasn’t been done enough is women playing men in as butch a manner as
possible. That’s got to be even more fun. I’m talking somebody like Marjorie
Main pulling it off.
QUESTION: What do you use as a focal point while
voicing Granny?
ED ASNER: I’m thinking she’s a lot of chest, a lot of
high pressure steam, and that she’s probably got a constant focus on vengeance
and wreaking havoc on whoever she can. And I want to get away with as much
damage as I can in as high-flown an effeminate form as possible.
QUESTION: You’ve done it all and had long-lasting success in the
entertainment industry. What’s the enticement of voice acting for you?
ED
ASNER: It’s always a trip a joyful trip to come into the studio, and
especially working with this group. Andrea (Romano) is a delight to work with,
and Bruce (Timm) knows this genre better than anybody. Plus, it’s the ability to
let your imagination take flight – to take chances, to plunge and to soar.
That’s something you don’t get to do as an actor. You get to do it as a kid. So
I grab the opportunity as often as I can.
QUESTION: With all the
animation work you’ve done, and the huge success of Up, can we assume you see
animated films and television as a viable source of entertainment.
ED
ASNER: I’ve always loved cartoons – I watched them when I was young, I still
watch them now. And it is interesting to see how much more adult they’ve gotten
in terms of content, from these super hero pieces with their violence and more
adult themes to the truly mature, fully-developed stories developed in films
like Up and Wall-E. Today’s animation goes places cartoons didn’t
used to go.
QUESTION: How do you feel about spunk?
ED
ASNER: That all depends on who’s got it.
Caption suggestions:
Ed Asner.jpg Seven-time Emmy Award
winner Ed Asner reprises his Superman: The Animated Series/Justice
League role as Granny Goodness in Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, the
ninth entry in the popular series of DC Universe Animated Original PG-13 Movies
coming September 28, 2010 from Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros.
Animation and Warner Home Video. (Photo courtesy of Gary Miereanu)
Granny_02.jpg Granny Goodness, the evil lord Darkseid’s primary
henchwoman, is voiced by seven-time Emmy Award winner Ed Asner in
Superman/Batman: Apocalypse. The DC Universe Animated Original PG-13
Movie will be distributed by Warner Home Video on September 28, 2010.
Granny_04.jpg Granny Goodness, the evil lord Darkseid’s primary
henchwoman, is voiced by seven-time Emmy Award winner Ed Asner in Superman/Batman:
Apocalypse. The DC Universe Animated Original PG-13 Movie will be
distributed by Warner Home Video on September 28, 2010.
For more
information please go to SupermanBatmanApocalypse.com
Click here to view the official press release and Blu-ray
artwork for the upcoming Superman/Batman: Apocalypse direct-to-video
animated feature.
A co-production of Warner Premiere, Warner Bros. Home
Entertainment Group, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation, the direct-to-video
Superman/Batman: Apocalypse animated feature debuts September 28th, 2010
on DVD and Blu-ray disc from Warner Home Video. Stay tuned for further updates
here soon at The World’s Finest.
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