MAIN • CHARACTERS • EPISODES • MEDIA • REVIEWS • INTERVIEWS • RELEASES • FORUM
INTERVIEWS
Clancy
Brown has crafted an impressive career within both the
mainstream and the fanboy arenas. He has balanced
acclaimed performances in the Academy Award nominated
"The Shawshank Redemption" and HBO's "Carnivale" with
memorable roles in numerous fanboy classics, including
"Highlander," "Starship Troopers" and "The Adventures of
Buckaroo Bonzai Across the 8th Dimension." Brown's
lengthy list of animated voiceovers is topped by his
quintessential evocation of Lex Luthor in "Superman: The
Animated Series," and "Justice League," as well as Mr.
Freeze in "The Batman" and, of course, as Mr. Krabs in "SpongeBob
SquarePants."
Now you can add a new credit to that ever-expanding
animation career as Brown provides the voice of Rhino in
"The Spectacular Spider-Man" television series. The
episode, entitled "The Invisible Hand," premieres
Saturday, April 12 at 10 a.m. ET/PT on Kids' WB! on The
CW.
A huge fan of films (and baseball), Brown is quick to
give credit to the past as an influence on his current
rendition of Spider-Man's ultimate brawn-over-brains
foe.
"For me, the quintessential 'thug' was played by William
Bendix in 'The Glass Key'," Brown says. "The simpler the
character, the simpler the thought process. That means
Rhino's 'motivation' is never too complicated – he's
very elemental. He's mad or happy or angry or sad or
hungry or whatever. And it never gets beyond his
appetites or ego.
"His world-view is limited to what's in front of his
nose. Hence the name Rhino. The voice and delivery
should be as uncomplicated and direct. Bendix does this
perfectly in 'The Glass Key.' He doesn't care what Brian
Donleavy has up his sleeve or how clever Alan Ladd's
insults are. He just knows he wants to beat Ladd to a
pulp. Itches that must be scratched and appetites that
must be sated."
Brown says it's important for him to see the character
during the process of creating the voice.
"Rhino is massive and he must have a voice that matches
the mass," Brown says. "The producers aren't mixing it
up too much in that regard. You could give him a squeaky
light voice and play that 'opposite' joke, but that's
not what this show is doing right now. By the way,
Bendix had a high voice for a 'tough guy' which seemed
to add a complexity to the psychology of his characters
– but he wasn't creating a vocalization."
A
tall man with a deep, gravelly voice, Brown has a
tendency to be cast as the villain in both live-action
and voiceover roles. While his acting goals don't lean
toward always playing rogues, Brown is happy to embrace
and bring to life whatever characters he's offered.
"I'll play whatever their paying for -- bad guys are
fun, but I have no preference," he says. "The only thing
I try to remember is that bad guys don't think they are
bad. They think they are right."
For "The Spectacular Spider-Man" producer Greg Weisman
and voice/casting director Jamie Thomason, Brown was an
easy choice for the role of Rhino.
"We knew Rhino would require a voice with strength and
menace, but Rhino also isn't the brightest bulb on the
marquee – so we knew whoever we cast would also have to
have the acting chops and comic timing to take the
character beyond the usual dumb goon," Weisman explains.
"Jamie and I have both worked often enough with Clancy
to know he could nail it. Not only does he have that
great tough, low voice, but he knows how to turn on a
dime between dangerous and comedic characterizations."
Images and interview provided by Sony Television Entertainment.
|