Crispin Freeman

 Alright, here we go. In all my interviews I like to ask the same first few questions so people get a general idea of who you are (if they need more info the link to the person’s site is always given) www.crispinfreeman.com.How did you get started? (You can keep this short if you’d like, as it’s answered many times in other places on the web)

How did I get started as a voice actor? I was working as a theatrical actor in New York City when an actor friend of mine caught me watching anime. He offered to put me in touch with a studio that did English dubs of anime. I initially resisted because I didn’t care for English dubs very much. Later I realized that all the anime shows I had fallen in love with when I was young were dubbed and that dubbed anime is usually people’s first introduction to the medium. I wanted to make that introduction as good as possible, so I recontacted my friend, he put me in touch with the studio, I submitted a radio play I had produced, they called me in for an audition and the rest is history.

Do you have any rituals before getting ready to record?

I usually do vocal warm ups in the car as I’m driving to a gig. I will warm up either the top end or the low end of my voice depending on what character I’m recording that day. If I’m doing a voice match, I’ll refresh my memory with recordings of the actor I’ll be voice matching.

Did you always have the notion that you would be doing something like this? Or even with stage, did you ever expect yourself to be where you are now?

I fell in love with acting when I was in middle school, but I had no idea that I was going to become a voice actor. I always imagined myself as a theatrical actor and then a film actor. But it turns out that voice acting is sort of a perfect fit for me. I’m glad I found it.

Your first role was Slayers. What was it like the first time you got into the studio and began recording lines? Was it tougher than you’d expected it to be or was it easier?

It was tougher, especially my first loop as Prince Hallas in Slayers which was very challenging technically. It was also weird to hear my voice coming out of a character, but I got used to it pretty quickly and it started to feel very natural.

How would you describe the difference in recording for anime, recording for western animation, recording for video games, and acting on stage? Which do you prefer out of these?

Anime is recorded to picture that already exists, so it’s dubbing to picture. In western animation, the voices are recorded before the animation is made, so recording a western show is more like being in a radio play. Video games are recorded with very little sense of the context of your lines so it’s more like Rubik’s cube acting in that your lines need to be able to be recombined in different ways depending on the player’s choices. Stage acting requires a lot of physicality and awareness of your body in space, something that’s not called on in voice acting. I’m not sure I prefer any one of them. They each have their pros and cons. I think I just like working on animated storytelling more than any other medium so that’s where I’m most satisfied.

How do you prepare yourself for a new voice role and how close to the original Japanese personality do you strive to make a character when voice acting them

To prepare for recording a character in an anime show, I first familiarize myself with the story. This helps me understand the overall arc of the story and where my character fits in the larger picture. Then I’ll listen to the Japanese actor’s performance to see what kind of voice he has and what kind of choices he made as an actor. Then I do my best to understand the character emotionally. I don’t try to imitate the Japanese actor, there’s no point. We’re different actors speaking in different languages. What I do try to do is understand the actor’s and the director’s intentions and see if I can find the best acting analogue I can as an English speaking voice actor. I want the characters to feel authentic. I don’t want to turn samurai into cowboys, but I do want to make the story accessible to an English speaking audience. So it’s my job to try and give the English speaking audience the same emotional experience that the Japanese audience had when they watched the anime. That is an impossible goal, of course, but that’s what I strive for.

Outside of the recording studio, do you hang out with fellow voice actors?

Sometimes I do. I’m usually very busy with my own projects, but I do see certain voice actors outside of the studio from time to time.

Now for the more role/personal specific questions:The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (I originally accidentally gave these questions to Chris Patton. He did Yuiichi in Kanon, which was animated by KyotoAnimation as well,and he is basically the same character.)Currently, one of your biggest roles is that of Kyon in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Kyon is a cynical guy, monotone and never (it would seem) really truly happy. Do you see any similarities between him and yourself?

Not as you described Kyon, no. I’m not cynical, I’m certainly not monotone and I strive to be happy all the time. So based on your description I’m nothing like Kyon. But I don’t necessarily see Kyon in that light. I see him as not a hopeless romantic, but a hopeful romantic: someone who wants to believe in more than just this mundane world, but his enthusiasm has been sort of beaten out of him by everyday life. Just when he thinks he’s going to live a boring, normal existence, the most outlandish things start happening to him. Seems sort of karmically perfect to me. Kyon also doesn’t really suffer fools very well and I share that sensibility with him.

There is also the film, “Disappearance”, coming out soon. Can you talk at all about the specifics of working on the movie?

Well, I can say that we’re currently recording the dialogue for the movie, but more than that, I cannot say.

(If you haven’t recorded the films dialogue yet, feel free to ignore this question).

The character of Kyon is very different in the film from how he usually is in the series, due to the circumstances that arise. How easy/difficult is it to make the sudden switch in personality, in any character, when the story calls for it?

I don’t find Kyon’s overall character to be that different in the movie. I agree with you that he’s undergoing very extreme conditions over the course of the plot. This brings out parts of his character that we may have not seen before, but I don’t feel like Kyon went through a personality change before or during the movie. In order to portray those parts of his character, I just try to be believable as possible in each moment. It can be a challenge doing it in the movie since so much of the movie rides on Kyon’s internal dialogue and there isn’t as much dialogue between him and other characters. The movie sort of becomes Kyon’s soliloquy.

Are you following the novels at all?

I am not, no. I haven’t really had time to read them, and frankly they might distract me from the anime work I’m doing. It’s better for me to be working on the anime in front of me and not get distracted by other versions of the character.

You host panels on Anime Mythology. What inspired you to start doing this?

I wanted to talk about why these animated stories appealed to me so much and I realized that what fascinated me about them the most was the mythology behind them. The hero journeys and the meaning underneath those journeys were vitally important to me, both as an actor and as a person. I discovered that the religious traditions in Japan and America inspired the creation of very different types of archetypal heroes, Giant Robots and Superheroes respectively. That discrepancy fascinated me and I’ve been researching mythological storytelling ever since. In addition to my series of anime mythology lectures, I’ve recently just taught a 5 week course on the mythology and meaning behind Sci-Fi and Fantasy films.

Recently, I’ve been asked by people to ask something along the lines of this question with all my new interviews with Voice Actors.Why do voice actors seem to choose to emulate a characters personality to the point where they make them seem unrealistic. For example, actresses acting a character in falsetto (sometimes in a higher range than the original seiyuu) or my own personal bane, male voice actors putting on a what I can only describe as “the drunk idiot” voice (see any character from Dragonball) as oppose to a sensible voice, such as your Kyon for example?

(It should be noted that I cleared up the misunderstanding with Crispin afterwards)

So what you’re asking me is why do actors and actresses give performances that you find distasteful? I don’t know how I can possibly answer that question. Are you asking me to explain why you feel these actors are lackluster? It’s not really my place to comment on other actor’s abilities. If you don’t like their performances, that’s your prerogative. If you feel that their acting skills are lacking, you’re free to criticize. But I can’t tell you why actors who I don’t know give performances that I’ve never heard that you don’t like. It would be condescending of me to do so. I’m flattered that you appreciate my acting work, but I can’t pass judgement on others.

Being a part of the anime industry, I’m sure you know that there are two types of fans, those who do dubs and those who do subs, which do you fall into?

I watch both subs and dubs, depending on the show. If I’m doing my scholarly research, I usually watch subs, just so I can hear the Japanese track, but when I watch Miyazaki movies, I tend to watch them dubbed.

If yes to subs, do you watch fansubs?

I have watched fansubs in the past, back when they were on VHS tape. Do you remember those days?

If no, do you support the idea of fansubbing?

I don’t mind if someone has fansubbed something that has gone way out of print and would be unavailable in any other format. I appreciate those fans who fansub shows from the 1970s that will probably never see the light of day here in the U.S.  But I cannot condone the fansubbing of current properties that are up for licensing outside of Japan. That’s an infringement on the creator’s copyright, it is an act of piracy and it ends up hurting the industry as a whole. See the fall of Central Park Media, Geneon, ADV Films and Tokyopop for examples.

Out of all the anime that you have viewed and/or worked on, what would you recommend as some of the best?

I’m a big fan of Miyazaki’s work, especially Castle in the Sky. I’m also a fan of Shoji Kawamori’s work, especially the Vision of Escaflowne. I also loved working on Wolf’s Rain and Howl’s Moving Castle.

From some fans of yours, I have a few questionsFrom Kyle Bridges: “What made you want to voice Speedy/Red Arrow on Young Justice?”

They offered to pay me to play the character. As an actor, I don’t chose my parts, I audition for a director and then the director casts me in the role they think I’m most suited for. So I didn’t want to play Speedy, I wanted to act in the show, Young Justice. After I auditioned for the show, the director decided I would be best as Speedy. My only choice is to say yes or no.

From Kyle Holtom: “Do you see Voice acting as a stepping stone to serious acting?”

Unfortunately, I find your question both condescending and insulting. Voice acting is serious acting. Just ask anyone who’s watched Cowboy Bebop, or Wolf’s Rain. There’s serious acting going on in those shows. If you’re asking if I see voice acting as a stepping stone to on-camera acting, then my answer is no. I don’t see any obvious way to transition from voice acting into screen acting, although anything is possible.

From Grant Greene: “Do you have other voice actors you admire, or anyone in the industry?”

Yes. I’m a big fan of Steve Blum. He’s both a friend and an inspiration to me as a voice actor. Also, I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for the voice actors on the old Rankin-Bass animated version of the Hobbit. That’s one of my favorite animated movies.

Thank you so much for your time. I know that you’ve been busy lately with the WeHeartJapan fundraiser, which I wish you and all the guests good luck on. I am looking forward to your upcoming roles in anime and video games.

Keep it up,

Thank you. I hope you find my answers useful. I look forward to seeing the interview.