John DiMaggio is one of the most sought-after and hardest-working voice actors in the biz today. He grew to prominence as the voice of Bender Bending Rodriguez on the Matt Groening-created animated sci-fi comedy series Futurama, and has stayed in prominence with roles in things like Cartoon Networkâs trippy and hilarious Adventure Time as Jake the Dog. For the past few years, he has been working on a passion project, a documentary film entitled I Know That Voice that features virtually every voice actor in the business today. DiMaggio is the filmâs executive producer and acts as its narrator. Though the film is still being edited, culling hundreds of hours of footage, it is available for pre-order now through the filmâs official website. Mr. DiMaggio was nice enough to talk to us about the film and about his work, Bender, Jake, and even the Joker.
NERDIST: Youâve been working on this film for such a long time; How did you get the idea for a film about voice actors and voice acting, and how did it finally get going?
JOHN DIMAGGIO: A couple of years ago, I guess it was about 2010, my buddy and I, Lawrence Shapiro, heâs the director of the film, we were in Amsterdam for a music festival, and people there knew me from all kinds of different cartoon stuff that I had done. Larry was like, âWow, we should do a movie about people who do cartoon voices,â and I thought that was a really interesting idea. We could do that. And we started to really try and put something together, but we didnât really have the means and the know-how to really organize it and get it done. Thatâs when, in about October of 2011, I brought in Tommy Reid, whoâs the producer on the movie. He said, âI really want to do something with you,â because weâd worked together in the past, and I said, âWhat about this project?â And he said, âThat sounds unbelievable. That sounds incredible. Letâs do it.â And we just started putting it together, and people started coming out of the woodwork to come and talk to us, and once we started talking to people, people started hearing about it. I mean, weâve got 160 hours of unedited footage and weâve broken it down to 90 minutes of some great stuff.
Basically, itâs everything you ever wanted to know about voice acting and the animation industry but were afraid to ask. Itâs turned out really great. We couldnât be happier. The film has already on our website garnered 1,100 pre-orders in two weeks, which is pretty good word of mouth. When we originally put a trailer out to garner attention, it went viral, to our surprise. It got close to 700,000 hits with nobody really pushing it. So, weâre very excited about it. Weâve been in post-production for awhile. You know, that takes a sweet minute [laughs]. As a first-time filmmaker, itâs been frustrating, but itâs coming together and coming together well. Thatâs the good thing; itâs just a matter of time. It should be wrapped up and released by the fall.
N: That must be gratifying to have that many pre-orders so far in advance.
JD: Itâs really amazing! We really wanted to make sure that our core audience was aware of this. We want people who are interested in this genre to know that this is a go-to film. We want them to know that any question they have about voice acting, this is the movie they should watch. Itâs really been something; the support has been phenomenal, and the movieâs not even out yet. Word of mouth is really something.
N: Since you did interview so many voice actors, how long did it take to shoot everything?
JD: It took a while. We shot for well over a year, year-and-a-half. Weâve been in post-production since the beginning of the year. About 15 months altogether, Iâd say. About 15-16 months to get all those interviews. Iâd be in the studio and Iâd look at the people in the studio with me and say âHey, you wanna be interviewed for this film?â And people were like, âOh my God, yeah!â That was key for me. Being the executive producer of the film, thatâs what I needed to do. I needed to get those strings pulled because I was the way into that; I was the connection to that part, and thatâs what was really important. You know, itâs been a labor of love; I put up the coin to make this thing. So, Iâm pretty excited, and the outpouring of support from my peers has been fantastic. There were people saying, âMan, I wish Iâd done that.â Me being in the business really helped. So, thatâs what I did, and Tommy put the hustle in and got it organized and Larry was the man in their shooting the thing.
N: So, is it safe to say that the movie leaves no voice acting stone unturned?
JD: For everybody who always has questions for me at conventions, it covers all the bases, and I think itâs something that everyone, you know, from 1 to 92 can get. I donât think thereâs really anybody that doesnât like cartoons. And if they do, theyâre very grumpy. [laughs] You know, so the movieâs really like a valentine to the industry, to the people whoâve really helped me become a successful actor. Itâs really about them; these people who are the unsung heroes, if you will, of the entertainment industry. They fly under the radar and they deserve a little kudos and they deserve a round of applause. You know, I Know That Voice, thatâs the whole thing.
N: Because so many of our readers are fans of yours, Iâm going to ask a couple of questions about you specifically. One of my favorite roles youâve done is the Joker in Batman: Under the Red Hood. With a character like that, who was really made famous by another actor, how did you go about making it your own?
JD: It was really just tapping into the script, tapping into the reality of it as opposed to the cartoon aspect of it. Really tapping into the mind of a sadistic, psychotic criminal. And also having Andrea Romano in your corner and everybody who was involved. Bruce Timm and all those guys really know what theyâre doing. You know, Batman is sacred ground, so you really have to be in the right way to do it. And I really lucked out. I got the call from Andrea and went in and she was like, âYouâre gonna play the Joker,â and I was like, âUhhhhh, okay.â And itâs been great. I get great feedback on it, except from, you know, diehard Mark Hamill fans. [laughs] So, you canât please them, but thatâs all right. I donât care about that. Thatâs fine, you know, they can say what they want. They wouldnât say it to my face, though. [laughs] People talk a lot of shit on the internet and thatâs fine, itâs just really funny. Other than that, itâs just a completely positive experience, a wonderful experience, and Iâd love to play the Joker again. They have not approached me about playing the Joker again, but if they do, I will leap at the chance.
N: Youâve done so many great roles over the years; how gratifying is when ones like Bender or Jake from Adventure Time strike chords with people the way they do?
JD: Oh, itâs wonderful! Itâs the reason you do what you do. I mean, Bender is a franchise character, and so is Jake. Itâs just funny, Iâm so fortunate to have those opportunities in my life to play these kinds of characters and to touch so many people, you know? Appropriately. [laughs] But, itâs really been fantastic. It blows my mind sometimes. A lot of the time, actually. You walk out on stage at a convention and people lose their minds. And itâs been great, Iâve been really fortunate. Futurama really opened up a lot of doors for me and those doors have continued to stay open. Itâs been really wonderful. I love what I do.
N: And, finally, Iâd be remiss if I didnât ask about Futurama and Comedy Centralâs decision not to pick it up. Whatâs your reaction to this, and do you think itâll stay gone or do you think itâll be back again via a grassroots campaign like last time?
JD: Â You know, if it gets picked up, great. If it doesnât, Iâve been doing Futurama since 1999 and sometimes the curtain closes and thatâs the thing that youâve gotta take. I certainly donât want it to, but I think that this time around is unusual in that it seems like itâs the closest itâs been to really not being anymore. And I hope thatâs not the case. I hope that something happens and we get to do it again, because thereâs nothing wrong with it. You know, itâs a great show, the writing is still fantastic. Anybody complaining that âOh, the writing is different,â we have the same writers since we started and anyone thatâs new is of Simpsons pedigree. Itâs ridiculous; they donât know what theyâre talking about. The show is phenomenal and itâs still got plenty of life in it, plenty of steam in it, plenty of energy in it, plenty of laughs in it. And weâll see, you know. If somebody decides to do it, if Adult Swim says they want it back, then great. If not, itâll still go down in my life as one of the greatest things to ever happen to me professionally, and so be it. Let it walk off into the wild blue yonder. Working with Matt Groening and David X. Cohen and all the writers and the actors has been one of my lifeâs biggest pleasures. I would love to see it keep going, but if it doesnât, âfare thee well, yo.”
I Know That Voice can be pre-ordered now at IKnowThatVoice.com. And for even more voice actors, check out the second trailer for the film below.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiSPvsTP02A&w=615&h=346]
I’ve been wanting this since John and Billy West were on Nerdist back at episode 226 (It’s here http://www.nerdist.com/2012/07/nerdist-podcast-billy-west-and-john-dimaggio/ ). It’s good to listen to for info about this, but just for the sheer joy of it.
Voice actors’ kids must absolutely love books. Can you imagine having one as your mom or dad and having them reading to you, doing Peter Lorre for Pooh, Christopher Walken for Christopher Robin, and the like?
was he able to interview frank welker?
@Gordon All I know is my gut says maybe.
😛
This is going to be fantastic. as a 90’s kid growing up with the influx of new/old cartoons, I kind of have to know all of these voices 🙂
Yeah, I’ll sign that…again!
I’m running the fan campaign to Save Futurama Again.
The petition is up at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/956/648/940/save-futurama-again/
Over 17,000 signatures. We need much more.
Money, Mr. DiMaggio. I want you to take all my damn money!
How is it possible you can all remain so unsung in this day and age? Know that people like us can see through stunt casting B.S. like Epic and understand where the real talent is.
where can we pre-order?