A number of sources report that Fox is seriously considering recasting a few roles for the new Futurama episodes: Fry, Zoidberg, Professor Farnsworth, Zap Brannigan, Leela, Bender, Kif, Morbo, LLRR, and H.G. Blob. (Some reports include Mom and Linda (Morbo's news partner) as well.)
(In case you haven't figured it out, reportedly they don't want to pay Billy West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio, and Maurice LaMarche the salaries they are requesting; there seem to be conflicting reports as to whether or not Tress MacNeille is included.)
I can't see how Comedy Central would go for this as it would put a huge "DO NOT WATCH" sticker on one of their newly acquired shows. Besides, it wouldn't be the show they agreed to pick up.
I also don't see MG producing another season if it means working with scabs and substandard voice actors. Besides, how many actors would you need to replace Billy? It took Chicago two musicians to replace Peter Cetera.
I don't see this happening. CC won't run it and the DVDs/Blu-Rays won't sell. That dog won't hunt.
I see a last minute capitulation leaving us all walking on sunshine. ;-)
I already contacted the casting director about this, not just for confirmation, but because I wanted to submit my audition for some of the parts they are casting for. Not to toot my own horn, but I can do a mean impersonation of several of Billy's voices (and Maurice's too). People have been telling me for years I should be doing voice overs...so, here is my chance.
Do I expect to be considered, not really. But since it's an open audition and my friends have been telling me for years how good my impersonations are, I figure, what the hell? The worst that can happen is being told 'no thanks.'
I'll post my MP3 files when I get them finished. :-)
I don't think they're going to go with replacements either. There's a small chance they could replace Katey, since she only does one voice and I don't think she does any "background characters", but I don't think Billy and John would go for it.
Something tells me it's going to come down to "keep the cast as is" or "send the scripts to whoever draws Futurama Comics, because we're not making the new episodes after all."
(What I would like to see is - and no offense to Cartoon Network - Fox make a deal; they'll pay for the original voice actors if the Fox network has first broadcast rights to the episodes.)
Does anyone remember when Billy West took over the Voice of Ren (of Ren and Stimpy) when Nickelodeon fired the creator and voice actor John Kricfalusi and most of the staff? If you listened to the Howard Stern show back in the day, Billy told John he was going to hold out with him and then back stabbed him in the end. Billy is or at least was capable of backstabbing those around him for a job, I don't know how close he would be to the cast of Futurama. I would think that Billy's salary has to be higher than the rest of the staff, simply because of the many voices he does. I'm curious how the voice actor salaries work.
Most likely Fox and Comedy Central know that the show won't work with completely different actors, they are just using the idea as a negotiation ploy.
What if the impersonation was so good that you could barely tell the difference? Would you still not watch out of principle?
Listen to the voices of Futurama S1 and then go right to S4. Complete evolution. Granted, replacement voices, no matter how dead on will have some variations.
But if the writing is still good and the show still has it's charm, could you live with different voice actors if the performace was still passable?
At first, I didn't think so, but then I listened to a bunch of imitators doing various voices from the show. Some (most) suck, but some are damned close.
I agree this is probably a ploy by Fox, or a hold out by the voice actors (the crew from the Simpsons did it, and won out). Billy West once said he did Fry as a younger version of himself so he could not be replaced. Maybe he's right, or maybe he's got an ego...I don't know as I do not know the man personally, however it was a brilliant move to ensure he could not be easily replaced as Fry. Most of his other voices are easily mimicable. Fry is a lot harder. It's easy to mimic other voices when the original is a ultimately a mimic of something else (this was mentioned on on of the Futurama commentaries), but a lot more difficult to mimic someone actual voice (Nixon is a piece of cake, the one exception <g>), especially when the voice is an unique as Billys, or Kateys, or Johns.
The person who said Fox may get the extra cash for first run rights may be onto something. Even tho I'm sending in my own audition, I will still prefer the original voice actors. Who wouldn't? :-)
It's a clear negotiation stunt! The damn audition paper is on craigslist! Not your usual location for a gorram audition. Fox is not interested in replacing the characters (in fact, it would be more expensive to do that than to keep the old ones), they just want to scare them off so they would take less a salary.
Some outlets have reported that the actors wanted 75 000 dollars per episode, although Phil LaMarr claims this to be a far exaggeration by the media.
They are not recasting anything. Just calm down, people. This will either turn into a bad negotiation tactic or a crazy publicity stunt to get people to talk about Futurama.
Oh wait, that is what we are doing. I guess they got me.
Actually, that advertisment on craiglist isn't Fox authorized. It's a startup talent agency looking for folks to rep (you'll note they want SAG only and folks who do not have an agent). They are a nobody.
If you email the casting agency Fox really uses, they will give you the lowdown on how to submit auditions...and you don't have to be SAG.
I think it's part scare tactic and part Fox having a backup plan in case their tactics do not work out.
Maybe some reading up on it will help. Fox isn't trying to actually replace the cast, that would be too expensive. Think of all the people they really need to replace them.
I don't care how great people say your voice are, if you did actually take this casting (with no pay, by the way), you would pretty easily be despised by the fan community. Not that I think you will ever get the part, as that part will be reserved for the current actors.
Fox do not have a backup plan, they are just assuming their original plan works. It has worked before, why not now?
First, it's just a stupid audition. Just because I can mimic some of his voices and some of Maurice's does NOT mean I am comparing myself to West or Maurice.
Second, After re-reading an interview David Cohen gave when the news of Futurama coming back broke, he made reference of having an idea comperable to that of a "reboot" similiar to star trek. With that in mind, I am starting to think West and Co are not really not coming back and maybe they are indeed looking for folks who can mimic them as part of that concept. They've done some pretty strange things in the past.
Lastly, I've been a fan of the show since day one. My first choice (and second and third) would be the original voice cast. That would be the best thing for the show, without a doubt. But, on the off chance this rumour is true and they insist on moving forward, would you not want voices as close to the originals as possible? I've read a lot of opinions on this. A lot of folks who love the show as much as life would prefer to see the show NOT come back if they cannot get West and Co. There are TONS of petitions and boycott threats. I don't know if I'd like to see the show not come back...I guess it would depend on the quality of the replacement voices.
Remember when Mel Blanc died? Most everyone thought we'd never hear the Loony Tunes speak again. But folks like Billy West and Joe Alaskey came along and gave them new life, even when we all knew Mel was the heart and soul of all those characters. Their voices and performances were close enough to Mel's that no one really complained. If this Futurama voice acting thing really is all about money and ultimately the find replacements, it doesn't mean the end of the show. Will it be different, yes, to some degree. But do you think with as much love and Cohen and Groening have for the show that they would at least insit on having the absolute "second best" before proceeding? I still think they will fight tooth and nail for Billy and Co, but if they can't get them, I don;t think they would insult the fan base by giving us crap replacements.
And you are right about fan backlash. In the end, if there are replacements, whoever those folks may be will face tons of criticism for not being the original voices. But would that be their fault? I'm not submitting my audition for any one elses job. I'm doing it because I love the show and because the handful of voices I can do - I have been told - are spot on. If on the off chance they're good enough to pass muster and help bring back the show, is that really such a bad thing? I promise, when I am finished with them, I will post them to my blog and you can judge for yourself. Maybe for fun I'll do a side by side with the real voices to demonstrate how close they are. I'm only submitting Farnsworth and Zapp (but I can't do a passable Fry. Imitating a 25 year old Billy West is not an easy feat). I didn't have time to do Kif. ;-)
The only harm (for yourself) in auditioning would be if you are already in the voice acting industry. (The reasons for that have already been explained in that article.) Otherwise, there's no real loss to you.
"LOAD "*",8,1" wrote in message news:h48h9r$3ns$[email]...
Besides voicing and producing some spots for one of the local radio stations, I have not worked in the industry. I'm the one guy at the party who does imitations to keep the drunks laughing. The kid who would sit in front of the mirror for hours at a time practicing cartoon character voices. You know...a textbook geek.
By day I'm a computer programmer. How's that for boring?
"LOAD "*",8,1" wrote in message news:h48ppk$a5r$[email]... |I have heard the 24th is the deadline for submissions.
Yeah, I decided not to do it after all. Had a chat with a friend at the radio station I used to work for. He does VO work and gave me a crash course on "advanced negotiating tactics."
Besdies, I believe good news is a-comin' ;-)
So, after all the work I put into those reels, I may finish the mix and post them on my blog for chuckles.
On Wed, 22 Jul 2009 at 21:18:09, Kevin Provance wrote in alt.tv.futurama :
But it's different when the original voice dies - people accept there has to be a change. It's when the voice actors are still available & willing, but threatened with replacement just because of studio penny-pinching - *that's* when fans really get pissed off!
That's because some of us just stopped watching. I can tell the difference between Mel Blanc and his replacements. Just like I can tell the difference between Kermit voiced by Jim Henson and Kermit voiced by his son. It's not the same. When I hear the new voices, I get sad because I'm reminded of the original actor's death.
Haha. You didn't even read the interview then? Matt Groening was the one talking about the reboot a la Star Trek, but in a later interview David X. Cohen denied it outright as speculation, with emphasis on "not replacing the cast".
Maybe you should read the interview again: http://www.tvsquad.com/2009/06/13/david-x-cohen-spills-some-dark-matter-on-futuramas-future/
And FYI, Scott Muller (I think scottmullercasting.com was part of the email that showed up in Phil Lamarr's posting of the casting notice on FaceBook) did the casting on "Bender's Game" (I just rewatched it over the weekend and recognized the name in the credits).
"LOAD "*",8,1" wrote in message news:h4onoj$9d3$[email]...
Well, Matt and David did say they would not start production until Fox hammered out an agreement with the original voice actors. 2010 may not be an optimistic target date after all.