kyle + rosemary

I'm always careful not to post too many details about auditions, or the content of things I've worked on, because it usually freaks out the people who hired me, who want to maintain some mystery about their project, control the publicity, or reserve the right to keep the whole damn thing a secret until they are good and ready to share it with the world.

With that in mind, I haven't talked too specifically about the project that I booked yesterday. In fact, I figured I'd wait until I went to work, so I could ask the director (who is also the writer and creator) if it was cool to put out a few details, and maybe even a character model or two.

Well, I think it's okay to talk about the show a bit more now, because Jun, the director, e-mailed me this morning with a link to her blog all about the show!

The show is called Kyle + Rosemary, and I am Kyle. (That's Kyle on the right there, and Rosemary is down a bit on the left, for those of you who like reading obvious things that are put into parentheses and then become the subject of much meta-commentary by the writer, who feels the need to talk about himself in the third person, when the smart thing to do all along was just to delete the damn parenthetical statement and trust that his reader wouldn't need it anyway. But then the writer, who is really amusing himself by now, is all excited that he got to use the fifty-cent word "parenthetical" within a parenthetical, which is almost as good as having an intalicized footnote.[1])

Yesterday, I wrote "I felt such a connection with the character, and had so much fun looking at his character model and creating the voice and character it inspired . . ." so here's a little bit on how that works for me. Follow along with Kyle (who is on the right over there. See previous parenthetical statement, kthnx.)

When I go into the booth to do a character, I do different things with my body to make him come out of me. Aqualad is a little haughty, because he's a prince, so to create his voice and character, I sit straight up, with my back off the chair, put my hands on my knees (Ensign Ro-style) and hold my chin up when I talk. I don't know how all that comes together to create him, but I know that it works.

For Kyle, my initial voice was way too nerdy and cartoony. Once Jun showed me this drawing, I grokked him. I walked into the booth, let my shoulders slump a little bit, put my hands in my pockets, and sighed right before they rolled tape. She guided me, and Kyle came right out of me, like I'd known him for much longer than the five minutes I'd had his image in my mind.

Jun said some cool things about me on her blog

So, having completed voice casting, after much painful deliberation (there were many great candidates) I decided on Wil Wheaton for the voice of Kyle. I'd call this an inspired casting choice; for one thing, Wil is a self-proclaimed geek, and for another, he runs his own hawesome weblog, in which he professes his geek-ness several times a week.

[. . .]

[W]e as directors and creators go through the casting process with often rarely a thought to the multiple lines of actors and actresses trooping through, hoping to get parts on our shows based on the quickest of auditions - auditions where they have to drive across town for just a few minutes in front of a microphone, saying the same lines that everyone else says and hoping to stand out. They are just as excited to get a part as we are when we sell a show. It's really nice to have a little insight into their lives once in a while. Thanks for sharing, Wil!

See? I knew there was a reason I liked her so much. She cares about story, she cares about actors, and she's a geek blogger (I love the posts in her blog where her mom comments and says how proud she is. That rules.) So if a singularity shows up in Burbank next week, you totally know where to pin the blame (or at least start the investigation, though we'll be watching you from our newly-discovered higher plane of pure-energy existance, and totally screwing with you through the power of mental thinking.)

I still don't think it's cool to gve up too many details about the show, but I think it's safe to disclose that Kyle and Rosemary meet in a MMORPG, and the show takes place both in the game, where I will get to voice Kyle's alter ego, Sir Horace, and in the real world, where Kyle and Rosemary can't hang out, because she is a goth and he is a geek. There are some storyboards of their in-game alter-egos on Jun's blog, if you want to see them. Oh, and when I voice Sir Horace? I totally stand tall, push out my chest, and put my hands on my hips. When I speak, I take one hand and stab at the air with it, because he is so totally heroic. And the transition from Sir Horace back into Kyle? Way too much fun.

Now I'm off to Shane's house to pick up my nerd cape. And don't even ask how it got there, because I'm not telling (though you can probably get Annie to tell you if you ask her nicely enough, and bribe her with coffee.)

[1] Yeah, it's still good.

Comments

[magdala]

Loved hearing about the role--sounds like too much fun. But "power of mental thinking"? So on your home planet, you all have some *other* kind of thinking you also use? Cool! ;-)

[Wil]

"Power of mental thinking" is a reference to Beck on Futurama.[2]

[2]Dang, I should have footnoted that.

[jhankins]

Totally awesome! I can't wait to read more and see how the process unfolds. Kudos to Jun for keeping her own blog, too!

[Joker Cross]

[2] they'd know that if they checked their Becktionary.

[Nicole]

I am having fun just reading about how much fun you are going to have doing this, Wil. The characters look great and I love how you manage to get completely into Kyle, poses and all. Keep us posted (and I promise to read all the parenthetical [there, I wrote it in parentheses, too =P] citations you write)!

P.S. Saw you in "Last Mission" today, and was pleased to see some of the real actor in you again. Touching stuff, and to know you're come even farther in the field and as a person is simply hawesome. Your haircut was sweet in that episode, by the way. =D

[Kim the fangirl]

I'm geeking out a little myself. I looked at the black and white picture of Kyle at the computer and my first thought was "shouldn't that be an iMac? That's totally an evil empire mouse." I think it's time to go home.

Congratulations again on the gig. :)

[Cherikooka]

AAAAAHHHHHH!!!! I am really excited for you! I can't wait to start watching/listening! It must be great to do a cartoon, well, not "do" like your "doing" them, cause that would be sick, and well impossible really, but you know what I mean.
-Cheri

[DJ-Panic]

DUDE, that so rocks! I can't wait to check this cartoon out...you just might make me get cable :P

Bigtime congrats, and I'm even more stoked that you got the lead! I got all excited about it for you, and now knowing some about the cartoon just makes it that much cooler

[Erbo]

Oh my God. Those characters could easily be me and my former coworker Karen. (All right, I'm not blond, I don't usually wear glasses, and I generally dress a little nicer than that, but still.) I have GOT to see this cartoon. When the hell is it going to be airing?!?!? And please let it be on a channel that's not digital-cable only...

[Chris Kessel]

So, is this a one-time show or an ongoing gig? If that sci-fi hosting thing came in, could you still take it, or is this going to be a full time job?

Just curious. I have no idea how these things work in the industry.

[Alan]

That sounds like a great story. I wish I had thought of it. Do they do a Romeo and Juliet thing where the characters in the MMORPG pretend to die, but then really do?

[Squirrelly]

That sounds like a really cool and original premise for a show. I'm so glad you got the role!

Also, and this is wildly off-topic, but I have something I need to apologize about:

A few years ago, I interviewed you for a book review of Dancing Barefoot that was to be published in my Kentucky newspaper. You all even sent me an advance copy for screening.

When you had to cancel your appearance at the con in Kentucky, my editor torpedoed my book review. I felt terrible that you all had sent me a free book, and I didn't even publish something.

So, I went out and bought a copy of Dancing Barefoot from the store, to make up for it.

Okay, I feel better after having gotten that off my chest. Just didn't want you to think all media types are evil.

[Astin]

Is there a term for quoting from a linked blog that includes a link to your own blog (from which, you've quoted the linked blog)? What kind of crazy recursive linking world are we living in????

Soon it'll be madness! Dogs and cats... living together!

Oh, and congrats on the gig!

[mcsey]

Ok that's just wicked awesome as we say here in Boston...

(Who am I kidding? I live in the middle of a corn field in Illinois.)

[Andy Affleck]

This is fantastic news. I got so happy reading this that I called my wife and called her to tell her. Now she's all happy. The web is weird like that :)

Any idea when this show will air?

[prof_rocko]

What a dream come true, Wil! I can't wait for the many blog entries about your experiences with this show. I still watch cartoons in my mid-thirties (partly because I like to, and partly because of my kids "make" me), and I always thought it would be cool to be a voice actor. [So when I say "dream come true", I guess I really mean *my dream*, but it's OK if you want to live it for a while- that's cool too.]

[Sandra L.]

I love it when my interests converge. I'm a fan of yours AND a Second Life addict - can't wait to see the show!

[Liz]

Wil,

The show sounds so awesome! (*Love* the character art.) Congratulations!

:)

[Morgan]

That sounds super cute. I'll definitely be watching Nick again.
Yay!!

[Alexandria]

That's exactly how I do characters, and I'm just a rank amateur that loves to do voices when I read to my daughter.
I would Love to do voice for animation (and the want only get worse as I age, lol) , this clinches it! (more!)

[SandieK]

Coolie-dudes!
Thanks for sharing the link.
Know, by chance who's voicing Rosemary?

[shauna]

Thanks for sharing, Wil! That was fun to read. I really don't know what else to say. It was just a lot of fun from my end of the internet. :D Good luck with the gig!!

[doog]

Freakin A brutha! Good job landing this.

Here's hoping it becomes a cultural phenom!!!!!

[riibu]

Hey Wil - My name is Rosemary and I am extremely amused by your new gig. Here is a picture I made for my additional amusement. =) Congrats!

[bec (havucnmycaml)]

Massively huge congrats! No one on the planet deserves being this happy in their work than you!
Will be keeping a watch out for when it shown in the UK in about two years!