WB PRESS RELEASE
ALL-STAR SUPERMAN
Thanks to the folks at the WB, below is an intriguing Q&A with Anthony LaPaglia, the voice of Lex Luthor in
ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, the much-anticipated 10th entry in the popular, ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original
Movies coming February 22, 2011 from Warner Home Video.
ANTHONY LAPAGLIA TAKES ON THE ULTIMATE VILLAIN ROLE AS LEX LUTHOR IN ALL-STAR SUPERMAN
TENTH DC UNIVERSE ANIMATED ORIGINAL MOVIE COMING FEB. 22
Award-winning actor Anthony LaPaglia returns to his villainous roots as
the voice of Lex Luthor in All-Star Superman, the highly
anticipated 10th entry in the ongoing series of DC Universe Animated
Original Movies coming February 22, 2011 from Warner Premiere, DC
Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Home Video.
LaPaglia is known far and wide for his lead role on the CBS drama
Without A Trace, but his fame goes well beyond those 160 episodes over
seven seasons on the primetime series. LaPaglia’s career highlights
include an Emmy Award as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
for his role as Simon on Frasier, a Golden Globe for Best Performance
by an Actor in a Television Series/Drama for Without a Trace, and the
1998 Tony Award for Best Actor (Play) for the revival of Arthur
Miller’s “A View from the Bridge.” He has also been honored with two
AFI Awards as Best Lead Actor in the films Balibo (2009) and Lantana
(2001).
LaPaglia takes the villainous lead in an All-Star Superman cast that
includes James Denton (Desperate Housewives) as Superman, Christina
Hendricks (Mad Men) as Lois Lane, seven-time Emmy® Award winner Ed
Asner (Up) as Perry White, Golden Globe® winner Frances Conroy (Six
Feet Under) as Ma Kent, Matthew Gray Gubler (Criminal Minds) as Jimmy
Olsen and Linda Cardellini (ER) as Nasty.
In All-Star Superman, the Man of Steel rescues an ill-fated mission to
the Sun (sabotaged by Lex Luthor) and, in the process, is
oversaturated by radiation – which accelerates his cell degeneration.
Sensing even he will be unable to cheat death, Superman ventures into
new realms – finally revealing his secret to Lois, confronting Lex
Luthor’s perspective of humanity, and attempting to ensure Earth’s
safety before his own impending end with one final, selfless act.
All-Star Superman will be distributed by Warner Home Video as a
Blu-Ray™ Combo Pack and 2-Disc Special Edition DVD, as well as single
disc DVD. The film will also be available On Demand and for Download.
LaPaglia’s career in television and film has already spanned a quarter
of a century, featuring roles on TV series from Magnum P.I. and
Trapper John, M.D. to Murder One and CSI; films like So I Married An
Axe Murderer and Woody Allen’s Sweet and Lowdown; and voicing animated
characters for Happy Feet and Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of
Ga'Hoole. He’s had the chance to play a variety of real-life
characters ranging from gangsters Frank Nitti and Lucky Luciano to
Cuban leader Fidel Castro and college basketball coach Jim “Jimmy V”
Valvano.
LaPaglia has belied his birth/upbringing in Australia with a
chameleon-like array of roles, frequently playing New York-style cops
and gangsters. However, away from the camera, he is quick to bask in
his non-American roots as co-owner of an Australian Soccer club
(Sydney FC) and playing goalie around the Southland, particularly for
Hollywood United Football Team. A quick conversation with the actor
reveals his true passion is between the posts.
Here’s a few questions the actor/goalie fielded in an interview
following his recording session as Lex Luthor for All-Star Superman
...
QUESTION:
What were the challenges of creating Lex Luthor as an animated voice?
ANTHONY LAPAGLIA:
You have to understand the medium that you're in. As opposed to
(on-camera) acting with another individual where it requires listening
in order for you to respond, here you're having to create the question
the other person would ask you in your head and then respond to it.
It's a much more difficult process because there's a line between it
being real and it being animated. There's a slightly different tonal
quality to the way you say things, or in the way you have to make it
bigger sometimes than you would naturally do in order to sell it. But
not having the visual in front of you – you're kind of shooting in the
dark a lot.
QUESTION:
Did you enjoy this incarnation of Lex Luthor?
ANTHONY LAPAGLIA:
Yeah, I did actually. I found it surprising that Lex Luthor was
getting a bit spiritual (laugh). I guess it's kind of like a sign of
the times where he's trying to get in touch with the inner Lex.
(laugh)
QUESTION:
Can you talk about the journey Lex goes through in All-Star Superman?
ANTHONY LAPAGLIA:
The journey Lex Luthor takes in this film – in the beginning it’s what
you'd expect: he's interested in power and world domination and
Superman is the bane of his existence. And then as it progresses,
there’s a slight injection of humanity, which is surprising to Lex
Luthor that he's even experiencing feelings that are remotely human.
So it kind of gives him an unusual arc. He definitely has more
dimension to him in this film.
QUESTION:
What do you bring to Lex Luthor?
ANTHONY LAPAGLIA:
As a kid, I loved comic books. It's basically how I learned to read
as a kid because my mother would buy them for me to keep me quiet, I
think. I remember one time particularly – I was 4 or 5 years old, and
I was sick and I had to stay in bed for three weeks, and so she would
buy me comic books every second or third day. And I just created my
own world, sitting under the covers reading Superman, Batman, Silver
Surfer, a lot of the great comics.
QUESTION:
What is it about Lex Luthor that most appeals to you?
ANTHONY LAPAGLIA:
There's a kind of sarcastic streak in Lex Luthor that comes from that
extreme confidence in his ability to do what he does. I like the
attitude of him. I like that nothing really fazes him, that he feels
like he has complete control over everything, therefore, he can be
relaxed enough to be a smartass. A good Lex Luthor makes or breaks it
for me, I think.
QUESTION:
As you’ve played so many villains, do you prefer being the bad guy?
ANTHONY LAPAGLIA:
I've always liked playing the baddy. Some people have a problem with
getting typecast. I'm quite happy with being typecast. I don't care,
as long as you're working. The truth is you could play every bad guy
in a one dimensional fashion, but it's like everything else in life –
everything's different and everyone's unique, so you have to find the
uniqueness in the character to bring it to life.
QUESTION:
You've obviously performed in every medium available, but voiceover is
relatively new for you. Does voiceover work offer you challenges or
joys of acting that you don't get elsewhere?
ANTHONY LAPAGLIA:
I like the isolation part of it. I like that there's a certain amount
of freedom, and that you're not waiting for somebody else to find
their motivation. It's more challenging to come up with a believable
character doing animation work than it is (in live-action). Acting is
relatively easy because you have a personal one-on-one interaction
with someone, therefore whatever you're doing is a lot smoother. This
requires a bit more patience and you have to suspend the fact that
you're in a sound stage and really commit to the material.
QUESTION:
You had a moment where you weren’t understanding Andrea Romano’s
direction on a particular emotion, and Bruce Timm was able to draw Lex
Luthor with an expression that depicted that emotion. Have you ever
gotten direction via artwork before?
ANTHONY LAPAGLIA:
That made me laugh. We were trying to get that particular passage done
right and I didn't quite know how to get it. It’s not an uncommon
issue where you have three or four people that have three or four
different takes on what it should be – it gets a little confusing
sometimes if you're doing it and you're taking in all the different
stuff. You want to deliver what they want but sometimes you're not
sure how to quite get there. And I thought that was ingenious,
actually, showing me the picture through the glass of the expression
on Lex Luthor's face. It made perfect sense – Bruce is an animator.
That’s what he does – so he was able to show me visually what he was
looking for in my voice. I could actually see Lex’s mental state of
anguish. It actually made me think of doing it a different way and
that ended up working.
QUESTION:
You've earned a Tony Award, an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe -- does
one of those honors mean more to you than the others?
ANTHONY LAPAGLIA:
To be honest, after a certain period of time they're just kind of like
objects in your closet. I think that, of all of them, the one that
kind of means (more) was the Tony Award because doing theatre is way,
way, harder than doing anything you'll ever do on film or television.
It's about real discipline. You have to go in and do eight shows a
week whether you feel like it or not and, in the case where I won the
Tony, it was in one of those shows where you could never phone it in.
It just didn't work if you phoned it in. So, come hell or high water,
I did it for a year – which is a long time to do eight shows a week.
I think I missed about five in a year. Also, I think (the Tony Award)
meant probably the most because it's where I started. It’s kind of
what I admire the most. Theatre is what I find the most challenging.
So I would say that the Tony kind of meant more. But the others are
nice, too, you know (laughs).
QUESTION:
How much does a background in the theatre help in the voiceover booth?
ANTHONY LAPAGLIA:
The theatrical background helps you in doing (voiceover) because
you've already been through a hundred different acting classes where
you've had to sit on a black box and pretend that you were a lemon or
an imaginary cup of coffee or whatever. There's always a part of that
program that requires you to strip yourself bare and be an idiot. And
if you're not prepared to do that, then you have no place being there.
QUESTION:
You had quite a lengthy list of unglamorous jobs before becoming an
actor. Pro soccer player, teacher, shoe salesman, furniture restorer,
sprinkler installer. And now you’re an award-winning star voicing a
super villain for an animated film. How does it all tie together?
ANTHONY LAPAGLIA:
Well, that's glorification. I used to dig the trenches for the guy
who actually installed the sprinklers. I just did the digging
(laughs). I had no idea that I would be doing what I'm doing now when
I was a kid. When I was a kid you could've said that I was going to
be an astronaut and that would have been more realistic than doing
this. So I think it ties together in that I don't really have any
expectations or feelings of how things should go anymore. They go how
they go and you’ve just got to roll with it. And I think it's your
ability to roll with it that keeps you in the game. It's also your
ability to recognize when it's changing and how you need to change
with it if you want to. And I’ll tell you that from the minute I
decided what I wanted to do, it's all been gravy from there. It's
what I want to do. Whether I'm successful or not at it, it's what I
chose to do. It wasn't what somebody told me to do, so everything
that comes out of it is just a bonus.
QUESTION:
OK. But if you could do it all over again, what would you choose –
acting or soccer?
ANTHONY LAPAGLIA:
That’s a tough one. What level of football? (laugh) Well, if I could
play in Italy for a five-year career, I'd swap it. Absolutely.
People don't realize how huge football players are in other parts of
the world – compared to them, actors and musicians are nothing.
They're doormats. You walk through Rome with Francesco Totti and I
don't care who you are – nobody’s going to notice you because
Francesco Totti is God. It's hard for people to conceive in this
country just how important the game of football is culturally in
Europe and South America, and even Asia. It's religion; it's life;
it's everything.
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