O Superman
[Editor’s Note: Dwayne McDuffie, who was interviewed for this article, died on Monday, February 21 at age 49, according to published reports.]
Superheroes seem to be all the rage these days. Not only do we have Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark on Broadway and big budget action films about Captain America, Green Lantern, Thor and others soon-to-be-released, a number of top-tier talents have collaborated on a smaller-scale project: the animated original movie All-Star Superman
Among the voice talent involved are Desperate Housewives star and theater veteran James Denton as Clark Kent/Superman, Tony Award winner Anthony LaPaglia as Lex Luthor, Mad Men‘s Christina Hendricks as Lois Lane, Emmy winner and Broadway veteran Ed Asner as Perry White, and Tony nominee Frances Conroy as Ma Kent.
“Characters like Superman or Spider-Man are as close as we have to modern myths,” says the Emmy-nominated writer and comic book veteran Dwayne McDuffie, who penned the screenplay for the project, which was adapted from the Eisner Award-winning series written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Frank Quitely. McDuffie describes Morrison’s original script as “the best Superman story in the last ten years, and certainly my favorite,” which is why he approached the adaptation with such passion. The narrative imagines Superman at a point in time when he is forced to face his own mortality.
“It’s a very different Superman,” says Denton. “It shows his human side with a lot of emotional scenes with Ma Kent, with Lois, and there’s a great scene with Lex Luthor where he’s trying to make him take responsibility for what he’s done. It was tricky to do, because I needed to convey the emotion without becoming melodramatic or maudlin, because Superman — sort of by design — is so controlled.”
Denton also found it challenging to make his Superman and Clark Kent distinct, yet also similar. “For me as an actor, realism is not putting on a voice,” he says. “But I tried to drop my register as Superman without becoming forced. My big goal was to keep Clark from being too oafish; he’s a little more high-energy, and talks a little faster, which kind of makes sense because Superman is putting on an act. So, I tried to just do that.”
(© Gary Miereanu)
The actor is, of course, best known for portraying the hunky, blue-collar character Mike Delfino on Desperate Housewives, which he describes as “so close to me, it’s kind of a no-brainer.” Conversely, he jokes that he never really saw himself as a Superman-type: “I think they did a brilliant job with the DVD, but Superman just sounds wimpy to me!” Denton does, however, have two children with his wife, the actress Erin J. O’Brien (the two starred opposite each other in the stage play How Cissy Grew in Los Angeles in 2008), and says that the kids are “pretty pumped” to have their Dad as Superman. “My son’s really excited. He’s seven and thinks it’s really, really cool.”
McDuffie has nothing but praise for Denton’s work, which he describes as “completely approachable — his Superman is strong enough to be soft.” Likewise, he feels that LaPaglia hit just the right tone as Luthor: “He’s cold and scary, and the more rational he gets, the more irrational his fear and hatred of Superman becomes.”
One of the more curious aspects of voice work is that the actors often record their work independently of one another. “I never met either Christina or Anthony!” exclaims Denton. “We’re all on television shows, so logistically I’m sure it would have been a nightmare to try to get us in there together. But after we laid down all the Superman and Clark Kent stuff, I went back for another session and was actually able to lay some more stuff down into the scenes that had Anthony’s voice — which was helpful because he’s so good!”
This project was Denton’s first one as a voice actor, and he credits acclaimed voice director Andrea Romano with helping him get the best performance possible. “She held my hand through it, and we had a lot of fun,” he says. “I just hope everybody’s happy with it. Superman’s fans are very protective of the character and rightly so, and so you just hope you do it justice. I was really honored they asked me to do it as it’s so iconic.”
