New interview with Peter Cullen...

Lumpy · Sep 4, 2008

nothing really new and amazing it seems, just a little interview with him i thought i'd pass along...

from newsarama.com...

PETER CULLEN TALKS ABOUT THE BIG BOT

For being the voice of Eeyore from the Winnie The Pooh series alone, Peter Cullen has earned his place among the voice acting. immortals.

“It’s nothing,” Cullen quips, reenacting the voice of the sad sack stuffed donkey. “It’s another day, another dollar...but I like him”

There’s another reason animation fans think the world of Cullen though. He’s the original voice of that great big robot in disguise, Optimus Prime. He recaptured that magic in the Michael Bay directed/Steven Spielberg produced, live action version last year. Since the Blu-Ray version of the Bay film came out this week, Paramount Pictures thought now would be the time for the media to have a series of quick chats with the still quite active actor.

“My first gig was on Mighty Man and Yuk, with Frank Welker, in 1979,” Cullen recalled. “He played Yuk and I played Mighty Man. I worked on Sonny & Cher for five years before that, as part of the regular comedy cast.”

When Cullen got the casting call for Transformers, one has to realize that animation, particularly TV animation, was incredibly deep into its dark ages. The only glimmer of hope was Filmation’s just launched He-Man series. Something as radically detailed and developed as Tranformers or GI Joe was virtually unimaginable, even to Cullen.

“When I auditioned for it, by that time I had done my share of silly characters over the years,” he recalls. “All I was told was Optimus was a leader, and he was also a truck. For another cartoon I had been Pete The Train, so I applied that to what I thought of as Optimus The Truck. Otherwise I relied on the synopsis and character breakdown.

“Now they were looking for a new contemporary character. A hero unlike Batman, Superman or any of the other generic superheroes of the day. Optimus was a non-yelling, big guy obviously, with all the best of humanity’s traits.”

Cullen is also quick to cut down rumors that he based the leader of the Autobots on John Wayne.

“It’s hard not to throw a little John Wayne into it when you’re playing a big guy,” he says. That was a mistake as well. Optimus is actually based on my brother Larry, who was an officer in the Marine Corp. He served in Vietnam. When he came back, his voice was as low as mine, but he had a tone in it of understanding things I could never have imagined. That’s what I applied in the audition.”

Suffice to say it got him the role. What surprises him to this day is just how beloved the character has become.

“I was surprised by it. I still am,” Cullen admits. “Quite honestly, I thought about it a lot. Optimus was wiped out in the 1986 movie and to have fans demand a rebirth even then was surprising to me. Still, it really didn’t hit me until a few years ago, when I was attending a convention. There I saw firsthand what an effect he had on so many people. It still amazes me. It really does! I tell you, when you do voice over, you usually don’t get that, that adulation. I’m impressed by it. I cherish it. It makes me feel like I’ve done something that was really a positive in my life.”

As for working on Bay’s film, Cullen admits he put a few upgrades into the role. This was due in part to Bay not having a clue as to who he was.

“I think because of his relationship with Sam, Michael Bay wanted me to be more one-on-one with humans,” thinks Cullen. “He wanted me to show more warmth. He also wanted me to act like he was dealing with humans for the first time. Then again, I don’t think Bay thought of me as an actor, even though I spent two-thirds of my career doing voice work. I actually had to audition for the part. Then he became quite satisfied I could do it. After all, my job was voice over and he got it.

“I think we get a real measure of just how big Optimus is when we stand him up against Shia LeBeouf and all the other actors. Huge! That actually effected my acting. Bay and I agreed, because of that size, less is more. We never disagreed about that. In the end, it was a pleasurable experience.”

As for the present, Cullen is apparently still one of the busiest voice actors practicing his trade. He is slated to recap his role of Optimus in the Transformers sequel Revenge of the Fallen. He is also kept quite busy on the current Disney Pooh series.

Hopefully, we’ll be hearing a lot more from this animation great for the foreseeable future.
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Autovolt 127 · Sep 4, 2008

i've read this last week.

but still a good interview.

Lumpy · Sep 4, 2008

Autovolt 127 said: ↑

i've read this last week.

but still a good interview.
Click to expand...

really? it was only posted today...unless it was up somewhere else first...

Fit For natalie · Sep 4, 2008

Cullen's had so many interviews ever since he was rumoured and then cast as Movie Prime that they're all pretty much the same. Same goes for his convention Q&A appearances.

Lumpy · Sep 5, 2008

Fit For natalie said: ↑

Cullen's had so many interviews ever since he was rumoured and then cast as Movie Prime that they're all pretty much the same. Same goes for his convention Q&A appearances.
Click to expand...

yeah, that's kinda unfortunate...

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