Easily recognizable to sitcom viewers as the hilariously slimy lawyer
Jackie Chiles on Seinfeld, and renowned throughout the fanboy realm as
J’onn J’onzz/Martian Manhunter on Smallville, Morris is splitting his
time this February celebrating his latest triumphs.
Morris is a NAACP Image Award nominee in the category of Outstanding
Actor in a Comedy Series for Love That Girl! While he prepares for
the awards ceremony and all of its requisite celebrity gatherings,
Morris is also making time to attend both the New York (2/13) and Los
Angeles (2/16) premieres of Justice League: Doom.
The consummate nice guy, Morris shifts to a darker, villainous
approach for Justice League: Doom as he reprises his Justice League
animated television series role as the immortal Vandal Savage. Morris
is one of nine actors returning to the booth to record their original
roles.
Produced by Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros.
Animation, the all-new, PG-13 rated Justice League: Doom arrives
February 28, 2012 from Warner Home Video as a Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and
DVD, On Demand and for Download. Both the Blu-Ray™ Combo Pack and DVD
will include an UltraViiolet™ Digital Copy.
Justice League: Doom finds Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green
Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Cyborg and Batman on their heels when a
team of super villains – orchestrated by Vandal Savage – discover and
implement the Dark Knight’s “contingency plans” for stopping any rogue
Justice League member. The story is inspired by Mark Waid’s
much-heralded “JLA: Tower of Babel,” and scripted by the late Dwayne
McDuffie.
Morris is more than just an actor with a tendency to perform in
fanboy-centric productions – he is a devout fan of the genre and its
comic book origins. His comics collection exceeds 20,000 and includes
gems like a 1948 “Captain America,” issues 1-18 of “Silver Surfer,”
the first 20 Barry Windsor-Smith issues of “Conan,” and many of the
original run of the “Fantastic Four.” “It goes back pretty far,’
Morris says. “I collect to this day.”
Prepping for the onslaught of reporters’ queries on the red carpets on
both coasts prior to the premieres of Justice League: Doom, Morris
welcomed the opportunity to answer a few questions about Vandal
Savage, comics collecting, and the possibility of someday voicing his
Smallville character Martian Manhunter in an animated form. Read on …
QUESTION:
What’s the mindset of Vandal Savage, and what’s been the joy of
playing this role?
PHIL MORRIS:
Vandal Savage is an immortal who has been around the human species for
all time. He’s extremely intelligent – he’s incredibly evolved because
of contact with a meteor that landed in his village. And he’s always
trying to overthrow the world. His vision is that the world should be
his, as many of these despots feel. But he feels that because he’s
lived so long, he’s entitled.
I love Vandal. I played Vandal for the Justice League series a few
times, but this is a little bit of a different take on Vandal. Back on
the series, he was more of a smooth criminal – he was more nuanced, he
had more style. Now, I guess, he’s just had it. He’s kind of
approaching things as if to say “I don’t have time to play with you.”
He has no more guile left in him. He’s straight, no chaser, which
makes him much more dangerous, much more evil, and much harder edged,
especially in my vocal performance.
And I love this script. Dwayne (McDuffie) really made it a walloping
good romp for the Justice League players. And then Vandal is a bit
like the Lex Luthor of the show – it’s his mastermind, his ideas, his
design that almost or does bring the world to its doom. You’ll have to
watch to see. Vandal is very much the thrust of the evil of this show.
That’s fun to play.
QUESTION:
What’s it like for you to be recording with all these original voices
from the series again?
PHIL MORRIS:
It’s great to have these actors back in these roles, but that’s the
magic of these animated projects. I think one of the things the
DC/Warner Bros. people do very well is get the right people for the
job, from the top down. From Bruce (Timm) and Andrea (Romano) all the
way down to the cast – and they take pains to make sure that
everything is as accurate as possible because they know that, as fans,
we’re watching and we’re listening and we need to be served. And they
serve us very, very well. They give us some of the greatest vocal
talent in the business.
QUESTION:
You say “we” – and that collection of 20,000+ comics at home attests
to your love for this genre. This is more than just work for you,
right?
PHIL MORRIS:
It feels as though I’ve been doing homework on these characters since
I was 7 years old, and I loved being able to tell my mother that I’m
finally making my comic book collection pay off. Actors use whatever
reference material is at hand to flush out their characters, and in
that I have been a comic collector for so long, I don’t have to go too
far to relate to the process of the villain or hero in this universe
of comics. I feel like I am one of the rank and file who has gotten lucky enough to
embody these characters. It’s a pleasure and an honor.
QUESTION:
Which way do your comic book tastes venture these days?
PHIL MORRIS:
It’s interesting because they always ask the question: “Is it DC or
Marvel?” If you’re a real comic book fan, you had to pick a side. You
couldn’t go down the middle. As a younger comics reader, I liked
Marvel a lot, because Marvel reflected African Americans sooner than
DC did. I think that gave me a little bit of an affinity for them. But
now in my more mature years, it’s all about good story telling, and I
find DC tells great stories and has great, solid characters. They have
probably my favorite character in Batman. So I’m much more interested
in the continuity of the universe – I was an artists guy before,
relating to the pictures and the artistry. That really thrilled me.
Now it’s about the concepts and the writing. I’m always looking for a
good yarn.
I like reading Garth Ennis, J. Michael Straczynski, Mark Waid, Jeff
Loeb … guys like that. The writers have become fantastic – they have
taken what society is and spun it on its ear. It’s not really kid
stuff anymore. Kids can still invest and enjoy the books, but so can
adults. Mark Millar. Ed Brubaker. There are a lot of great comic
writers out there right now, and the world of comic books is much
better for it.
QUESTION:
You played J’onn J’onzz /Martian Manhunter on Smallville. Would you
like to transition that role to voiceover for animation?
PHIL MORRIS:
Carl (Lumbly) did one helluva job as Martian Manhunter for the Justice
League series, and he hasn’t lost a step for this film. I don’t think
he’s going to give up the role without a fight, and I have a total
respect for Carl and his performance. It would be wonderful to do
J’onn J’onzz as an animated character, as I did on Smallville. We’ll
see. They keep me busy over here.
QUESTION:
You’ve recorded a full library of characters for animation, including
many in the super hero realm. What character does your inner geek
still crave to voice?
PHIL MORRIS:
I’ve been doing a voice for the Black Panther, but I’m not playing the
Panther. They got Djimon Hounsou, and he’s terrific. But I would love
to play the Black Panther. I wanted to play Green Lantern in this
film. I’m an African American actor, but I don’t want that to matter
at all. I think you should be able to close your eyes and voice any
character, whether he’s African American or Anglo or Latino or Asian.
That’s what I love about these great characters. I’d love to do the
Silver Surfer, too. But for DC, I’d love to do a version of the
Batman. I know Kevin Conroy IS Batman, and I love Kevin to death. But
I think every actor who knows comics and loves comics would jump at
the chance to do Batman. I think each of us would want to bring his
own take to that darkness, to that inner turmoil that is Bruce Wayne.
So it would be Batman. Kevin, I love you, but give me a one-off!
QUESTION:
You frequently work in both the live-action and animated worlds.
What’s your favorite part of doing voiceovers?
PHIL MORRIS:
The best part of working in voiceover is the people you work with. I
was very surprised when I first came into this world that the actors
were so talented. They weren’t just people who did funny or clever
voices. They are very intelligent, well-read, well-spoken, funny
actors, and you get into that room and they cut it up – and THEN they
go to record and they’re suddenly the most evil or heroic person on
the planet. Then in between takes they’re jokey, jokey, jokey. Their
wit and their imagination is unparalleled. I really have a great time
working with whomever I work with from the voiceover community.
