{"id":2462,"date":"2012-02-01T13:14:20","date_gmt":"2012-02-01T18:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/?p=2462"},"modified":"2012-02-01T13:14:20","modified_gmt":"2012-02-01T18:14:20","slug":"vids-smallville-star-phil-morris-reprises-villainous-role-vandal-savage-in-justice-league-doom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/?p=2462","title":{"rendered":"Vids: Smallville star Phil Morris Reprises Villainous Role Vandal Savage in JUSTICE LEAGUE: DOOM"},"content":{"rendered":"

Easily recognizable to sitcom viewers as the hilariously slimy lawyer\"\"<\/a>
\nJackie Chiles on Seinfeld, and renowned throughout the fanboy realm as
\nJ\u2019onn J\u2019onzz\/Martian Manhunter on Smallville, Morris is splitting his
\ntime this February celebrating his latest triumphs.<\/p>\n

Morris is a NAACP Image Award nominee in the category of Outstanding
\nActor in a Comedy Series for Love That Girl! While he prepares for
\nthe awards ceremony and all of its requisite celebrity gatherings,
\nMorris is also making time to attend both the New York (2\/13) and Los
\nAngeles (2\/16) premieres of Justice League: Doom.<\/p>\n

The consummate nice guy, Morris shifts to a darker, villainous
\napproach for Justice League: Doom as he reprises his Justice League
\nanimated television series role as the immortal Vandal Savage. Morris
\nis one of nine actors returning to the booth to record their original
\nroles.<\/p>\n

Produced by Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros.
\nAnimation, the all-new, PG-13 rated Justice League: Doom arrives
\nFebruary 28, 2012 from Warner Home Video as a Blu-ray\u2122 Combo Pack and
\nDVD, On Demand and for Download. Both the Blu-Ray\u2122 Combo Pack and DVD
\nwill include an UltraViiolet\u2122 Digital Copy.<\/p>\n

Justice League: Doom finds Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green
\nLantern, Martian Manhunter, Cyborg and Batman on their heels when a
\nteam of super villains \u2013 orchestrated by Vandal Savage \u2013 discover and
\nimplement the Dark Knight\u2019s \u201ccontingency plans\u201d for stopping any rogue
\nJustice League member. The story is inspired by Mark Waid\u2019s
\nmuch-heralded \u201cJLA: Tower of Babel,\u201d and scripted by the late Dwayne
\nMcDuffie.<\/p>\n

Morris is more than just an actor with a tendency to perform in
\nfanboy-centric productions \u2013 he is a devout fan of the genre and its
\ncomic book origins. His comics collection exceeds 20,000 and includes
\ngems like a 1948 \u201cCaptain America,\u201d issues 1-18 of \u201cSilver Surfer,\u201d
\nthe first 20 Barry Windsor-Smith issues of \u201cConan,\u201d and many of the
\noriginal run of the \u201cFantastic Four.\u201d \u201cIt goes back pretty far,\u2019
\nMorris says. \u201cI collect to this day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prepping for the onslaught of reporters\u2019 queries on the red carpets on
\nboth coasts prior to the premieres of Justice League: Doom, Morris
\nwelcomed the opportunity to answer a few questions about Vandal
\nSavage, comics collecting, and the possibility of someday voicing his
\nSmallville character Martian Manhunter in an animated form. Read on \u2026<\/p>\n

QUESTION:
\nWhat\u2019s the mindset of Vandal Savage, and what\u2019s been the joy of
\nplaying this role?<\/p>\n

PHIL MORRIS:
\nVandal Savage is an immortal who has been around the human species for
\nall time. He\u2019s extremely intelligent \u2013 he\u2019s incredibly evolved because
\nof contact with a meteor that landed in his village. And he\u2019s always
\ntrying to overthrow the world. His vision is that the world should be
\nhis, as many of these despots feel. But he feels that because he\u2019s
\nlived so long, he\u2019s entitled.<\/p>\n

I love Vandal. I played Vandal for the Justice League series a few
\ntimes, but this is a little bit of a different take on Vandal. Back on
\nthe series, he was more of a smooth criminal \u2013 he was more nuanced, he
\nhad more style. Now, I guess, he\u2019s just had it. He\u2019s kind of
\napproaching things as if to say \u201cI don\u2019t have time to play with you.\u201d
\nHe has no more guile left in him. He\u2019s straight, no chaser, which
\nmakes him much more dangerous, much more evil, and much harder edged,
\nespecially in my vocal performance.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>And I love this script. Dwayne (McDuffie) really made it a walloping
\ngood romp for the Justice League players. And then Vandal is a bit
\nlike the Lex Luthor of the show \u2013 it\u2019s his mastermind, his ideas, his
\ndesign that almost or does bring the world to its doom. You\u2019ll have to
\nwatch to see. Vandal is very much the thrust of the evil of this show.
\nThat\u2019s fun to play.<\/p>\n

QUESTION:
\nWhat\u2019s it like for you to be recording with all these original voices
\nfrom the series again?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PHIL MORRIS:
\nIt\u2019s great to have these actors back in these roles, but that\u2019s the
\nmagic of these animated projects. I think one of the things the
\nDC\/Warner Bros. people do very well is get the right people for the
\njob, from the top down. From Bruce (Timm) and Andrea (Romano) all the
\nway down to the cast \u2013 and they take pains to make sure that
\neverything is as accurate as possible because they know that, as fans,
\nwe\u2019re watching and we\u2019re listening and we need to be served. And they
\nserve us very, very well. They give us some of the greatest vocal
\ntalent in the business.<\/p>\n

QUESTION:
\nYou say \u201cwe\u201d \u2013 and that collection of 20,000+ comics at home attests
\nto your love for this genre. This is more than just work for you,
\nright?<\/p>\n

PHIL MORRIS:
\nIt feels as though I\u2019ve been doing homework on these characters since
\nI was 7 years old, and I loved being able to tell my mother that I\u2019m
\nfinally making my comic book collection pay off. Actors use whatever
\nreference material is at hand to flush out their characters, and in
\nthat I have been a comic collector for so long, I don\u2019t have to go too
\nfar to relate to the process of the villain or hero in this universe
\nof comics. I feel like I am one of the rank and file who has gotten lucky enough to
\nembody these characters. It\u2019s a pleasure and an honor.<\/p>\n

QUESTION:
\nWhich way do your comic book tastes venture these days?<\/p>\n

PHIL MORRIS:
\nIt\u2019s interesting because they always ask the question: \u201cIs it DC or
\nMarvel?\u201d If you\u2019re a real comic book fan, you had to pick a side. You
\ncouldn\u2019t go down the middle. As a younger comics reader, I liked
\nMarvel a lot, because Marvel reflected African Americans sooner than
\nDC did. I think that gave me a little bit of an affinity for them. But
\nnow in my more mature years, it\u2019s all about good story telling, and I
\nfind DC tells great stories and has great, solid characters. They have
\nprobably my favorite character in Batman. So I\u2019m much more interested\"\"<\/a>
\nin the continuity of the universe \u2013 I was an artists guy before,
\nrelating to the pictures and the artistry. That really thrilled me.
\nNow it\u2019s about the concepts and the writing. I\u2019m always looking for a
\ngood yarn.<\/p>\n

I like reading Garth Ennis, J. Michael Straczynski, Mark Waid, Jeff
\nLoeb \u2026 guys like that. The writers have become fantastic \u2013 they have
\ntaken what society is and spun it on its ear. It\u2019s not really kid
\nstuff anymore. Kids can still invest and enjoy the books, but so can
\nadults. Mark Millar. Ed Brubaker. There are a lot of great comic
\nwriters out there right now, and the world of comic books is much
\nbetter for it.<\/p>\n

QUESTION:
\nYou played J\u2019onn J\u2019onzz \/Martian Manhunter on Smallville. Would you
\nlike to transition that role to voiceover for animation?<\/p>\n

PHIL MORRIS:
\nCarl (Lumbly) did one helluva job as Martian Manhunter for the Justice
\nLeague series, and he hasn\u2019t lost a step for this film. I don\u2019t think
\nhe\u2019s going to give up the role without a fight, and I have a total
\nrespect for Carl and his performance. It would be wonderful to do
\nJ\u2019onn J\u2019onzz as an animated character, as I did on Smallville. We\u2019ll
\nsee. They keep me busy over here.<\/p>\n

QUESTION:
\nYou\u2019ve recorded a full library of characters for animation, including
\nmany in the super hero realm. What character does your inner geek
\nstill crave to voice?<\/p>\n

PHIL MORRIS:
\nI\u2019ve been doing a voice for the Black Panther, but I\u2019m not playing the
\nPanther. They got Djimon Hounsou, and he\u2019s terrific. But I would love
\nto play the Black Panther. I wanted to play Green Lantern in this
\nfilm. I\u2019m an African American actor, but I don\u2019t want that to matter
\nat all. I think you should be able to close your eyes and voice any
\ncharacter, whether he\u2019s African American or Anglo or Latino or Asian.
\nThat\u2019s what I love about these great characters. I\u2019d love to do the
\nSilver Surfer, too. But for DC, I\u2019d love to do a version of the
\nBatman. I know Kevin Conroy IS Batman, and I love Kevin to death. But
\nI think every actor who knows comics and loves comics would jump at
\nthe chance to do Batman. I think each of us would want to bring his
\nown take to that darkness, to that inner turmoil that is Bruce Wayne.
\nSo it would be Batman. Kevin, I love you, but give me a one-off!<\/p>\n

QUESTION:
\nYou frequently work in both the live-action and animated worlds.
\nWhat\u2019s your favorite part of doing voiceovers?<\/p>\n

PHIL MORRIS:
\nThe best part of working in voiceover is the people you work with. I
\nwas very surprised when I first came into this world that the actors
\nwere so talented. They weren\u2019t just people who did funny or clever
\nvoices. They are very intelligent, well-read, well-spoken, funny
\nactors, and you get into that room and they cut it up \u2013 and THEN they
\ngo to record and they\u2019re suddenly the most evil or heroic person on
\nthe planet. Then in between takes they\u2019re jokey, jokey, jokey. Their
\nwit and their imagination is unparalleled. I really have a great time
\nworking with whomever I work with from the voiceover community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Easily recognizable to sitcom viewers as the hilariously slimy lawyer Jackie Chiles on Seinfeld, and renowned throughout the fanboy realm as J\u2019onn J\u2019onzz\/Martian Manhunter on Smallville, Morris is splitting his time this February celebrating his latest triumphs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[14,213,751,409,749,750],"class_list":["post-2462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vids","tag-james","tag-justice-league","tag-justice-league-doom","tag-mission-impossible","tag-phil-morris","tag-vandal-savage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2462"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2477,"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2462\/revisions\/2477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}