Rob Paulsen has voiced a number of iconic characters over his 40 years in Hollywood, from Animaniacs’ Yakko Warner to both Raphael and Donatello in various iterations of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He’s also voiced some characters that, in the harsh and just light of 2020, viewers might question-both because they’re birthed from a stereotype, and because they’re of a different race than Paulsen, who is white. The animation practice of casting white actors in non-white roles is one that’s come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks: Kristen Bell and Jenny Slate announced they would no longer play biracial characters on Central Park and Big Mouth, respectively; Mike Henry relinquished the part of Family Guy’s Cleveland Brown (and Wendell Pierce began a campaign to succeed him); Carl and Bumblebee Man joined Apu among the ranks of Simpsons characters in need of new voices; and Alison Brie expressed regrets about her portrayal of Diane Nguyen on BoJack Horseman, a casting decision creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg re-evaluated throughout the show’s run.
And so the following excerpt from an upcoming and updated Random Roles interview with Paulsen felt particularly relevant. While discussing the topic of characters he’s inherited from other performers, The A.V. Club asked about José “Zé” Carioca, the dapper Brazilian parrot from Disney’s Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros originally voiced by Brazilian musician and actor José do Patrocínio Oliveira. What followed was a frank discussion about playing nationalities and ethnicities different than his own-something Paulsen says he no longer does “along with virtually everyone else I know who is a Caucasian actor.” In the video above and transcript below, Paulsen discusses his thinking about his past work and what the animation industry and its actors should do going forward.
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29 июн 2020
