Anna Graves & Stephen Stanton - 3/17/2012

Earlier this year back when I still ran Echo Base News, talent managers Kathy Niewoehner and Dutch Delaney were kind enough to inform me that both Anna Graves and Stephen Stanton from Star Wars: The Clone Wars would be appearing at Wonder Con. This was a double interview opportunity I just couldn't pass up with Season 4 coming to a close at the time and Season 5 still on its way. So I made a special trip down to Anaheim, and the three of us had an awesome fifteen minute conversation about highlights of the show so far, their own perspectives on things as Star Wars fans, and what makes bounty hunters like Sugi and Moralo Eval so cool! Eventually I have to share some audio/video too (the entire thing was recorded) since there are a few times when they reply in some familiar voices from the show. For now, enjoy this complete transcript of the interview conducted back on March 17, 2012.

David Delgado: Anna, how did your voice acting career begin?
Anna Graves: I was a stage actor who was looking for a home and I actually met a voice over actor and realized that it was indeed a job. I started taking classes and doing my own work, and thankfully I got an agent that helped move that career forward.

DD: How did your involvement with The Clone Wars begin?
AG: I first auditioned for The Clone Wars back in 2007 and was lucky enough to get called back. I was called back for Duchess Satine, and then while I was there they actually had me read for Ahsoka.

DD: Oh, wow!
AG: Yeah! And it was interesting because I didn’t know how to interpret a young Padawan like that. It was really hard for me in the audition to do that. Now, hearing Ashley [Eckstein] and seeing her character, I get it now. But I think my first role on the show was always meant to be Duchess Satine.

DD: So at Echo Base News we just published a report on The Clone Wars characters we really want to see Hasbro make into action figures.
AG: Nice!
DD: We all really want to see Satine and Sugi, but sometimes Hasbro takes a stance regarding female action figures claiming that they don’t sell as well. How do you feel about that and would you like to see some Satine and Sugi action figures?
AG: I would love to see some Satine and Sugi action figures and I think that they would sell as well as the male characters.
DD: We think they’d be pretty popular!
AG: I think they would be awesome and very popular, and come on, what guy wouldn’t want a cute female action figure? [Stephen Stanton laughs.] As a girl who loves Star Wars and grew up watching Star Wars I understand that sometimes it can be a boys’ club, but I think the female presence in the world of Star Wars has been impressive, especially with The Clone Wars. George Lucas and his team have had an opportunity to explore the many, many stories of the people in this universe, and that includes men, women, and aliens of other races.
Stephen Stanton: Don’t forget droids!
AG: Droids as well! Droids…are…people…too? I can’t say that! [Stephen Stanton laughs.]

DD: How’s it been working with supervising director Dave Filoni?
AG: Dave is amazing! He is incredibly easy to talk to when you ask him a specific question about a character or an episode or what’s happening. He gives you more than enough information and he is an excellent voice director, and so much fun to work with because he is a huge fan.

DD: What’s your favorite episode you’ve worked on so far, if you had to pick one?
AG: That’s a tough one! [Pauses briefly to think.] I have to say lately I’ve been a fan of “Bounty Hunters,” which is the Sugi episode.
DD: That’s definitely one of my very favorites!
AG: It’s such a good episode! It’s a beautiful story. The team of bounty hunters that Obi-Wan happens to come across. You know, here are the Jedi stuck on this planet, and here are the bounty hunters trying to help these farmers out of this really horrible situation, and it’s just brilliant. And Jim Cummings, who is also a main voice [Hondo Ohnaka] in that episode is brilliantly talented.

DD: How’s it been working with James Arnold Taylor?
AG: James Arnold Taylor is fabulous! He’s a very talented man and he’s a class act. He’s incredible to be in the room with. Each scene is different, you know; we’ll do take one, take two, take three, and keep going on and exploring the scene. And you’re never gonna hear a repeat performance from him.

DD: Which is your favorite of the six Star Wars movies?
AG: Oooo, that’s a tough question. I’m gonna go with The Empire Strikes Back. It’s a good, good film and I think that in Episode V the way the characters were explored and explained, and the situations that they get into…it’s all just brilliant! [A man with a funny St. Patrick’s Day themed Yoda puppet walks past the table doing a Yoda impression.] I hear Yoda back there…
DD: Speaking of Empire!
SS: It’s a St. Patrick’s Day Yoda!

DD: How’s the fan reaction to your roles been so far?
AG: The fan reaction has been overwhelmingly supportive. Even from those hardcore Mandalorian fans who were not exactly on the pacifist bandwagon, which I totally understand! I love what Duchess Satine stands for and I love her place in the Mandalorian world. And I like the controversy that she’s caused, and the conversations amongst fans.
DD: It’s got people talking!
AG: Yeah, people are talking, and whenever you get to play a bounty hunter or any other type like a senator or a Mon Calamari female character, it’s a fantastic opportunity! I mean, you typically do think of the Mon Calamari as male characters but I was specifically informed that that is not so. They are not always male!

DD: Anna, you’ve played Sugi, and Stephen, you’ve played Moralo Eval. What do you think makes the bounty hunters such an appealing part of Star Wars? Why are these guys so popular?
AG: That’s a really good question. I think that bounty hunters are in it for personal gain, but we also see them sometimes choose a side and see what their purpose is in this universe and in this war. Some maybe not so much; it depends on their personality. There’s good and there’s evil and then there’s these sort of in-between neutral folks who are just trying to get by, and some of those are bounty hunters.
SS: Yeah, they kind of run the entire spectrum of people who have their own reasons for wanting to get in that line of work. Moralo Eval, I think he’s just crazy. I’m not sure what his original motivation was but we found out that he killed his mother when he was a small boy because he was bored. So I’m sure he was always cut out for this kind of work. He’s probably not a team player, you know. It’s hard for him to even work with Dooku and all these other guys. He’s probably one of those guys who’s just best by himself. I think that fits the bounty hunter sort of mentality.
AG: Yeah, I don’t see Sugi teaming up with Moralo Eval anytime soon. [Stephen laughs.]
SS: And Cad Bane only did it for the money.

DD: With Moralo Eval, what was your reaction when you found out that he’s such a dark, scary character that’s unlike anything we’ve seen in the show before?
SS: Well of course I was excited because it’s always fun to play some character that’s way out there like that. It really gives you a chance to explore a different way of creating a character. You know, Tarkin is based on a personality that we’re all familiar with, scaled back to be on the side of good at this point. Moralo Eval is just kind of this guy with those crooked teeth and crazy eyes who we start out seeing get hauled off to prison to start with! And one of the great things about The Clone Wars is that they’re always coming up with new characters like Duchess Satine. It’s always fun to play a character that you can explore and create from scratch rather than just basing it on one of the characters that already exists in the saga.

DD: So what are the challenges of voicing a brand new character versus a returning favorite like Tarkin?
SS: I think just coming up with something original that works for the character, that the director and the writers believe fits with their idea of it. When you audition for something, you don’t know, you’re given a set of sides [NOTE: ‘Sides’ are small segments from the script (usually around a page or so) that best embody the overall presence of the role a show is trying to cast.] The Clone Wars in particular is very secretive. They’ll change the dialog in the sides that they send out for the auditions, so they don’t give away anything of the plot. And, you know, there have been many times when I’ve come in and I’m like, “Oh! That’s what this character looks like!” I don’t have a drawing of Moralo Eval when I’m auditioning for it, I’m just kind of picturing something in my head. Then you get to the session and they say, “Oh, by the way, this is what this guy looks like. Okay.” [laughs.]

DD: Will Moralo Eval be returning any time soon?
SS: [Switches to Moralo Eval’s voice.] I certainly hope Moralo Eval will be back to haunt you in his own way! [Switches back.] The great thing about Moralo Eval, which of course I didn’t know when I worked on that four-story arc, was the question of whether he was going to live or die. So I was very pleased when I came in for the fourth session and saw, “Oo! He’s just being hauled off to prison. Nice!”

DD: How’s your experience been working with Dave Filoni?
SS: It’s always great! He’s a lot of fun to work with. He’s got an extensive film background, so you can just say like an off the cuff remark and Dave will tell you, “That’s from the movie Murder by Death!” or, “That’s from this Godzilla movie,” or something. So he’s got a really incredible film background which I think helps make the show very cinematic. I know the people that have been lucky enough to see The Clone Wars on the big screen where it’s in the 2:3:5 cinemascope format which from my understanding just blows you away. Because that’s the same format that Star Wars was filmed in, cinemascope, so it matches right along with it.

DD: Will we be seeing Tarkin return?
SS: What can I say? Everyone always asks me that! I’m always eager to see Tarkin return. I think I brought this up with [ForceCast hosts] Jimmy Mac and Jason recently. I said people ask me if Tarkin will return, you know, and people can talk about Tarkin without him being there. He can be referenced to. He can be a picture on someone’s desk or on the wall or something, too. I would always say keep your eyes peeled and your ears open in future episodes of The Clone Wars. [NOTE: It has since been revealed that Tarkin will in fact be appearing in Season 5!]

DD: Aside from the ones you play do you two have favorite The Clone Wars characters?
SS: One of my favorite characters in Star Wars period is Lobot. He is so cool, that whole character with that shaved head and that light thing on there. And he doesn’t say anything. Just the fact that he doesn’t have any dialogue makes me want to know more about him. I want to see more of Lobot!
DD: Would it be cool to voice him in The Clone Wars?
SS: I don’t know if he should be voiced! I think that’s part of his mystique. Maybe he should always be the guy who doesn’t say anything. So he’s definitely one of my favorites. Also I’d like to know more about the monsters in the holographic chess game. Phil Tippett did a lot of that stop-motion animation and I’ve worked with Phil and he’s a great guy and an incredibly talented stop-motion animator. I would love to know more about his little creatures!
AG: I’d like to play chess with that set too!
SS: Absolutely! I think they had it on display over at the Universal Studios tour at one point a number of years ago. They had the table there. They didn’t have the creatures but they had the table.
AG: As far as the Clone Wars shows go, Asajj Ventress was not my favorite when I first saw her, and now I have fallen in love with her! Especially after seeing the end of the fourth season, which I will not talk about in detail in case someone hasn’t seen last night’s episode. She’s just an incredible force. And then you know who else I like is Padme. With Padme in Episodes I, II, and III, I always felt like because there was so much going on in the films, there was always so much more to Padme than we ever got to see. There was never enough time. What Padme’s character has done in The Clone Wars, and what Catherine [Taber] has done with the voice, has really completed that Anakin/Padme relationship for me. And I love watching her frustration!

DD: And finally, what can we expect to see from Season 5 that will set it apart from all the others?
AG: [Switches to Sugi’s voice and turns to Stephen.] Can we talk about this? I don’t know!
SS: [Switches to Tarkin’s voice.] I don’t know, my dear. I don’t know if it’s prudent at this point to be revealing.
AG: [Switches back.] I’m happy to know that Dave has said Satine will be back, so I would love to hear more Satine stories and I’m glad to hear that a lot of the fans would, which is always nice. I’ve worked on some new things that I can’t talk about which should be pretty cool! I’m excited to see them come to light.
SS: [Switches back.] We definitely put the pedal to the metal in this series as each season goes by. I’ve got some new things coming up in Season 5 that, but no secrets revealed here yet. Ask Dave Filoni, I’m sure he’d love to tell you exactly what’s going on.
AG: He’s the man with the answers!
SS: He shows up at these things every once in a while. There’s a little thing called Celebration [VI] I think he’s been talking about.
AG: I’ve heard that.
DD: Will you two be at Celebration VI?
SS: I don’t know, it’s a big question mark at this point. It’s still a little ways out so there’s still time.

DD: Well that covers pretty much everything! Thank you so much for that awesome interview and thanks for all the voices!
AG: You’re welcome, thanks for all the questions!
SS: [Switches to Moralo Eval’s voice.] Moralo Eval will see you later in The Box!