INTERVIEW & CLIP: Phil LaMarr helps revive ‘Samurai Jack’ for Adult Swim

Phil LaMarr, of the Groundlings, Pulp Fiction and MADtv fame, is one of the most accomplished voice actors in Hollywood. His many accents, intonations and audio creations have been heard in cartoons ranging from Futurama to Family Guy to Star Wars: The Clone Wars, among many, many others.

He’s a man of a million voices, and one of his most iconic roles is resurfacing for a new set of episodes.

On Saturday, March 11 at 11 p.m., what fans thought was unthinkable will actually occur: Samurai Jack will return to Adult Swim’s Toonami Block. LaMarr, who voices the title character, will also return to offer his voice talents for the samurai legend.

In the new episodes, the audience meets Jack 50 years after the stories from the previous seasons. Jack has stopped aging because Aku has destroyed every time portal. Plus, the past haunts the samurai, and a band of assassins, sent in Aku’s name, tries to kill the crafty swordsman.

“It’s something that I’ve been proud to be associated with just because I think the show is a work of art,” LaMarr said in a recent interview. “Obviously, this time around, there’s a lot more going on internally for Jack that’s being expressed through dialogue. In the original episodes, there wasn’t that much dialogue. I didn’t have that much to do speaking-wise. There was a lot of action, so I feel even a little more involved this time around. That never hurts.”

To prepare for the series, which is the brainchild of animation extraordinaire Genndy Tartakovsky, LaMarr would study the storyboards to understand what the creator wanted from the role.

“In the original series, each episode had a slightly different tone,” he said. “This time, it’s all one big story, so the tone was pretty consistent. But there were a lot more twists and turns plot-wise and emotionally. There was definitely more homework to be done, and after that, after I familiarize myself with it, then I just open myself up and listen to Genndy because no one knows the story better than him. And I let him guide me where he needs to go because as a voice actor, this is not my baby. I’m here to contribute, you know, just like the background painters, the character designers. We’re all putting our contribution in to his pot. He’s the chef, and I trust him implicitly. He says louder or quieter, I go louder or quieter.”

LaMarr said that generally speaking his voice-acting efforts take approximately four hours for each half-hour animated show. Samurai Jack, because it’s action driven and features less dialogue, took the actor approximately two to three hours per episode.

“Then, of course, there’s the action grunts and all of that,” LaMarr said. “But we’re really fortunate in that we get the group of actors together because I always find that the best written shows insist on having the actors record as a group because that way you can see how the scenes are working. You can hear the dialogue and the characters interacting. Some shows, obviously, it’s less about the writing, and that’s not as important to people. And you’re not willing to bother with it, but on a show like this, he tries to get as many of the elements together as possible. And I think it pays off.”

Ever since LaMarr was young, he has been interested in voices and accents. One of his earliest roles in high school was playing Humphrey Bogart in a production of Play It Again, Sam. He also utilized his many vocal talents on MADtv and in other on-screen roles. He never thought of voice acting as a career, and he admitted to still learning a great deal about the art form even today.

“I came into voice acting from on camera, so I still get a little weirded out when people come up to me and say, ‘I want to be a voice actor,'” he said. “I’m like, ‘That’s it? Really?’ Because in some ways when they say that, it’s like somebody walking up and saying, ‘I want to act on the right side of the stage.’ ‘Really? You don’t want to do the left? Nothing? No? OK.’ I mean you could do that because to me voice acting, film acting, stage acting, they’re all a subset of performance, and I don’t look at it as one thing that I do. It’s just whatever job I’m doing that day.”

LaMarr is a performer of many styles and outlets. His stage work with the Groundlings and its offshoot The Black Version, an improv show that plays in Los Angeles, bring in the laughs regularly. His work on TV, including roles in Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Muppets and Grey’s Anatomy, show a deep range from comedy to drama, and his film work, including Pulp Fiction, Real Steel and Free Enterprise, furthers the variance in his decades-long career.

“The big difference between stage and recorded performance, whether it’s camera or microphone, is the immediate response of an audience,” he said. “I would put doing The Black Version improv show alongside working on Samurai Jack because to me they’re both collaborations with incredibly talented people that push you to be better than you think you can be just because the people you’re working with are so good. To work with Cedric Yarbrough, Gary Anthony Williams is the same sort of fun and inspiration and challenge as trying to bring life to one of Genndy’s storyboards.”

One week he may be recording voices for Samurai Jack, and the next week he’s working on HBO’s Veep. The following week he’s joining his improv friends at Largo at the Coronet for the latest Black Version, a show created by Jordan Black and directed by Karen Maruyama.

“I know that I’m very, very fortunate,” LaMarr said. “To me, the best genre is good stuff. People always ask me, ‘What’s your favorite? You do this kind and this kind, which one is your favorite?’ My favorite is stuff that is great because that is a medium unto itself as far as I’m concerned. Samurai Jack has more in common with Pulp Fiction than it has to do one of the many things I’ve done that isn’t that good. I’m not going to pretend everything I do is great, but again when you’re working with great people — and it’s all a collaboration — that’s when it’s fun. And that’s when it’s a challenge.”

As far as the future, besides Veep, more performances of The Black Version and a role in the new Epix series Get Shorty, LaMarr is keeping it animated.

“Samurai Jack has actually been really cool because it’s inspired me,” he said. “I’m putting together my own animated project. I can’t announce any details just yet, but it’s something I’m writing and producing. I’m going to include some of my friends from some of my past great projects as well because, like I said, I love collaborating with incredible, talented people.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / [email protected]

Samurai Jack begins Saturday, March 11 at 11 p.m. on Adult Swim. Click here for more information.