Travis Willingham, the English-language voice of Roy Mustang in Fullmetal Alchemist, has a deep, dark secret about his character. "I can't kick my own a**," he admitted. Willingham's introduction to his Alchemist character was through dubbing the role for the series' video game. He learned that Mustang was the game's "boss," the opponent at the end of the game that you need to beat to win. When the game was released, Willingham buckled down to the task of winning at all costs. "I played for 13 hours straight to get to this little blue guy who's hopping about, saying `It's no use.'" Willingham tried attack after attack, but couldn't beat Mustang - his own character - to win the same. "And I thought, `I hate myself!' I was so frustrated - for four hours I'm in my room cussing out a storm. I died so many times...you know how frustrating it is to have yourself talk back to you. So I locked it in my closet - I don't want to see it." The consolation for Willingham was that he got one wish; he got one of the Roy Mustang "action figures" that's been issued along with the release of the series in the U.S.
Mustang's arrogance is a big part of the character, but Willingham said that attitude is mostly for show. "He's got this wall up," Willingham said. "On the inside he's got doubts about what he's done in the past just like everyone else, you don't want to reveal too much." Willingham thinks there's some insight into Mustang when he insults Edward Elric one moment, then shouts "I love dogs" the next. And Willingham added that a voice actor's job is to make sure that the meaning in those lines gets across. Part of the challenge is to give a performance that isn't "playing the end," which is stage talk for delivering lines with a character's mood at the end of a series or a play, rather than at the point in the show when the lines are delivered - a point when the character usually is in the middle of a personality development. Getting to the point where you can deliver that sort of performance means years of acting, developing skills through theater and improvisation. All of that experience can help prepare you to be ready for voice acting roles, but there's no guarantee of success. Willingham said he's had many auditions since he moved from Texas to Los Angeles, and few have resulted in work. "People will say `Don't get your hopes up.' Screw that. You have to be confident, but you have to be prepared to fail."
 [ StAr Alchemist ] · Fri Oct 21, 2005 @ 04:34am · 1 Comments |
![[ StAr Alchemist ]](https://a1cdn.gaiaonline.com/dress-up/avatar/ava/57/6d/3b7e96bfb6d57.png?t=1152315876_3.00_00 "[ StAr Alchemist ]")
