Whether you realize it or not, you probably already know who actor Keith David is, even if his name is not immediately familiar. Are you a fan of John Carpenter’s cult classic films The Thing and They Live? Have you seen any of Ken Burns’ documentaries on PBS? Did you grow up watching the popular animated television series Gargoyles? And more recently, have you played such blockbuster video games as Mass Effect, Halo 2 or 3, or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you know who Keith David is.
The Harlem born actor has amassed an impressive list of credits on stage and in film, television, and video games, earning himself two Emmys and even a Tony nomination for his work. His distinctive voice is one of his trademarks, and this week, he lends it to Disney’s latest 2D animated feature, The Princess and the Frog. We had the opportunity to speak with him about his Five Favorite Films, his role in the new film, and what it’s like to do voice work in various mediums.
A lot of James Cagney movies [inspired me].
A Double Life was a big influence on me.Why was that?
Well, it was an actor playing Othello. It was written by Garson Kanin, who later married a teacher of mine, but he was married to Ruth Gordon, who was a favorite actress of mine. And it was a movie about the theater. I love those kinds of in-house things. I love political movies or plays, but especially plays about the inner workings of the business, or that give you insight into the process of what actors go through.
Next, David talks about what it was like working on The Princess and the Frog, as well as what voiceover work is like in general.
RT: Based on your affection for movies that deal with the inner workings of the business, have you found in your experiences as an actor that the films you see are accurate, that you’ve found yourself in those circumstances, or explored those themes and situations?
Keith David: Sometimes yes and sometimes no. Sometimes it’s definitely a fictionalized version of what happens. Other times it’s such a particular bent on it that, you know, maybe some people work like that. I haven’t really tried to write a screenplay or play in many, many years, and I’m just picking up that gauntlet of trying, attempting to do that. And although they have many related issues, they’re very different, and they both hold, for me, their individual fascinations.
Like you said, you’re picking up that gauntlet again. Do you find that, as an actor, it influences your process of writing? Can you talk a little bit about how that might inform that?
Well, certainly I don’t have to tell actors how to act. You know, I have worked with authors who try to actor-proof their scripts. I really don’t agree with that notion; you cannot actor-proof your script. You write the best script that you can possibly write, and the better actors will find the voice of the playwright and the voice of their character, and do that more than glorify themselves. But there’s no substitute for wonderful writing.
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One of the things we’re here to talk about today is The Princess and the Frog, which we recently had a chance to see. What I thought was interesting was that Dr. Facilier – his performance as well as his shadow’s performance – how much of that, when you were working on the character, was on the page versus what was brought to life by you in the room, in the moment?
A lot of it was on the page. It makes my job easier; it’s there on the page. And then we can fool around with different versions and variations on the theme. When the writing is good – and I believe it was in this case – it just makes the gig that much more pleasurable. This gig was a dream gig; acting in a Disney film is like the equivalent to doing Broadway. It’s the Broadway of animation.
Dr. Facilier’s such an animated character, and I don’t mean necessarily that he’s drawn; he’s always moving, his movements are very big and very broad. I know that it’s helpful for some actors in the booth to be as energetic, physically, as their characters. Was this something that you found yourself doing?
It happens that the guy whose body that they used to do the dancing and a lot of the movement of my character happened to be a friend of mine. He’s a guy who I had done a Broadway show with a couple of years ago, beautiful dancer. So that was fun. He called me immediately and said, “Hey man, I’m doing the movement for your character. I heard your voice.” So when I got back in the booth, of course knowing that he was doing my movement, it allowed me to relax and to know and to trust that that part was going to be well taken care of.
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How much did you have to reference before you went into the booth, so you could get a sense of what the character would look like and how the character might move?
You know, there are at least prototypes when we get there. They have some idea. And then they have these wonderful clay statues — I don’t know exactly what the process is — but they make them and they were fascinating. This tall lanky guy, with this hair that seemed to have a life of its own. It was fascinating, the whole thing was fascinating. I also did Coraline, and again the animated process takes very long. It takes quite a while to do. I never knew that before working on these projects. It’s fascinating how much time and effort goes into it, and it’s really wonderful to see that all that hard work really comes to something.
Was there any added pressure for you as an actor? Like, “This is a return to form and I gotta do it right.” Or was it very naturalistic and comfortable?
I mean, I love animation. I particularly love Disney animation. It was a dream job; it was a pleasure to go to work. It was phenomenally unpressurized. I was part of a very well oiled machine; I had a fantastic team, directing team, writing and music team. If nobody got along, I don’t know it. It was a wonderful, wonderfully collaborative process, and people seemed to be mostly on the same page, and when they weren’t, I didn’t know it. Whatever disagreements did happen were kept to a very bare minimum.
Is there one particular medium of voiceover that you have maybe a little bit more fun with? Do you enjoy doing games versus animated films, or is it all sort of the same?
I love to work, man, you know? Whatever the form or genre. Documentaries are a favorite of mine, but I love doing these. I love animation, I just adore animation.
You can catch Keith David in The Princess and the Frog this weekend in theaters everywhere.
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