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411mania Interviews: Vic Mignogna
Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 01.19.2008
The Vile One speaks about life, the universe, and anime with the voice actor at the Anime Los Angeles 2008 Convention.
Anime Los Angeles 2008 was the first anime convention of the new year held at the Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel a little while back. While Anime Los Angeles might pale in comparison to the size of other anime conventions, they managed to put together a fun, intimate, and entertaining weekend where it wasn't hard to see all the events you wanted to, and you can get through the dealer room in about two minutes.
On the very last day of the convention while everything was starting to shut down I managed to finally catch up with voice actor, Vic Mignogna, who you might know as the English voice actor for Ed Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist, Ikkaku Madarame in Bleach, and tons of other fantastic shows too numerous to mention. Something else people might know about Vic Mignogna is that he's an experienced and talented musician, singer, song writer, and pianist. Vic Mignogna is probably one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet and is never one to turn down any audience with his adoring crowd and always stays at his autograph sessions and panels well past the alotted time to take pictures with fans, sign their swag, or even accept personal gifts. Vic and I sat down for a fun and insightful interview.
The Vile One: The anime industry was going through a recovery period after Music Land went bankrupt and many stores that sold anime had to close down. And most recently, Geneon, a large distributor of anime in the US has now gone under as well. So they are no longer releasing titles. They produced and released a lot of shows your friends and colleagues have worked on, so what do you see happening to the anime industry this year?
Vic Mignogna: Like a lot of other voice actors and anime companies are concerned, I'm really concerned about piracy. I think that anime fans who think that its pretty cool and pretty neat they are able to download shows illegally off the internet and sharing them illegally don't realize what horrible damage they are doing to the industry. They don't realize by not paying the people that made the shows, those companies cannot continue to make the shows, the companies that bring the titles they want to see cannot continue making them, and they may think they are getting quite a bargain here by downloading stuff for free but if it doesn't turn around it could be the death of the industry ultimately. And I know that myself and a lot of other people are concerned about that.
TVO: I can't even begin to mention all the shows you've done. If I did it would probably take the entirety of the interview . . . recently you've finished the first season as Fai on Tsubasa, Fai and Kurogane is my OTP by the way.
VM: Sweet, *laughs*.
TVO: I just like to say that a lot. You're also working on Shinichi Watanabe'sThe Wallflower as Takenaga.
VM: Oh yes.
TVO: You've played supporting characters in his other shows – Wolf in Excel Saga and the shyster lawyer (Katuhama) in Nerima Daikon Brothers. You did a really great Ross Perot there.
VM: *laughs*.
TVO: What's it like doing The Wallflower as Takenaga?
VM: Wallflower is such a hilarious show. You sit there when you're recording it and you're like how do they come up with these ideas? I mean they are so creative, so funny, it's a great, great show. Matt Greenfield is such an awesome director, and he's forgotten more about anime than most people will ever know. The cast he's put together is an awesome cast, and I'm glad to be a part of it, it's a lot of fun.
TVO: I remember you were at the Night With Nabeshin (Shinichi Watanabe) at the Alamo Drafthouse, it was about a year ago wasn't it? (On the night in question, Shinichi Watanabe made his first ever trip and public appearance in the US live at the Alamo Drafthouse theatre in Houston, TX which previewed an episode of Nerima Daikon Brothers and the new show that ADV had recently licensed, The Wallflower, both of which are shows Watanabe directed.)
VM: Yeah and you know what's funny is when we were leaving that event, Chris Patton said to me, "Man I want to be in that new show," – And I didn't see it or some reason, I missed it. So I didn't know what he was talking about. So now to be working on it – Chris of course playing Ranmaru – now I'm especially excited about it.
TVO: One year removed from the original theatrical and DVD release of the Fullmetal Alchemist movie, a few months ago National Cinemedia/Fathom Events re-released it in theatres and you attended a screening in Houston, while Colleen Clinkenbeard and Mike McFarlund attended a screening in Atlanta, and Travis Willingham was a screening in Los Angeles which I attended and previously interviewed him at. He's a very cool guy.
VM: Yes, he is.
TVO: By the way, you are a lot taller in person than what I was expecting.
VM: I am, aren't I? Thanks for pointing that.
TVO: So what was it like to see your work on the big screen?
VM: You know I think every actor imagines and dreams one day of seeing themselves on the big screen. And even though I didn't see myself on the big screen, I heard myself, and it was definitely one of the neater highlights of my career so far. I loved it.
TVO: When I spoke with Travis Willingham at the FMA movie screening, Travis another actor and performer originally from Texas, he said that when he was getting direction as Roy [Mustang] from Mike McFarlund, Mike told him, "I want you to talk to Ed like he's an idiot." Did Mike ever give you direction like that when you were playing Ed Elric in FMA speaking to Roy?
VM: No actually he didn't. And that's the first I've ever heard of—that's actually really funny. No I just, I didn't get any direction from Mike about my relationship with Roy. But, as I was developing Ed, I thought to myself, "You know, Ed's got a problem with authority in general." And Mustang kind of personifies authority. So always being smart aleck to him, giving him a hard time, that's what I was going for. And to hear that's what Travis was going for is hilarious. That's perfect.
TVO: One thing I'm always curious about. I really admire your faith, you're someone who loves God, and who loves Jesus. So are you ever uncomfortable with material you work with or a character you play? Such as, "I'm not sure how I feel about this."
VM: There've been many times actually. There have been many times when I had a real problem with doing something or saying something. There've been many shows that I was not cast in and not even asked to audition for because the directors of those shows knew that it would not be something that I felt good about. There are bad shows and good shows out there, and there have been characters that I've played that I requested of the director to change things about the character just because I was uncomfortable with them. And the directors are usually very accommodating, like you know what, "If you can pull off the same attitude, if you can communicate the same expression without profanity let's say, more power to you." And for the most part I've been successful in that. And you know my feeling about it is this: I believe God has given me the opportunities that I have. If I do the right thing, if I try to take a stand for what I believe in, and I refuse to do certain things because I feel like they wouldn't be good; if I believe God is in control, then he's going to honor that decision. And he's going to bring me other opportunities that I don't have to compromise my beliefs—Now I don't agree with every single thing of every character that I do because I'm an actor. I'm playing a character, I'm not that person. Ed's very agnostic about God. Well, I'm not, but that doesn't mean I can't play the character. I think everybody that knows me knows what I believe. They know what I feel, and they understand there's a line of differentiation between an actor and the character he plays.
TVO: One thing I've always interpreted about Ed is that he believes in God, but he feels resentful toward God.
VM: Very.
TVO: And I feel at the end he might've regained some measure of faith in God—
VM: I think so.
TVO: It's subtle but I believe there's kind of a regaining of faith for Ed in that story.
VM: I agree. I agree completely.
TVO: Do you have a favorite piece of merchandise for a character you've played or a show you've worked on?
VM: Well I have a beautiful State Alchemist pocket watch that I really love. And I've received some of the most amazing gifts from fans. But you know what, my favorite ones are always things that are hand-made. Things that fans have made themselves by hand that are one of a kind, and I treasure those above all . . . I have two full spare bedrooms at my house of gifts from fans, and I'm just so overwhelmed by them. I love them.
TVO: As an artist, who really inspires you?
VM: Well I'm very good friends with Steve Blum, and I like Steve a lot . . . because we're such good friends I really respect him, I respect his work a lot.
TVO: A little while ago you mentioned doing the FMA OVA's, so has Funimation acquired them?
VM: Well I can't speak officially because I'm not an official representative, but my understanding is that they do have the license for them and that at the appropriate time and place they will record the OVA's.
TVO: As an actor was there ever a moment that was a really hard place for you to get to emotionally or put a lot of strain on you?
VM: I can't think of a particular moment. But some characters are more difficult than others. Some characters are more physically challenging than others. A lot of fans that have heard me talk before know that Broly from Dragon Ball Z was a very difficult character.
TVO: KAKAROTT!
VM: Oh my gosh. All he did was yell and scream and power up—that was really hard on my voice. He wasn't a difficult character, he wasn't exactly a deep thinker—
TVO: Hey I think there's a lot of pathos to Broly.
VM: Well you just keep believing that, maybe he'll show some sometime.
TVO: One show I'm really excited about that you're doing is called Shuffle where you play the King of the Demons.
VM: Forbesii, that's his name . . . I knew he had a name.
TVO: And he has a daughter, Nerine, that he's trying to marry off to a high schooler named Rin Tsuchimi; while The King of Gods whose played by Travis Willingham in the show is trying to marry off his daughter, Sia, to Rin as well. And then there a bunch of other girls that like Rin as too. Its a little crazy . . . What did you know about the show?
VM: It's funny . . . What I know and that may not be much, but what I know--it's hilarious. I think it's a funny show and doing this with Travis is really a lot of fun.
TVO: They do have this interesting relationship, almost like a friendly rivalry.
VM: Yeah, they sit around, play chess together and stuff. And what's funny is, Travis's character is kind of a buffoon, you know bumbling. And my character is the smarter, more calculating of the two . . . its a funny role reversal.
TVO: Now that you've started to put your foot in the door here in LA, with some video games and some anime, have you ever thought about relocating to LA and staying here permanently?
VM: I don't want to leave. I love Houston. I love Houston a lot. My girlfriend lives in Los Angeles, and there are many reasons to be here, but I just don't like the idea of living here.
TVO: Particularly you have more freedom in Texas, I imagine?
VM: Yeah, and probably more opportunities there. You know a lot of people have told me, "Dude if you would just move out here, you could work all the time." But, I don't know, I . . . I've never been one to follow a job. I've never wanted a job to determine where I live, and so I don't see myself relocating at this point.
TVO: Vic thanking you so much for taking the time to do this with me, it was an absolute pleasure.
VM: My pleasure. Thanks for your patience and bearing with me here at the con.
TVO: I know you got your con groupies, and I don't want to step on anybody's toes.
VM: *Laughs*.
TVO: But thanks for just taking the time, it was a pleasure, it's the greatest gift I can ask for. God bless you, Vic.
