Stevie Vallance
A collection of projects by Stevie Vallance's production company.
Silverwing Ride-Along Part 2
When Actors Go Batty
by Ramin Zahed (Animation Magazine / May 03 issue)
How do you find the right actors to portray an assortment of bats and other beastly characters featured in author Kenneth Oppel's popular novel 'Silverwing'? For starters, you get in touch with Vancouver-based voice director Stevie Vallance, who has been working in the thriving toon casting business for the past two decades.
"Back in August of 2002, the folks at Bardel contacted me to begin the auditioning process for the series," says Vallance. "It took us about six months to cast most of the parts."
Since the story focuses on the adventures of an adolescent bat named Shade and has all the elements of a great fantasy adventure, Vallance had a specific set of criteria in mind. "A great animation actor must be able to lift lines off the page," she explains. "The more the actor can make believe, the more we believe them. It's like when you're reading a bedtime story to a child. They will be out the door in four minutes if you don't play ALL the parts well and have some sort of belief when you read them. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking it's about a funny voice. Although the reality of this medium of acting has a bigger sense of confines, the actor must still make sense of this reality."
Casting the role of Goth, Shade's nemesis, was the most challenging part of the process, according to both Vallance and Artistic Director Keith Ingham. "One of the things we had to be careful about was that we didn't want to go with the obvious sort of villain," says Ingham. "Goth is a smooth South American aristocratic bat. We had to convey the right accent, but we also had to make sure that it was a subtle performance." Luckily, veteran toon actor Michael Dobson proved to deliver just the right mixture of sophistication and slime.
Because Silverwing is produced in Canada, Vallance cast Canadian actors for most of the parts. The lead role of Shade is voiced by Bill Switzer (X-Men: Evolution); his gal pal Marina is portrayed by Sharon Alexander (Reboot), and Richard Newman does triple duty as Throb, Brutus and Zephyr. (Working on the limited budget of a TV series ruled out major star casting for the first season.) "I loved casting Canadians because I think we are untapped and just waiting to explode with talent," says Vallance. The networks are always asking for new and fresh voices. I love this medium because it's more about talent and less about looks or resume or who you're married to! You may be the number four voice, and end up being the lead because they like your lisp!"
Comparing her 'Silverwing' experience to working with a seasoned radio drama troupe, Vallance says the acting team was quite remarkable when it came to bringing depth and meaning to the dialogue. "At times, we all laughed until we ached, and we also cried over things like Ariel (Shade's mother) being torn from her child. It was a Sophie's Choice moment for all of us."