The Ghost Crew Reflects on Season One of Rebels (Part Two) w/ SPECIAL GUEST JAMES ARNOLD TAYLOR!

JAMES ARNOLD TAYLOR (voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi in 'The Clone Wars' and in 'Spark of Rebellion') joins the group today from the high ground to talk all things Rebels, Star Wars, voice acting and of course that legendary holocron message in 'Spark of Rebellion Pt. 2' that set the course for Star Wars Rebels.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Originally there was a pilot episode that was kind of
selling the idea, the concept of Rebels to Disney, the
Dave Filoni and his crew had put together. And so
I was actually the voice of the narrator of that show,
and it was Obi Wan Kenobi narrating it. So originally
Obi Wan was supposed to be like the narrator. How
cool would that have been?

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Welcome back to Potter Rebellion, everybody, I'm Johnny Brody. You're
friendly neighborhood and moderator. And this is part two of
our season one recap of Star Wars Rebels. Now, if
you haven't listened to part one, feel free to do
so now, or just keep listening to this part and
then listen to part one like it's a prequel in
true Star Wars fashion. It's up to you now. Of course,
I'm not here alone. Got the Captain of the Ghosts,
got everybody from the Ghost Crey here First? Up our captain,

(00:54):
our voice, the reason pilot of the ghost and the
only person I know who once lifted a Dodge Caravan
over her head, Miss Vanessa Marshall. Next, she's not only
she not only voices a gun slinging Mandalorian. She can
also throw football one hundred yards off her backfoot miss
teaser car and he's our fact and this man right

(01:15):
here he once outran a Dodge Tratus while barefoot in
Nova Scotia.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
The voice of esther Bidger Taylor Gray.

Speaker 4 (01:23):
Yeah, I'm not well.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
Here's the thing.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
If anything I just said was in any way wildly inaccurate,
and you know, maybe it was, maybe it wasn't, this
man that I'm about to introduce can correct it all.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
He's our producer, our fact checker, mister J. C. Reichenberg.

Speaker 5 (01:39):
Don't you dare?

Speaker 6 (01:40):
I believe it all.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
And it's all canon now, but that's not all.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
We have a very special guest joining us for part
two of our season one recap. Now, this man has
voice characters are basically every major studio. It's a good thing,
like the space in his brain isn't litigious because there
might be some wars going on there. One of those
men prolific voices was that of all we want Kenobe
across the clone Wars and the boys who welcomed us

(02:05):
in the rebels with that Holowcrown message and spark of rebellion,
and while the Galaxy says you shouldn't trust someone with
two verse names. This man has three, so I think
we're good with that. All set, It is with great
pleasure that we welcome the one only James Arnold Taylor.

Speaker 4 (02:23):
Roll in the red carpet.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Let me do that right, hang on hello then, am
otherwise everybody will get upset.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
No, that's the show now, all right, that's a wrap
everybody like from there.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Welcome to our first minniesote James, Welcome. It's a pleasure
to have you here and this show. You know they'bi
Walt has been tracking what you're doing, and I approve.
I think it's well done.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
So yeah, it's fantastic. And then you know, jac and
I go back so far, and we've been buddies forever
and we used to have a studio together. We produce stuff,
so I know I'm in good hands here. And John,
you're fantastic. You amaze me with your your knowledge and
keeping these three on track.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yes, Taylor, they make my job easy, but I appreciate that,
my friend. So look, I want to get into it
because I watched Clone Wars in real time. I rewatched
before doing this podcast because I wanted to have that
context going into the rewatch for Rebels, and but I
remember watching spark A Rebellion when it came out, and

(03:31):
just because I didn't know what was going to happen,
I was like, we're going to follow this new band
of rebels. I didn't know that we were going to
get Obi Wan from Clone Wars to basically bridge that
or you could say, Ezra bridge that gaps in to
this new generation of Star Wars characters. What did you like?
What was that like for you? Because I know the
show abruptly ended, and we don't have to get into

(03:51):
all the nitty gritty that the Disney acquisition, all that stuff.
We'll get there. We're in that when your next business,
we can do that. But I'm wondering, like, how did
that come about for you? And what was it like
getting that call and what's going through your head? Can
you can you give us some insight into the ten
eleven years ago when that happened.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah, I actually I've got a pretty good memory for
those things. I tend to remember like every studio I
ever recorded, and somebody says, oh, you were in this
game and such and such a time, I'll be like, oh, yeah,
I was at SLAMI Studios, and you know, I can
explain it all. So I remember these things pretty well
because I'm a nerd for this stuff. And we got
the call saying, you know, we need a little obi Wan. Now,
I don't know. I'm sure you all know this. But

(04:31):
originally there was a pilot episode that was kind of
selling the idea, the concept of Rebels to Disney, the
Dave Filoni and his crew had put together. And so
I was actually the voice of the narrator of that
show and it was obi Wan Kenobi narrating it. So
originally obi Wan was supposed to be like the narrator. Yeah,
how cool would that have me? Wait?

Speaker 5 (04:52):
I didn't know that. Did y'all know that?

Speaker 1 (04:54):
I didn't know?

Speaker 3 (04:55):
Did you know this?

Speaker 7 (04:56):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (04:57):
I mean I did because James and I have known
each other first.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
When I was doing it, you have studio at that time,
so I was like, you know, yeah, I just did something,
you know. But so I was also the voice of Canaan,
and then d Bradley Baker was in it, and Catherine
Tabor were in it, and it was the four of
us and Mikey Kelly, another very talented voice actor, and
we were all the ones that did all the scratch
tracks for all of the wild you know presentation that

(05:25):
would become Rebels.

Speaker 8 (05:26):
So no way, I had no idea. No way does
this exist? Can we find we need James L.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
Taylor cut all right?

Speaker 1 (05:38):
Yeah, they're probably going like, James, You're not supposed to
say that. I mean, you know, look every So it
was because we were all still under the NDAs of
Clone Wars and everything, because it was very abrupt, and
they were like, we need to put this presentation together,
and we need voices that we can trust and that
we know will just give us what we and we
also knew there was never a chance in the world
we were going to get these jobs. I was hoping

(05:59):
for the Obi Wan part.

Speaker 7 (06:00):
But you know, Mike hold On is Mikey Kelly in
Clone Wars and I'm I'm late.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
No, Mikey was not in Clone Wars, but they brought
him in to do Ezra because it was just, you know,
they needed that track. And so uh Dee was playing
Steve's you know role parts, you know, because they are
kind of like minded folk, and then Kat did both
of your roles.

Speaker 5 (06:26):
Actually, yeah, I am blown away right now. I'm sorry.
I'm blown away.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
And this was well before we knew that any of
you would have these parts, so we were just kind
of playing, you know, and I think I did kind
of like Canaan was kind of this, you know, kind
of a Johnny Depp kind of you because I've been
Johnny Dep' voice double for years and they said, give
it kind of that that Johnny Depp vibe, and so so.

Speaker 9 (06:48):
You know, Kens, it wasn't Captain Jack Sparrow made, but
he was somewhere riding there.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
So yeah, it's so good.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
That's amazing.

Speaker 8 (07:00):
To see that.

Speaker 1 (07:02):
But so, and then to answer your question more fully,
and I'm sorry I'm hogging all the time.

Speaker 3 (07:07):
This is.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
Let me tell you about my life. So I was
brought in to do obi Wan for now the show
is going, and it's like and Dave was like, he
pulled me aside and he said, you know, they really
wanted you and McGregor, but he's not available, and so
we got you. And so but it was like, so
you really need to give it. So for the last

(07:32):
you know, how many years before that originally I started
back in. It's been twenty three years I've been the
voice of Obi Wan. And when I started, I was
very specifically having to match Ewan's voice because they were
still making the movies. Revenge of the Sist was still
being made. Attack of the Clones would just come out.
We had done the Clone Wars micro series, and so
I was always told to just just match how he
was doing obi Wan Kenobi, and so that happened, and

(07:55):
then we got Clone Wars, the series that we all
know and love now, and Dave and George Lucas were like, no,
forget that. Ewan will never be obi Wan again. Sarah Aleckannis,
of course, will never be obi Wan. Your obi Wan. Now,
do your own spin on it. And so all those
years of doing that, then I walk back into the
room and they're like, yeah, no, you've got to be
Ewan McGregor again. So they very much wanted a Ewan

(08:16):
McGregor vibe before that message, because of course that's you know,
the coolest thing for me is that message was something
that we never heard before, but it was in a
vital part of the storyline to all of Star Wars.
You know, all we see is is obi Wan come
in and talk to Yoda and say I left a
message and gave would and now we get to see
it and now it's this part of everything, and it's
in it's in video games, it's in toys, it's in

(08:39):
if only I got paid every time, but I did.
That's in that story for another day. So but yeah,
so I was really thrilled to be a part of it.
But it was very much in my head that I
had to go back to sounding as much like you
and as I could. And I hear it in that
that I that I get nervous about it. But here's
the proof that maybe I did my job. A couple

(09:01):
it was Father's Day a few weeks ago, right, and
you McGregor's daughter put a Instagram message out with the
picture of her and her dad when he was playing
Obi Wan in the movies and she was a little girl,
and and then she put an audio clip on and
it was this is Master obi Wan Kenobi and she
didn't realize it was actually me.

Speaker 8 (09:21):
That's so funny, close relationship, they no, just a testament
to absolute what she did.

Speaker 1 (09:32):
And she comment because people said that's actually James Arnold Taylor,
the voice of Obi Wan and Clone Wars, and she's like, wow,
he's good, you know, James.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeah, so I'll thank you for sharing all that. Well,
I do want to share something with you, you know
you and wanted to come on the podcast. I said, sorry, buddy,
we got James Arnold Taylor for this episode. It's gonna
have to wait.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
Yes, which I.

Speaker 8 (09:52):
Would reach Obi wan Quota Sorry, Jaccheck.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
I mean right, I mean that's that's how that's how
the story went down. But you know that's let's backtrack
a little bit, like were you a fan of Star
Wars before getting the Clone Wars job? Like how much
of the Lord did you know or did you have
to learn? Kind of like Taylor really had to learn.
I know, Tia, you had to learn on the job.
What was it like for you stepping into this massive,
massive universe.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
Well, Vanessa and I are almost exactly the same age.
I think our birthdays are maybe even near each other.
No maybe no, I think I'm a little older than you,
but we're the same year. And so I say that
to say that we were born into Star Wars like
it was, you know, by the time we were, you know,
seven or eight years old, Star Wars was becoming part

(10:39):
of the zeitgeist, and so I grew up playing Star Wars.
I grew up playing Han solo. I wasn't old ben
Kenobi back then. Who knew? But yes, I was very
much a Star Wars fan from day one, and I
grew up going to see all the movies. You know,
I'm an old man. I saw them in the theater
when they first came out, and so yes, yes, and yes,

(11:02):
I loved all of it, and I loved the imagination.
But I was a big Lord of the Rings fan,
and so I always thought that, you know, Obi Wan
was this very much this Gandolf character, and that was
pretty accurate. That's what they were going for. And so
I loved it. And then when I got the opportunity
to be a part of it, you know, I just
was like, this is my world's all coming together. Animation

(11:22):
and Star Wars. Who knew.

Speaker 10 (11:23):
I'm going to jump in if you all want to
see how big of a Star Wars fan James Arnold
Taylor is and how far back it goes. James and
I did a short film in twenty fifteen that was
called Summer seventy eight, a short film and it's James
and I playing with Star Wars action figures. That came
out in nineteen seventy eight, and through all of it,

(11:46):
James was like, I mean, it's not us, it's like
Lydia his daughter's hands. But we wrote it and produced
it and directed it together, and it's James was so
crazy about the detail, like, oh no, that action figure
didn't come out till nineteen seventy nine, so we can
only use these eight or whatever. So he's he's he

(12:09):
goes deep, he goes way back to the Oh.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
Yeah, that was so fun. I don't know if you
guys have seen that movie, but boy, we had fun.
I got to show that at Celebration twenty fifteen, the
last one I hosted, and I got to show up
before every one of my interviews and people loved it.
It was a really cool little homage to JJ Abrams
and but I give all credit to jac He came
into the studio. We had a beautiful studio space together
that we shared, and he came in one day and

(12:34):
he's like, I got this idea. We just got to
do this. Can we do this? There's like three weeks
still celebrating, like yes, we can do this, and we did.
It was great?

Speaker 5 (12:43):
Was it for?

Speaker 8 (12:43):
Was it for?

Speaker 1 (12:45):
You know?

Speaker 8 (12:45):
Did you have that in mind that it would be
for to screen at Celebration.

Speaker 10 (12:49):
What it happened is James and I had done a
film together called Hughes The Force a few years prior
and which in which James plays Obi Wan on camera.
I got called out by Lucasfilm, like, what's the next
fan film you're going to do. We're bringing back the
Fan Film Awards at Celebration and I missed the deadline

(13:10):
because I have the idea after the deadline, and so
with like three weeks to go, I was like, I
had this idea last night while I was driving around,
and James is like, we can totally do that.

Speaker 6 (13:19):
We've got three weeks. You're nuts, and he's like, no,
we got three weeks.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
I'll show it all editing.

Speaker 10 (13:27):
Yeah, I'll show it at the Yeah, i'll show it
Celebration before my thing. And I was like, okay, well,
I guess we're doing this now. And we put the
whole thing together in three weeks, which was pretty cool. Well,
it's fun. It's like eight minutes. It's on YouTube. Everybody
should watch it. It's fun.

Speaker 8 (13:45):
We should, Uh yeah, we should?

Speaker 1 (13:48):
Can we?

Speaker 5 (13:49):
I don't know?

Speaker 1 (13:50):
Show it here?

Speaker 11 (13:50):
So yeah, yeah, find it we'll drop the link as
the kids say.

Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah, yeah, you are hip man, you.

Speaker 4 (13:58):
Are a super Bowl the way, I can't got to
know James.

Speaker 11 (14:05):
It's funny. It was at Star Wars weekends. And is
it called one hundred voices or no?

Speaker 1 (14:12):
My show is called well there they call it obi
Wan and beyond. I call it talking to myself, talking
to it. I have a show where I do. It's
there's two hundred voices I do in the show.

Speaker 11 (14:21):
It is beyond amazing. So the way the way I remember,
my dad was there. My he's my biggest fan. He's incredible,
but we're we're out there watching it and he sports everything.
Do we go and see your show like during it's
during the Star Wars weekends and I remember him going like, yeah, man,
animation is not for you dude.

Speaker 4 (14:41):
After he saw the.

Speaker 11 (14:42):
Show, He's like, I don't think you can do this,
and I was like, yeah, I'm I'm not gonna quit.
I think this isn't me because that was what I
understood animation was. And it is incredibly, incredibly impressive. If
that is anywhere online, people should check that out.

Speaker 5 (14:57):
It is.

Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yeah, that's on my on my YouTube channel, my website
and stuff. Yeah, you can look it up stage show
and all that.

Speaker 8 (15:03):
Yeah, drop the link, Jayson. That is also how I think.
I think that's how I.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
Missed that each other.

Speaker 11 (15:12):
Yea.

Speaker 8 (15:12):
Yeah. So for any of you guys listening that, I'm
curious to know how many of you listening went to
Star Wars Weekends and James, I wonder if you have
special intel, like will that ever happen again?

Speaker 1 (15:26):
So Ashley and I have been trying so hard to
get them to bring it back, because for those of
you that don't know that are listening, that don't know,
Star Wars Weekends was this amazing event that went on
for I believe about ten years. I was involved for
seven years and I hosted it for the last five
years of the event. And it was this amazing bringing
together of all things Star Wars for four weeks, four

(15:47):
weekends at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, in the Hollywood Studios,
and actually the last couple of weekends, the last couple
of years they did it, we did it for six weeks,
which was fantastic. So it was we bring in all
the stars from the movies and the people that were
involved in that, and we'd have talk shows and we'd
interview them. There was a special Rebels show when Rebels

(16:08):
came out, and we did that whole thing. It was
an interview, and then there was a Clone War show
before that, and there was a fireworks extravaganza at the end,
and oh man, there was so many wonderful things had happened.
It was such a cool event. And now they built
Star Wars Land. You thought, what a perfect way to
do Star Wars. Totally stop doing it because because they
built that. But so we're trying. We keep telling him, boy,

(16:29):
you know, even if you did it like one weekend
for like you know, because it was it was ten
years ago this year that it stopped. So I was
like really hopeful that they might have said, hey, we're
going to do just a you know, but nothing so far.

Speaker 8 (16:42):
So well, let's put it out in the ether, or
let's just say it right now, because I the only
complaint I had about Star Wars weekends is that, well
maybe the heat and humidity, but that's nothing to do
and there's nothing that's just something to do about that. No,
But the only thing was that like we you know,

(17:03):
our cast meet, I couldn't do it on the same
weekends it's because they split it up so like every
weekend that you would go, you'd be with people from
like live action, other animation, et cetera. Which was fun
because then we get to know other casts and other
you know, other actors from different media. But you know,
of course, like we like to do things together, so

(17:24):
it would be that would be my only complaints.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
Lamely, we knew that that was the last year. It
would have been great to have done a Rebels one
because the last year of Clone Wars, which you know,
or maybe even the year twenty fourteen. So last year
was twenty fifteen, but in twenty thirteen or twenty four
I think it was twenty thirteen, they said to me,
who do you want? And I said, I want you
to bring in the whole cast to Clone Wars because

(17:46):
the show had been gone already, and they did so
they brought in Tom Cain, Kat Tabor, Matt Lantern, Ashley
of course her and I were there already, and Dee
Bradley Baker and so we were all together on stage
and we did a special show. So great if they
could have done that with the Rebels, but if they
ever bring it back, they would have to do that right.

Speaker 8 (18:06):
Well, it was. I mean, those weekends were so much fun,
and that was like really kind of near the beginning
of our you know, we've done many conventions and Star
Wars celebrations since then, but Star Wars Weekends was kind
of the first real like Star Wars centric convention, if

(18:27):
you can call it that. But so much fun. I've
never been in a parade before. That was you know,
do you remember.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
That puts us in the cars and you sit on
the back of the car and they drive you through
the motor cave, you know, up on the stage and
there's about fifteen to twenty thousand people out there baking
in the sun while we were up on the stage,
and then we say hello there, and yeah.

Speaker 8 (18:46):
It was great. That was great. I would tote I
would happily happily do that again if it was possible.

Speaker 1 (18:53):
Some of my fondest memories was when Vanessa did her
first year. Vanessa, I'm sure you remember, you were just
like a little kid in a you were just like
almost every moment You're like, I'm crying with so much joy.

Speaker 7 (19:07):
I mean, come on, guys, So Peter Mayhew was there
and I couldn't I couldn't look him in the eye.

Speaker 5 (19:13):
I was too. I just couldn't. He's so magnificent.

Speaker 7 (19:16):
And then I realized I was being rude, but you know,
but not acknowledging his humanity. But they were so kind
that ultimately, you know, I will never forget.

Speaker 5 (19:26):
I'm there and jar Jar is there. I'm at best. Yeah,
he's there.

Speaker 7 (19:30):
And you presented us with or Mickey Mouse gave us
our ears, and we were all on stage and they
brought out this millennium falcon cake for Peter's birthday, and
he walked for the first time up to the cake.
He had had surgery to be able to perform in
the films, and he blew out his candles and I

(19:51):
just remember, after all this, I walked in the bathroom,
I saw myself with Mouse ears on, and my first
action figure was Chewbacca. My my it's off card now,
but I don't care. It was worth it to play
with it. But I had just been on stage with
him and jar Jar Binks, and like, I just didn't.

Speaker 5 (20:08):
Understand how this was my life.

Speaker 7 (20:09):
And you were so kind to me through all that,
because I was like, wait, I'm getting in a car,
and you would say, don't worry about it. You're going
to sit on the top, You're going to wave, And
Ashley said, don't do this because you don't want like
do this so that you that you look better.

Speaker 5 (20:23):
Sorry for those of.

Speaker 7 (20:24):
You who are listening, you sort of keep your arm
close to your body so that you don't have like
wabble a arms or whatever.

Speaker 5 (20:30):
I mean.

Speaker 7 (20:30):
I was given all kinds of pointers and and just
blown away and we became friends with the people who
worked there at Disney.

Speaker 8 (20:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (20:38):
It was it was just it was, it was miraculous.
I could not believe this was my life.

Speaker 5 (20:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (20:43):
And then of course I've told the story cause play
for Jedi Alison Barrios who waited outside, not that it
was freezing cold in Florida at the time, but still
to sleep outside to give me a set of La
coup that she had made by hand for me, totally
ugly crying, just when acts of kindness like that happened
from from a place where there was no agenda whatsoever

(21:06):
and the show had not.

Speaker 5 (21:08):
Even come out yet.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and you were waiting. They would sleep
out front, in the front of the you know, the
parking lot, the entrance area, and they would stay out
overnight because then they would get tickets to get autographs
because back then it was I was part of it is.
We'd all sit in our bacon, our little tents outside
and sign autographs for everybody at certain points.

Speaker 7 (21:30):
It was incredible and thank you for being so kind.
And it's funny because I had met you previous to that.

Speaker 5 (21:35):
I think in the episode.

Speaker 7 (21:37):
Part one, I was telling them how record sessions normally happened,
and weren't you in the cast of Scooby.

Speaker 5 (21:42):
Doo and Batman.

Speaker 7 (21:44):
I believe when I came into Scooby Doo you were there,
so you were like one of these iconic in the
record session that I was mentioning earlier, but also Andrew Kashino,
who played Sagerera in the Clone Wars.

Speaker 5 (21:58):
I was always like tell me.

Speaker 7 (22:00):
It was like, tell me everything you know, and he
can't tell me anything, of course, because he's like NDA
dot Gov like he's like, I can't talk, you know.
But but I was always I just thought my life
would never include such, you know, magnificence, and so to be,
you know, rubbing elbows with you in this context was
just earth shattering for me.

Speaker 5 (22:19):
But sorry you inhaled Ta, I don't mean to come.

Speaker 8 (22:21):
Oh well no, I was just oh, go ahead, go ahead.

Speaker 5 (22:25):
No, no, I'm done, I'm done. Go ahead please.

Speaker 8 (22:26):
I was just also remembering, I don't know, Taylor, if
it was the second year that we went or the
third year that we went. But they debuted, uh, Disney
Disney World debuted.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
What do you like the your cause players?

Speaker 8 (22:44):
Yeah, our our characters like the park the park versions
of our characters. And I was like, what is my
life right now? Like there are there's a Sabine and
an Ezra walking around Disney World greeting Star Wars bands,
and like I that was like such a pinch me moment.
I mean, the whole thing, like getting to like, you know,

(23:05):
like you said, there was like twenty thousand Star Wars
fans and you're getting to like interact with these guys
and also just getting to like enjoy the park in
a way that I never have before maybe never will again.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
They were so kind.

Speaker 8 (23:19):
Yeah, yeah, it was just such a surreal experience, but
genuinely meeting live action or I don't even know what
they're called characters, right, like those park characters. Yeah, cast members,
the cast members, Yes, that's right, cast members, and that
they there was now a Sabine run and an Ezra
Bridger and we were like taking photos with them. I

(23:40):
think I have a picture, James of you.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
Me my phone.

Speaker 7 (23:45):
Right. Yeah.

Speaker 8 (23:48):
That was so surreal and so wild, and I was
truly having like an out of body experience experience, being
like what is what like like Vanessa said, like, what
is my life right now? In the best way possible obviously.

Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yeah, that was like I say, five years of me
hosting it, and so they would bring me out a
week prior, so I would spend five to six weeks
depending at Disney World at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and
my wife and my daughter and I and then I
could bring a guest and I brought JC one time
with us. And some of my fondest memories are JC

(24:23):
and my daughter, who was you know, probably seven or
eight years old at the time, running around with lightsabers
in the green room, you know, having lightsaber battles. So
it like hit JC. It's like, oh, I can be
a kid. I can I can just be a kid
again and play Star Wars again. That It's like those
are just magical moments. So it's wonderful that I have
all these Some of my fondest memories of working at
Star Wars are actually with all of you at these events,

(24:44):
so it's it's really cool, even though we didn't work
a lot on Rebels together, yeah, or at all, because
I was in the right right.

Speaker 10 (24:51):
I can't believe you remember that conversation that we had afterwards,
because it was I was like, oh my gosh, like
playing with Lydia just a time machine for me, like,
and we had that conversation. I can't believe you remember
that so long later.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
Still don't get the whole Jedi thing, do you?

Speaker 11 (25:11):
You know?

Speaker 2 (25:12):
Hearing all that because in the last episode we talked about,
and we've been hinting at this with our listeners, we
want to do live shows eventually, and hearing you reminists
about the Star Wars weekends, which I unfortunately didn't get
to experience, I feel like, because we are in the
age of reboots and recools and sequels or whatever you
want to call it, there's something here. This may be
a conversation for off the podcast, but I think there's

(25:32):
a way we can combine our force, a little Avengers
Assemble Star Wars edition, some sort of live show action
where we can recreate that experience because obviously the pandemic
through a wrention all those live experience things and those
in person events, and I think now more than ever,
like we don't get too far into current events, but
the current state of the world, like we need hope,
we need stuff like Star Wars, we need stuff like Superman,

(25:53):
we need we need a reason to rout for the
good guys again. And I feel like that's what these
That's what those weekends sounded like. It was like that
safe space where people could just be themselves within this
with people that are like minded, like themselves. So I
think there may be something here with you talking about it,
and we've been wanting and we've been floating ideas of
live shows, there's there's something here, so we we'll talk.

(26:15):
I think I like it. I like the way you think,
well you do you you well, you know, like like
the spark of rebellion. You gave the spark here and
that just got my brain going in terms of everything else.

Speaker 1 (26:27):
That's awesome.

Speaker 3 (26:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
So I mean, look, you're very uh obviously you love
Star Wars. We just established this and you know the
fact that you got to bridge the gap between episode
three Clone Wars and into Rebels.

Speaker 3 (26:38):
That's a huge thing.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
You're a very modest person, you know, even before we
go first, like I was only in one episode, but
that that Holocrown message is so important if not like
the like the the tipping point for Rebels, I would
argue because at this point, the Jedi are gone, obi
Wan's an exile about to go in exile, because you
recorded that at the Jedi Temple, and you know, you're

(27:01):
setting the stage for Ezra Bridger essentially the very broken legacy,
you know, and you were the only I believe in
Jason good thing we have our fact checker in real time.
You were the only Clone Wars era character voice that
we heard in the Rebels pilot, so like you were
the one that set the stage for this new era.
But also, and it's going back to what you said

(27:22):
about the original proof of concept of obi Wan was narrating,
you were setting the narrative for Ahsoka to return, essentially,
because like that was the setup for Fulcrum later in
the season, and the Jedi are faded away until Ahsoka
lights the torch again that obi Wan passed on to her.
So with that Holocrown message, I'm telling you it's it's

(27:43):
such a focal point, and I believe it's been reused
in other mediums. I think it was in Fall and Order.
I think it was even in the Lago Star Wars,
so it's been reused so many times.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
I joke about the payment, but no, I do, I guess.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
I mean, I think you guys should I'm not gonna
Joe y'all should pay James, I'm just gonna say it.

Speaker 3 (28:00):
I'll say, so you don't have to.

Speaker 8 (28:01):
I mean, for sure it's being used.

Speaker 1 (28:04):
I think, yeah, conversation, kid, I kid, but I don't
I know when it's being used because they have to
let me know and all of that too. So yeah,
it is used quite a bit. And it's been used
in like I say, the toys and the Holocron and
stuff too. And I'm sure they I'm sure they give
me something for it, but very small anyway, because you
know what's billionaires, Star Wars actors, we're all just rolling

(28:25):
in it from working in Star Wars now, I kid,
but not anyways. Uh, it is a really important message
and it's fantastic that it is now part of the
lore and I think forever will be. There's some amazing
fan videos that have been made from it, where they've
taken that message and turned it into other things with
montages of stuff. So for me, I say that, I

(28:46):
mean with all sincerity, I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity
to have been the voice that did that. And you know,
I'm incredibly grateful to you and McGregor that he wasn't available.
I mean, and and look, I'm incredibly grateful that I
have a career in Star Wars because of him, and I,
you know, having the ability to do a voice that's
similar to his. So yeah, it is a very cool

(29:09):
part of what we have now of Star Wars. But
I also think it's a really important part of what
you're getting about about hope and stuff too, because when
people are down, I see a rise of that video
pop up and people do their montages of Rebels best
Parts or clone Wars are combined, and it's like, don't
lose hope because that's the whole message, right and in

(29:30):
time a new hope will emerge, you know, And that
was the most important message, And that was I think
the coolest thing because it almost it's really before you know,
Rogue One and all these other movies started tying this
all together. Rebels was the first part of that after
Clone Wars to start tying in things because of course
Clone Wars tied in things in the prequel area. You
guys started tying things in to the sequel area. Er, well, no,

(29:53):
what are they? What are what are four, five and six?
What are they called? They were called the sequels, but
now there's the other ones, so original challenge trily sorry,
they tie into the original trilogy in a way, and
so it allowed obi Wan to tie in that that
whole message of hope even before Princess Leiah in Rogue
one says hope, you know, and all of that. So
really pretty awesome stuff that they did there.

Speaker 10 (30:15):
As a as a lower fan of just like the
nitty gritty on Star Wars, it is that obi Wan
speech is like one of those like treasure chess things
that you never thought you would see in two thousand
and five that we got to see. And it's it's
similar to like man Mathma in Rebels and man Mathma

(30:37):
in and Or the recent season series of and Or
where you know that mon Mathma speech was set up
in the West End Games role playing game in the nineties.
So it's like pretty cool to get these see the
thing that the people in Star Wars got to see
that you never got to see as a fan, Like

(30:59):
it kind of puts you in that world a little
bit deeper, which is super cool.

Speaker 6 (31:04):
Sorry to you.

Speaker 8 (31:05):
Oh no, no please. I was just I'm gonna say
that I'm not like super sentimental about stuff, but man,
that speech gets me every time. It's so moving and
especially I actually think I posted it on my Instagram
a few months ago because things were, you know, things

(31:25):
in the world were feeling very bleak and I was
feeling a bit dejected and that spoke to me in
that moment, and I was like, got to post it.
So it's I feel like it's applicable in so many
ways and is so hopeful and like really gets me
every time I read it or hear it.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
Yeah yeah, yeah, I mean it's again for me. It
is the forever gratitude part of being it because you know,
it was sad when when Clone Wars ended, we of
course never thought we would come back in any way,
shape or form, except for you know, video games and stuff.
We would still be voicing these characters if they needed
them for things, you know, because they're not always going
to use the big famous people. They're going to use

(32:06):
us for video games and stuff, So we knew he'd
be back in that regard, but to get to be
back on the show that was the show was really
important and fun, and it was so great that you know,
Ashley and Matt and all of us got to come back,
and of course d you know, got to come back
and do these things too, So it was it was
awesome and and now I've forever am grateful for the

(32:29):
fact that I got to be that guy. And you know,
I think a nice little a little wink to you're
all right, Jat So.

Speaker 3 (32:37):
That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (32:38):
I have a question this could really pertain to both James,
you and Vanessa, because the between the two of you,
the amount of voices you've done is ridiculous.

Speaker 3 (32:46):
It is ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (32:47):
And it's not just like scratch vocals or wala like
you've done. You've played multiple different characters. So Steve touched
on this a little bit when we had him on
a while back. I would love to ask the two
of you differentiating but between those characters and making those choices,
because you know, you got to make choices for how
they sound or like what's driving them and all that stuff.

(33:07):
And I guess the random part of that is that
you ever slip into a previous voice while doing a
current voice, because I know that. I don't know if
that's an occupational hazard, but that's my curious brain is
wondering about this. But I also know we have a
lot of aspiring voice actors listening to the podcast, and
I think hearing from two geniuses and masters like yourselves
to pull out the curtain a little bit would be

(33:28):
really insightful for them.

Speaker 1 (33:30):
Well, Vanessa, I mean, i'm ladies first place. If if
you have thoughts, but I can certainly go if you don't.

Speaker 5 (33:37):
Yeah, no, I mean I have thoughts.

Speaker 12 (33:40):
I've said in the part one of this that I
was concurrently playing Gomorra and to Harah, you know, one
show was happening and I got pulled aside sort of
three episodes in, and they said, we've only just realized
that we've hired you to play two green.

Speaker 5 (33:59):
Women in space? Can you butcher up the second one?

Speaker 7 (34:06):
And I was like, not a problem, and so and
so Gomorah suddenly.

Speaker 5 (34:14):
Goma. They would make go. They'd be like, no, I'm
gonna scratch gamor today. Hey guys, you know how you doing?

Speaker 9 (34:29):
You know?

Speaker 7 (34:30):
And no, it wasn't that, but I I had to
organically figure that out because you can't go from a
sound because it doesn't land properly, it doesn't feel authentic.
But you know, Hara comes from her heart and her
voice emanates from there. She's somewhat cerebral, she's, you know,
a mastermind playing chess at all times.

Speaker 5 (34:50):
She's more sort of uh.

Speaker 7 (34:53):
From the heart up, and Gomora operates from the heart down,
and she is much more more grounded in sort of
her sacral guttural area. And I tried to utilize that
in terms of letting that govern wear the voice originates
and of course.

Speaker 5 (35:13):
Organically how it would land on the listener.

Speaker 7 (35:16):
But I was only made to be hyper paranoid about
that is because I just thought I was getting fired
every time I finished a Guardian session.

Speaker 1 (35:23):
So I was just like, I don't know how much
lower I no.

Speaker 5 (35:30):
I mean, it wasn't that bad.

Speaker 7 (35:32):
But Trevor Duval, who played Rocket, was always like, no, no, no,
I got commorded, and he's, look how you do it?

Speaker 5 (35:38):
I don't know if you.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
Remember that I do. Yeah. So we were working on
Guardians because I played Yondu and Cosmo on Guardians yep.
So that was always fun because I felt like, so
I had a very surreal moment in my early on.
Like I said, I've been voicing Obi Wan for twenty
three years, and when they did the Clone Wars micro
series that was the first time I did him. And
then after Camel and I of course have been friends

(36:01):
for you know, twenty five years or so. And I
remember I was at a Christmas party for my agency,
the agency. We were at very Hollywood thing, and we're walking,
you know, from the buffet, and He's going, so, what's
going on with Star Wars?

Speaker 9 (36:15):
You know?

Speaker 1 (36:15):
And I was like, I'm telling Luke Skywalker what's going
on Star Wars? And so then it was kind of
the same thing. Like I'd meet with Vanessa, I'd be like, so,
how is star Wars? You know, it's like Obi Wan
is now asking about Star Wars because you know, once
you're no longer in it, you're like, oh, is it
still good? Everybody is good? You know, and all that.
So it was fun that we had those moments. But
I remember joking about it. The fact that you're playing
these two amazing characters that both happen to be aliens

(36:39):
that are green. So yeah, but yeah, for me, as
far as I don't know, I'm a bit of a
mold this way. It seems as though I picture the
character and then they come out of my mouth. I've
never had anybody say like, oh, you sounded you know
too much like this or that or whatever. I and
a lot of times because you want a reference, and

(37:00):
I go no, because I usually bring references with me,
so I'll listen to it in the car on the
way to the studio or if I'm recording here, like
I have my home studio here and my booth is
over there, and oh my gosh, I go and set
it up beforehand, and so every time I go into
a session, I've listened to what I did before, and
I try to be that way about it. But you know,
like with Obi Wan So, I was also the voice

(37:22):
of plokon Lo Kuhn was of course never on Rebels
because of Order sixty six.

Speaker 5 (37:28):
No stop too soon.

Speaker 3 (37:29):
It's always too soon.

Speaker 1 (37:34):
So when we did the episodes, I would just switch
back and forth. D and I and Tom Kaine we
were nerds that way. So so Pobi Woe was saying, oh, Hello,
then Master Plow Colt, Master Konoby, you've seen little Soka. Yes,
I believe she's with Anakin somewhere. Should I be worried? No,
I do think so, you know. So you just switch
back and forth and you have the conversation in your head.

(37:55):
Sometimes we're probably more comfortable having our own conversations than
inter acting with other actors at times. But I don't know.
I just love doing it. I love the challenge of it.

Speaker 2 (38:07):
So there was no Fred Flintstone like slip up as
you're trying to do Obi wan ever like that never happened.
And no yabadaba don'ts I guess like a better.

Speaker 1 (38:15):
Term, yeah, yaba daba doo.

Speaker 7 (38:19):
No.

Speaker 1 (38:19):
Although there was a character on Guardians that we did
that was jack Q I think was his name, And
they actually told me to sound a little like Fred Flintstone,
so he was kind of like a little more gravelly.

Speaker 9 (38:32):
But Fred Flintstone's right here, so I would do Fred,
but Jacque was more like this.

Speaker 1 (38:38):
So it was just I mean, it's very slight difference,
but that was if you listen carefully, you'll hear it. Yeah,
it's not like all my characters are different. I will
combine different people to create characters. Like one time, very
famously in My Little World, Dave Filoni called up and said, Dames,
what would it sound like if Christopher Walkin was an alien?

(38:59):
And so he sent me a script and and so
I took Chris Walkin and I gave him, you know,
a little more cowboo and what's for them? And he's like, yeah, yeah,
that's too much like Christopher Walkin, So pull it back.
And so I did variations of Christopher Walkin as this
kind of crazy alien who ended up becoming oci Sobeck

(39:22):
in these one episodes of Clone Wars. And what I
ended up doing is I threw a little al Pacino
and a little Christopher Walking together. So you got al Pacino,
who ha got Christopher Walkin and the way he stretches words,
and I combined them both and you get ohci soback
and so it's a combination. And so yeah, that's the

(39:44):
that's the.

Speaker 8 (39:44):
Thing, and that is why they pay him the big bugs.

Speaker 11 (39:49):
I think, I think we're gonna have a really hard
time finding a social clip here.

Speaker 7 (39:54):
They're also good, well, jims, do you ever have like
a sentence that's sort of like a shoehorn? Into a
character like I had to voice match Elizabeth Hurley for
Austin Powers.

Speaker 5 (40:05):
Yes, I've been.

Speaker 7 (40:06):
Doing this that long and I remember she used to say,
you know, lots changed since nineteen sixty seven, and that's
how I would get into her character. And I learned
from that, like if there's one sentence that you just
say to yourself mentally before.

Speaker 9 (40:22):
Yeah, yeah, there is definitely for you know, Captain Jack
Sparrow and my Bady Yo homemades. You know, yes, why's there?
I'm gone, I might.

Speaker 1 (40:31):
Desided, though, So I do so I double for a
lot of celebrities, so if they're not available, so I
do justin Timberlake's doubling for Trolls and Shrek, and it'll
be like Poppy, you know. If I say Poppy, I
don't want any glitter, you know, or for Jay Bershell
for How to Train Your Dragon, I might go okay, Bud,
you know, that's kind of the thing that gets me

(40:53):
into that. Or if I'm doing it was a great
Scott Marty. If I'm doing Doctor Remitt Brown for Chris
Filloyd or oh well, wait a second doc. If I'm
doing Morning McFly, I'll say whoa, whoa wait a second doc.
Those are my my cues to get me into those voices.
Or David Spade Ah, no TATCHI no tautchy.

Speaker 8 (41:10):
Yeah, that's amazing.

Speaker 4 (41:13):
You see what my dad was like.

Speaker 8 (41:15):
Quit Taylor, I don't see if you jure in this
for you man, everyone, If if you have not seen
uh James's One Man Show, or if you haven't listened
to it, heard it and you were amazed by what
you just heard or saw. This is a social clip.
Please go check it out. It's on your website right

(41:37):
or your YouTube channel.

Speaker 1 (41:37):
Yeah, it's on my website a my YouTube. If you
go to my website and check out Stage.

Speaker 5 (41:41):
Show, watch it.

Speaker 8 (41:43):
You will be amazed.

Speaker 2 (41:44):
And this is just James Arnold Taylor dot com. What's
what's the webs James Arnold Taylor dot com.

Speaker 1 (41:48):
Yeah, there was another James Taylor out there, so I
had to throw that Arnold in there, you.

Speaker 8 (41:51):
Know, But who's that guy?

Speaker 1 (41:55):
Funny story, So James Taylor, you know, and some people
may not know because younger generation. But he's a singer
that's been around since I've as long as I've been born.
And I always say his career broke about the time
my mom's water broke, but it was nineteen sixty nine.
But so James Taylor very famous singer and he is
part of SAG and so I remember one time he

(42:16):
got one of my residual checks and I got one
of his residual checks, and it was pretty funny because
the one I got from him was for the Simpsons
because he was on the Simpsons, and it was like
twenty five cents. And the one he got of mine
was for we did the movie Atlantis Lost Empire and
I was Michael J. Fox's double, and that we did
the sequel for it. And I finally got my first
like giant residual check and he got it and it

(42:42):
wasn't twenty five cents. I'll just say that, yeah, And
so it took like months to figure it out and
we sent it to James Taylor instead. I'm like, oh, man, that.

Speaker 8 (42:50):
James Taylor does not need this money. It's never occurred
to me that maybe you didn't go by jat before
you started this career.

Speaker 1 (43:05):
So I was a stand up comic when I was sixteen,
and then I was I got into radio at seventeen,
and I was a DJ actually for you know, most
of the first part of my life. And then I
wrote and produced radio comedy for thousands of radio stations
all over the country, everybody from Howard Stern to Rick
D's and Mark and Bryan and all in between. And
so I was James Taylor. And it was just when

(43:27):
I was on the radio and I was a DJ,
I was James Taylor. I worked at an easy listening
station that played James Taylor, and I'd be like, that's
James Taylor with James Taylor. And I realized when I
became a SAG actor, which was I don't know, almost
thirty years ago. I guess that I got my SAG
card and they're like, you can't be James Taylor, and
you can't be James A. Taylor because there's a James S. Taylor.

(43:50):
So there could only be one James middle initial Taylor,
and there could only be one James Taylor, but you
could be James middle name Taylor. So real name is
James Arnold Taylor. And so I just said, I'll just
do my full name.

Speaker 3 (44:04):
Wow, it's a great name. I mean, it's it reminds me.

Speaker 2 (44:08):
I feel like if there's ever an Office Space sequel
or spin off, you know, they had the Michael Bolton
thing at office Space, like there's we got a craft
suddenly where James Arnold Taylor and James Taylor.

Speaker 3 (44:17):
As his whole thing.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
Just like with the Michael Bolton thing, I'm just throwing it,
just throwing ideas at the wall.

Speaker 4 (44:22):
Do you do a James Taylor? I?

Speaker 1 (44:25):
You know it clears I might know. When I did
stand up, I had this whole routine where I would say,
you know, I would quote James Taylor's songs. And I
had this whole kind of routine where I would say,
you know, if you need me, I'll be up on
the roof. Just remember you've got a friend. I'm a steamroller.
I can keep going. So those are just all like
titles of his songs. And I formulated this whole sentence

(44:47):
kind of explaining the old deal. But yeah, no, I
thought for a while about changing my name to Paul Simon.
But I thought, now I'm really dating myself.

Speaker 10 (44:58):
You could have though, because Paul Simon and was married
to Princess Leah.

Speaker 1 (45:02):
That's really perfect.

Speaker 3 (45:03):
Oh there you go.

Speaker 1 (45:05):
Wow, it all comes around to Star Wars always.

Speaker 5 (45:09):
Always.

Speaker 2 (45:11):
I wanted to ask you this other thing too, James,
because one of the other recurring themes strut the show.
And you know, as you saw, like I love to
talk like shine light on voice acting and how it's
you know, a lot of times people dismiss it for
whatever reason because they're not seeing the action unfold in
front of them. But in so many ways, I find,
and I've done a very small handful of voiceover, in

(45:31):
some ways it's so much more difficult than what you
have to do on cameras. Just like there's things on
camera that can be more difficult doing in voiceover, but
all the emotion and all the character work is all
like there, and in some ways you got to flex
it even more because they can't see you doing subtleties.
So bringing it back to Obi Wan, he's just said,
it comes back to Star Wars. You know, over the
course of what you said twenty three years seventeens on

(45:52):
Clone Wars, that's a lot of emotional baggage you're carrying
with this character. There's a lot of stuff that that
man's been through, and I'm just wondering, like, how do
you carry all that? But also how do you detach
from that? Because you know, when you fully invest in
a character, you're going to absorb everything that they are feeling,
everything that they're doing. So how do you detach from

(46:12):
that to make sure that James is okay and you
know when obi Wan is not.

Speaker 1 (46:16):
That's a great question. It's an interesting question. It's it's
timely too, in that now we have this resurgence of
the live action of folks coming back, you know, Rosario
now playing ah Soca, and you've got Hayden and Ewen
coming back and playing the characters and playing them in
the Clone Wars era. And it's funny because I've always
been you know, said, you know, however many years I've

(46:37):
played the character and I talked about it in my
stage show and stuff, and I've never wanted it to
come off like I'm going like, hey, I'm obi Wan.
It's more so for me. It's as all of you,
you know, and Vanessa and I fully relate to this.
I mean, Star Wars. I'm pinching myself. I never could
have dreamed. So it's more of like I am grateful
and try to stay, you know, as grateful as I
can about it all. But at the same time, it's

(46:58):
very strange because I've been able to the one actor
that has taken this character into places that you and
never got to take him, Sir Alec guinnis never got
to take him, and so there's weight to that, there's
gravity to that, there's importance to that, Like we talk
about the holocron message and so I don't but there's
a balance because then, yeah, and you know how inflammatory
social media is. If I say something like you know,

(47:19):
I've been this voice for twenty three years, people like, oh,
he thinks he's all that. It's like, no, I'm incredibly grateful.
I hold it. I don't hold it lightly, and I
hold it with great respect and honor. And then when
you and you know came back to play the character,
it was like, this is so cool, but it's also
a little sad because I go like, oh, yeah, no,
it's because the spotlight definitely goes away because he's amazing.

(47:41):
He's an amazing presence. He is Obi Wan now, and
so trying to balance all of that, that's where I
guess I do kind of come into that. And I
appreciate that question because it is just like, at the
end of the day, I'm a voice actor, I'm an actor,
I'm a character actor. I'm really called to be lots
of different people. I always wanted as a kid to
be a voice actor, very specifically, since the time I

(48:03):
was four years old, I wanted to do voices. The
funny part is is now in my career and where
it is at, I get asked to do cameos and
movies all the time. So I'm actually in like five
movies that are coming out on camera over the next
couple of years. Here you know, one that came out
two years ago, one that came out last year, one
that just came out now, and another one's coming out soon,
and then there's another one. So it's funny. So I'm

(48:24):
on camera a lot now, and I have a great
appreciation for what all of you do because you've you
do both brilliantly. But yeah, I'm trying to find my
own identity in it all as the guy that was
obie Wan Kenobi for all those years. But I don't know, man,
I don't know if I have an answer to it
other than I appreciate you asking it and kind of
acknowledging it. It's not easy being the person that kind

(48:48):
of holds the reins for the whole time of a character.
I mean, you all find that out because you were
the originals of that, and then the live action ones
come out and you just go like, it's weird. How
do you balance all this? And to the fans, the
fans just think we're all buddies, you know, like people
literally go So you and McGregor know each other, right,
And I'm like, no, I met him once. I once

(49:09):
two years ago at Star Wars celebration London at a
photo op, and it was literally just like everybody else Okay, smile,
click there you go, all right, thanks, and that was it.
I mean, that was my time with you and McGregor. So,
you know, I don't know, it's a different world being
a voice actor, and you have to just know that
if you do your job right, nobody knows you exist

(49:30):
most of the time.

Speaker 5 (49:32):
Can I share?

Speaker 6 (49:33):
Can I share a story that you shared with me before?

Speaker 10 (49:35):
Though about Johnny Depth you did something for I don't know.
It was actually Pirates of the Caribbean, wasn't it? Was
it the actual movie or is it a game?

Speaker 1 (49:49):
No, it was a thing at Disney World. It's no
longer there. It's called the Legend of Jack Sparrow. It
was a wonderful like experience. You walk into this big
space and the voice of the skull. So for the Pirates,
when you go to Disney World and you go in
parts of the Caribbean, the voice of the skull is
actually me dead Minte, no tales, you know, and all that.

(50:09):
But I was the voice of this skull for this
other thing, and I got to spend an entire day
with Johnny Depp on stage, just he and I acting
with each other. And he was on a green screen.
I was up on a scaffold with a headset doing
the voice Captain Jack. I'd be with you right here,
you know, and all that. And he was just the
nicest guy in the world. So, yeah, that sets the stage.

(50:29):
I don't know what you were going to say, and didn't.

Speaker 10 (50:31):
Yeah, but didn't he say something like he was like, oh,
you did a great job as me, and this thing
like didn't you get an acknowledgment from him at one point?

Speaker 1 (50:39):
He's a very sweet man. I found him to be
just incredibly honest and humble and sweet and professional, and
it was I was nervous about telling him I've been
in your voice double for ten years, like you know,
when you're not available, I fill in for you. But
he was great. You know, he was just like, yo homemade,
you know.

Speaker 6 (51:00):
What are you gonna say?

Speaker 11 (51:01):
So?

Speaker 1 (51:01):
Yeah, because sometimes like you know, I've never met Michael J. Fox,
but I've been in his double for you know, twenty
plus years on things. And it's the only person I've
met that I've talked about it in depth with is
John Ratzenberger, who you know, of course, Norm from Cheers.
I'm not Norm, I'm sorry Cliff Claven from Cheers. Uh,
And he was he was in Star Wars. I can
bring it back to Star Wars, don't worry. I always can't.

(51:23):
Because he was a guest at Star Wars Weekends one year.
And so we did this bit and I did his
voice on it. And I've been his voice double for
pt Flee, for Disney for A Bug's Life for years
and I did his voice and He's like, do my voice?
Come on?

Speaker 8 (51:37):
Do it?

Speaker 9 (51:37):
You know?

Speaker 1 (51:38):
And he loved it. So it was Yeah, it was
pretty funny.

Speaker 8 (51:41):
I have a question about this voice doubling. Is there
only one? Like are you the voice double for my
old J box? Or like are you you know what
I mean? Are there are there a couple of guys
that you guys you know when you're busy, this other
person fills in, et cetera.

Speaker 1 (51:57):
That's a great question, it's a fair question. And yeah,
so you want to primarily be the main person. So
like David Spade, Johnny Depp, J Barrochelle, Michael J. Fox
for a time, some of these people's like exclusive double
for many years. But then like for the Back of
the Future video game, for example, my buddy A. J.

(52:18):
Lecasio an incredibly talented who would be great on the show.
He's in Star Wars now he plays young Cad Baine
in the Underworld. And AJ is an amazing young actor
and he does a better Michael J. Fox than Michael J.
Fox like, and so he really rallied for that part.
You know, he knew there was an opening and he
did it. And he thought when I met him, I

(52:38):
was gonna be like all mad at him and was like,
oh my god, AJ, You're fantastic. So I try to
be very open about it. I know that there's other
guys that do Fred Flintstone from time to time. There's
people that do Christopher Walking or J. Barrochelle, you know,
and stuff. So yeah, there are backups and there are
just sometimes what it is though, is just one director
doesn't tell the other director, the producer. It's an outside

(52:59):
sourced thing, you know. It's like Disney owns it, but
they hired another company and so they do a casting
call and they don't realize, oh, they should have used
this person. So those things happen. But for the most part, Yeah,
I've been very blessed to be an official double for
a lot of a lot of people, even Andre the Giant,
I believe.

Speaker 8 (53:16):
It or not.

Speaker 3 (53:17):
No, what really?

Speaker 8 (53:18):
What?

Speaker 3 (53:19):
What are we gonna hear about that?

Speaker 1 (53:20):
It sounds like, yeah, spots mologue for the Princess Bride game.
They did a Princess Bride game, and of course Andrea
the Giant had already passed away, and I was the
least likely person at five foot four and one hundred
and twenty three pounds to walk in the room and
go and but uh, yeah, I booked the role.

Speaker 4 (53:41):
So that's funny. It's like the biggest Princess Bride fan
there is.

Speaker 8 (53:45):
Guy am the world's biggest Princess Bride fan. So that
just brought me a lot of pride.

Speaker 6 (53:51):
Thank you.

Speaker 8 (53:51):
Wow, that's amazing.

Speaker 1 (53:53):
Antoya Until Mandy Patankin decided to do the part, but
I recorded the entire video game as an Ingo Montoya
and Fessek, and then Mandy decided he wanted to do
the game and they replaced me.

Speaker 8 (54:02):
But I got, yeah, you did it.

Speaker 2 (54:06):
So what you're saying is we need to do a
standalone Princess Bride rewatch special episode on Pot of Rebellion.
That's what I'm getting out of this.

Speaker 4 (54:15):
I've never seen Princess Bride.

Speaker 2 (54:16):
Well, then it's going to be just what do you mean, Okay,
we're going to do this? Is that we're gonna because
you've never.

Speaker 11 (54:23):
Seen the greatest movie ever seeing you're seeing that I'm
not watching the best stuff I had seen Rebels.

Speaker 4 (54:29):
Now I'm getting to watch it.

Speaker 10 (54:31):
So we've taken a side quest to Princess Bride at
my bar. I've been planning and want to do a
event called Anybody Want a Peanut, which is a Princess
Bride watch with an audience, except when you walk in,
you get a bag of props and you get assigned

(54:52):
a character, and anytime the character does a line, everybody
who got to sign that character does the line with
the character, and we do it kind of like a
rocky horror picture show. Participation because everybody except for Taylor
knows every line.

Speaker 8 (55:12):
Everybody knows every line, or they should if they don't.
If you don't, you should fix that immediately.

Speaker 3 (55:19):
All right, we're doing this.

Speaker 8 (55:20):
If you've seen a movie one hundred times, you start
to know when they life what the line is next.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
J C.

Speaker 8 (55:26):
Can I be there for this?

Speaker 1 (55:27):
Yes?

Speaker 6 (55:28):
Yeah, yeah, we'll offline that conversation.

Speaker 4 (55:30):
You can play the Princess Bride.

Speaker 1 (55:32):
Would you want who?

Speaker 7 (55:34):
You know?

Speaker 1 (55:34):
Who would you want to be?

Speaker 8 (55:36):
I mean, oh that's too Oh no, it's impossible. Uh
that's it. No, Inigo Montoya, no Wesley. I don't know.
I don't know, really, there's just too many options. Miracle Max,
Miracle Max maybe, but he just doesn't have that many lines.

(55:56):
So then I'd be like, I have it easy or
maybe Miracle Max.

Speaker 7 (56:00):
You know.

Speaker 1 (56:00):
I don't know if y'all know. So I had a
show called Clone Wars Conversations years ago, and I would
just interview my Star Wars cast mates, and at the
end of each episode, I would have us recreate a
scene from something other than Star Wars in our characters,
and so Sam Whitwer and I did from The Princess
Bride and it has gone viral on all over the

(56:22):
internet and people, of course, everybody steals the clips from
my YouTube, so everybody doing stop doing that. But anyways,
they uh and some people have animated it. But it's
so it's it's Wesley and and uh and Inga Montoya
and it is Sam, It's Darth Maul and Obi Wan
doing it and.

Speaker 8 (56:38):
When they're when they're the could you hurry it up?
You know, Taylor, You've got to see this movie. Please
hold no, he's.

Speaker 3 (56:50):
Waiting until we can all do it together.

Speaker 4 (56:54):
I'm on a podcast talking about it.

Speaker 1 (56:55):
I don't watch it.

Speaker 2 (56:56):
Well, that time has come today, my friend, So let's que.

Speaker 8 (57:00):
Up that or whatever homework to do.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
That's so cool, James, thank you for sharing that. And
I really appreciate your answer with your identity thing, because
it's not like you I was wanting like a clear answer.
If you had it, great, But I think the message
that I got from that is you're working on it.
We're always working on it. We're always trying to figure
it out, and the goalpost is always moving when it
comes to that stuff. You know, it's like today, yeah,

(57:26):
I may have figured it out with tomorrow what I
thought worked yesterday, you know, like it may not work
the next day in the day after. So I appreciate
you being open and sharing that with us because I
know that the audiences they can conflate your character with
who you are, because as an actor, you're going to
give everything you have to this character in order to
do it justice. And for you doing obi Wan for
as long as you have, I mean that's twenty three years.

Speaker 3 (57:49):
You know that.

Speaker 2 (57:49):
That's for you to acknowledge that and for you to
share that, it's really appreciated. I'm sure many others listening
appreciate it too.

Speaker 1 (57:56):
Thank you. Yeah, you know. I mean the thing about
it I've always said about Obi Wan Kenobi is he's
a true believer. He's a true believer in the force,
and he will hold that line all the way. Of course,
you know as he you or my brother Anika, you
know all that. And I feel the same way for
myself personally about my own you know, personal faith and
everything too. So it's like I relate to this character.

(58:16):
I try to when I meet fans at comic cons now,
I try to bestow a little Obi Wan wisdom. My
beard is more old ben Kenobi now. But when we
started this game, it was it was more young. But yeah,
so I love the character of Obi Wan. I think
if I could be a part of that, you know,
that's that's pretty cool for me.

Speaker 5 (58:36):
I was setting a campaign to bring plow kuon back.

Speaker 1 (58:39):
But okay, yeah, me too, me too. And you know,
he was one of Dave's favorite characters and the other thing.
So this is behind the scenes kind of show plow
Kun originally. So what Dave said to me was he
wanted him to sound like Gandolf, which he meant, you
know Ian McKellen from the Lord of the Rings movies.
So Plo Kun when you hear him on the show
is usually here is Koto. I've got like, you know,

(59:02):
I got to do the whole old you know, I
get a bass right because he sounds like he's talking
through that mask. I do him Normally it's Gandolf, and
so I would say, Koto, y'all, little Soca, and then
by the end of it, it's Quoto yall little Soca
and through the mask. So the first season I heard it,
I voiced, I voiced the whole thing, just as you

(59:23):
know Ian McKellen would. And then I watched the season
and I heard them pitch him down, and I'm kind
of a mimic. I just whatever I hear, I do.
So we went back into the studio to do it
and I started doing him down here and then Mattwood
was like, James, you're killing me man, because now I
can't pitch him no boom. Now I'm doing like Andrea
the Giant. So I had to pitch my voice back up.

(59:46):
And I always have to remember that untreated Klocun is
just right here.

Speaker 8 (59:53):
But you were making Math's job easier for I was,
you're modulating it yourself. He's got, you know, nothing to do.

Speaker 1 (01:00:00):
That's it.

Speaker 8 (01:00:01):
That's pretty amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:00:03):
I love that, James.

Speaker 2 (01:00:04):
We could talk to you for hours, man, and you know, well, well,
we would love for you to come back. I mean
it's an open door and we're so happy you're here.
And you know, when we were talking about doing this
two part season one recap, you're the name that came
up because you said, look, Obi Wan comes back, he
comes in for part two Sparkle Rebellion. It's only right
we would have James Arnold Taylor for part two of
our season one recap, so it is some of that

(01:00:25):
was planned out. Now, I want to give the floor
to you really quick to kind of wrap this up.
As you know you've listened to the show Taylor users
sense ass Im says cuth And music to jac Yes,
I would love for you to do us that honor.
But with this little we talked about this whole director's
cut or like release the James Arnold Taylor cut. Let's
say this is your Holocrome message Part two to our

(01:00:47):
Pod Rebellion listener, Star Wars Rebels fans, Clone Wars fans
to you know, whatever you want to say to the
audience right now, and you can wrap it up with
Made the Force Be with you and Cuthan Music, whatever
you want. But I wanted to give you the floor
here because it is it is a pleasure and honor
to have you here.

Speaker 3 (01:01:04):
And I know that the listeners feel the same.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
And you know, just like at the end of Spark
Rebellion Part two, we want to give it to Obi
Wan himself to send us home.

Speaker 1 (01:01:13):
Wow. Well, that's it's very humbling and very kind. I
I just want to thank you all. And and you know,
Vanessa and I see we text each other all the time,
and you know, so she was so sweet to ask
if i'd want to be on. I'm like, I don't know,
if I'm like, you know, I wasn't really on the
show much. She's like, oh, come on, James. So I'm
just very grateful to all of you and Tia and Taylor,

(01:01:34):
you guys, I love when I get to see you.
I miss you. I miss our time at Star Wars weekends.
And I'm so grateful to all of you. And I
love what you guys are doing and John and jac
you guys are fantastic to help them get this off
put together. I'm excited for this show to just keep
going and going and going. But let's see, Obi Wan
would say, hello there, this is Jedi Muster Obi Wan

(01:01:56):
Kenobi with a very important message for the poult of Rebellion.
Do not lose hope. A new hope will arise and
it is in this podcast. So as you conclude a season,
we come again with the famous words que that music
and may the Force be with you always.

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
Potter Rebellion is produced in partnership with iHeart Podcasts Producer,
hosted by Vanessa Marshall, Tia Surkar, Taylor Gray, and John
may Brody Executive producer and in house star Wars guru
slash factchecker J C. Reifenberg. Our music was composed by
Mikey Flash. Our cover art was created by Neil Fraser
of Neil Fraser Designs. Special thanks to Holly Frey and
Aaron Kaufman over at iHeart, Evan krask or At Willie

(01:02:44):
Morrise Endeavor, Tresa Canobio, George Lucas for creating this universe
we'd love so much, and of course all of our
amazing listeners. Follow us on Instagram at Potter Rebellion and
EP