November 13, 2019 • 16 mins
In this episode we interview Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey actor James Faulkner to learn about his early career, his vocal training, and the voiceover jobs he's enjoyed most.
Presenter: David John
Producer and editor: Emma Samuel
Created by: Neil Conrich
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
David John (00:00):
So hiya to everyone, wherever you're listening from,
and welcome to the Squadcastagain.
It is the second podcast fromthe Voice Squad- London voice
agents- and whether you're avoice artist, or you're in the
industry, or you're curiousabout the voiceover world, the
Squadcast is here to give you abit of an insight into the
machinations or mysteriousworkings of a voice agency.
(00:23):
I'm David John.
I'm an actor on the Voice Squadbooks, and a dubbing director,
and the Equity Audio Counsellor-so entrenched in the audio
world! I'll be interviewingdifferent people each week-
actors, producers, directors,movers-and-shakers from the
voice industry.
Now for this episode, we'rereally delighted to be with
(00:44):
James Faulkner, who is a VoiceSquad stalwart and has been on
the books from the beginning.
[He's] probably known morethroughout the world as Randyll
Tarly in Game of Thrones.
[He's] also Lord Sinderby inDownton Abbey and appeared in Da
Vinci's Demons and Paul, Apostleof Christ.
So lots of high profile stuff!In terms of voice, last
(01:09):
Christmas you'd have heard hisvoice as Frith o n the BBC
production of Watership Down,and through the years a t Voice
Squad he's appeared in manycommercials, and lots of games,
and all sorts of other workwhich we'll be talking to him
about.
So James, thank you very muchfor talking to us.
James Faulkner (01:24):
David! It's my pleasure.
David John (01:26):
So let's kind of start at the beginning.
Acting- you've been acting formany, many years.
Did you always want to be anactor as a young person?
How did you get into acting inthe first place?
James Faulkner (01:38):
I was certainly not brought up to be an actor
and with regard to many years,on June the sixth- which is
about to to come up- I think Ipass into my 50th year.
I certainly didn't intend to bean actor.
I was brought up to run myfather's business.
My father was a very interestingman who effectively had the
(01:59):
largest glazing company in theUK during the fifties and
certainly in London.
And you would appreciate thatafter the Second World War a
great many windows needed to bereplaced.
And that was largely down myfather.
That's what was earmarked forme.
David John (02:15):
That was the plan!
James Faulkner (02:15):
That was the plan! So every Saturday morning,
I would be taken to my father'sworks in the Marshalsea Road, on
the site of the old Marshalseaprison- the debtor's prison in
Dickens's world.
David John (02:24):
Proper London!
James Faulkner (02:24):
Proper London! And spend the day with the
workforce hanging out down therein South London.
Unfortunately, my father diedfrom Coronary thrombosis.
He was only 52 years of age.
(02:49):
And I remember going to ashareholders meeting when I was
17 years old, uh, at the DeVeerHotel in Kensington and the man
that my father had createdmanaging director, put his arm
around my shoulder and he said,'James, you will never work in
your father's business.
Not even as a f-----g tea boy.'And pushed me through the
revolving door of the DeVeerHotel Kensington! I landed on
(03:12):
the pavement and had to considermy future.
David John (03:16):
And that was acting?
James Faulkner (03:17):
That was acting.
Well.
There was another storyactually.
So what crystallised it for mewas this.
I went back to my boardingschool and I was fully involved
in the artistic life of myschool.
I never did any work at all, butI was in the choir and the
choral society and I did everyhouse play and every school
(03:38):
play.
But that my real delight atschool, because we had a
building we had, we had thetelevision hut at our disposal.
My friend Roger Wilkes and I-ran the puppet club and we had
(04:01):
our own, uh, puppet theatre witha full range of marionettes and
we would build our own puppets.
I would do all the voices andbuild a puppets and this that
and the other.
I knew that my partner had inhis locked desk, a carton of
two-hundred Kent cigarettes.
And I needed to think about myfuture.
(04:21):
I need to contemplate what onearth I was going to do in this
life.
And I jimmied the latch on hisdesk.
And there indeed was the cartonof two-hundred Kent cigarettes,
which I lifted out, andunderneath was a green booklet.
A prospectus for the centralschool of speech and drama.
David John (04:43):
Wow.
James Faulkner (04:43):
They have schools for actors?
I had no idea! I'd alwaysintended to go to America to
finish my education because Iwanted to go to the Harvard
school of business.
I knew that management practicesin the sixties were not good
enough to grow an internationalcompany.
(05:18):
And anyway, I opened theprospectus for the Central
School of Speech and Drama.
And on page three there was ablack and white photograph of
girls in tights at the barwarming up for a movement
lesson.
And I thought, well, sodHarvard, I'm going there! A nd a
year later, I went there! That would h ave been 1965,
(05:44):
mid-sixties.
I was very lucky because I had aboyhood chum, Jeremy Thomas, who
is our Pantheon film producer inthis country, has won, many,
many Oscars.
And his father, Rafe Thomaslived down the road from me and
Rafe took it upon himself to bein loco parentis and advise me
(06:09):
on my career.
And he said,'well you don't wantto be an actor, James.
I mean, really you don't want tobe an actor.
I see it close up.' He said,'well, I'll tell you what, if in
six months time you still wantto be an actor, I will help you.
You don't have a father toadvise you.
I will.
I will do it for you.' So aftersix months I[saw] Rafe and I
said, well, I still want.
He directed all the, all thedoctor films and many other
(06:29):
films in size.
He made fifty to sixty films asa director.
And his brother was GeraldThomas who was the director of
the Carry On films.
Right.
So bizarrely my first voiceoverjob, aged seventeen, was to do
the trailers for the Carry Onfilms in the cinema.
[Imitating Classic CinemaTrailer] Yes it's all your old
Carry On favourites in yetanother Carry On comedy
wiiiiiiiith Kenneth Williams asRandy Lal!- and all that! So I
(06:58):
did all those sort of sixtiesvoices.
I was seventeen years old when Iwas doing cinema trailers.
So Rafe sent me off to Hampsteadto be taught how to do an
audition by Peter Barkworth withwho was a very successful actor.
David John (07:15):
Who I've worked with! I've worked with Peter
Barkworth.
A fantastic actor.
James Faulkner (07:15):
Wonderful man- but at the time, interestingly,
he was head of technical actingat RADA.
So he was the man to talk to.
He was absolutely the man totalk to.
David John (07:29):
Didn't he write a book as well?
James Faulkner (07:30):
Yes, he did.
He did.
Yeah.
And I remember he apparently herang Rafe and he said, well,"I
will get him in, but he'll onlyever play restoration comedy."
They were going to enter me forall, for all the auditions, the
random auditions and all thedrama schools.
He said,'well, the first one upis for the Central School of
(07:52):
Speech and Drama.
You won't get in because it'sjust for the waiting list, but
go along.
It's good practice.' So I droveup to London.
I went through the day at theCentral School of Speech and
Drama.
I was still there at the end ofthe day and I was called into
see George Ford, who was thenprincipal, who said to me,'well
James,' he said,'Course startsin three days.' Wow.
(08:13):
'Can you move to London in threedays?
You're in.'
David John (08:16):
Fantastic! And you did!
James Faulkner (08:18):
And I did!
David John (08:19):
Well I was going to ask you about your first
voiceover job and where itstarted and you've already told
me.
The Carry On.
James Faulkner (08:25):
Doing the trailers for the Carry On films.
In the sixties!
David John (08:26):
You can't beat that as a first job!
James Faulkner (08:30):
Absolutely.
Oh boy.
And it was a particulardelivery, unfortunately.
I learned it at the feet ofmasters, but I didn't have a
voiceover agent until probablythe 80s?
When a friend of mine who madecommercials said,'really James,
you should have a voiceoveragent'" I said, well, I don't,,
nobody wants to take me on.
(08:51):
He said,'well look, I can getyou a voiceover agent because
I'm going to give you thisseries of advertisements to do
and that's how we'll start youoff.' And it worked.
I was in.
David John (09:01):
Yeah, because it was very different.
Back in those days it was oftenconsidered as a little kind of
extra thing that actors did ifthey had a bit of spare time,
whereas it's now such afull-time industry.
James Faulkner (09:11):
You're absolutely right, David, and so
many aspects of theentertainment industry when I
first started were notconsidered.
When I first became a client atICM, you did not do commercials.
They were forbidden.
In fact, television wasforbidden.
You weren't allowed to dotelevision.
You were only allowed to dotheater and film.
To have a proper classicalcareer.
(09:36):
And ICM represented all theleading actors at the time.
My first TV, uh, property at ICMwas I, Claudius, which was
considered proper quality.
Yeah.
So, so the skill, I mean learntthe skill of it going along as
you worked with the voice?
(09:57):
I mean, it's not something thatall actors particularly
necessarily good at it.
I would agree.
It's something you have to learnand you have to have a facility
for,
David John (10:07):
And you have to work hard at it- like anything else.
James Faulkner (10:08):
Like anything else- to develop the right
timbre and to develop your mictechniques.
Let's hope I'm not screwing itup now, on this podcast!
Muscularity within the voice isnot taught so intensively now as
it used to be.
My sort of accent, which isclassic RP, is largely ignored
(10:30):
now and regional accents havebecome much more normal.
And that's fine, but it's theinner muscularity that is not
taught quite as rigorously as itwas in my day, when we would-
the first year we had to wear abone prop in every voice lesson.
David John (10:48):
So what is a bone prop?
James Faulkner (10:48):
A bone prop is something that fixes the jaw at
an angle.
It's a prop you wear between theupper and lower teeth and so the
mouth is fixed and that helpsdevelop all the minor muscles
within the mask of the face.
David John (11:07):
So this is something from those days- it was a
theatre based course, everythingwas about production of the
voice and be able to do eightshows a week and using your
voice?
James Faulkner (11:16):
Exactly so, David.
You had to be able to hit theback row with no effort for
eight shows a week.And not cryoff because you were getting
tired! Unheard of!
David John (11:27):
Absolutely! Never off! Never off!
James Faulkner (11:29):
And if you were sick then Dr.
Greasepaint would get youthrough.
David John (11:33):
Absolutely.
But the technique of- as youwere talking about- using the
mic, is so different to that-
James Faulkner (11:39):
Well theatres weren't mic'd in those days,
right?
Yeah.
It had to be natural projection.
David John (11:44):
Never dreamt of having a mic-
James Faulkner (11:44):
So voice was was to do with your breathing and
the amount of reserve that youcarry in the ribs and the throat
- always open- and then themuscularity on top.
David John (11:55):
So there are a lot of misconceptions out there
about voice actors- about how itis kind of something anyone can
do and it's a very simple thingand you just get paid loads of
money for doing very little.
So have you ever come acrossthat?
James Faulkner (12:08):
Sometimes you get paid very little for doing
loads at work.
David John (12:11):
Yes.
Which most people don't know! Anaudiobook for example-
James Faulkner (12:14):
Is incredibly hard work! Because you are
expected to do a hundred pages aday out loud, eight hours a day.
And the voice is a muscle likeany other.
And it is very, very tiring.
When I do a book, I reel out ofthe studio! I haven't done one
for a bit.
David John (12:28):
And there's a lot of preparation and the focus in the
studio is so high.
James Faulkner (12:39):
It's very intense.
I mean you can get lucky.
You can have a really, reallygood producer that knows their
stuff, and will pick you up onthe tiniest thing.
And some books are much easierthan others.
When Dayton's Bomber wasoriginally done for the radio[it
was done] with a cast of 42 Iread the book on my own.
With all the characters.
(13:00):
And you have to keep six bombersin the air, and the base, and
the night fighters, and theack-ack teams and all the
civilians on the, on the ground.
How many German accents can youcome up with! Not easy!
David John (13:15):
So it's that versatility that's important.
James Faulkner (13:17):
Very, very important.
David John (13:18):
And people listening have to know which characters
are speaking.
James Faulkner (13:20):
Exactly right.
And although you still need tohear, essentially the voice of
the narrator, somewhere through,it's a particular skill- keeping
the voice of the narrator thereand still adding the characters
so that each scene will live.
David John (13:32):
Yes.
Favourite jobs in terms ofvoiceover, does anything spring
to mind?
What's your, what's yourfavourite?
James Faulkner (13:40):
Well I'm asked to do at the moment, quite a lot
of video games-
David John (13:43):
Quite new too-
James Faulkner (13:43):
Which is a whole new area.
David John (13:45):
And a massive part of the industry now.
James Faulkner (13:49):
And I'm told that the biggest game in the
world is League of Legends andI'm the voice of Swain in that.
And I've also just recorded forDreamworks, a new animation
series called Wizards.
And that was kind of fun to do.
You work over the net directlywith Los Angeles who direct you
in this thing.
David John (14:07):
So to prepare for that, you would have the script
up front and you would work onyour character before the
recording?
James Faulkner (14:15):
Yes.
But of course that can change.
I mean, you've gotta be light onyour feet.
David John (14:19):
Yeah.
Got to be durable.
You have to take direction.
James Faulkner (14:20):
You have to be able to take direction, take
notes, and come back instantlywith a response and and
sometimes with a new character,'Oh, just do this voice would
you James?' And suddenly you're,uh, you're a hamster.
Dressed as a detective!
David John (14:33):
Yes.
That versatility is stillimportant in the industry!
James Faulkner (14:37):
Everything aids versatility.
The more you do, the better youget at it.
David John (16:01):
Just just before we go, thanks so much for talking
to us.
It's fascinating.
And your career is still goingfrom strength to strength.
James Faulkner (16:08):
I'm still busy! To my surprise and amazement!
David John (16:10):
50 years on.
Absolutely brilliant!
James Faulkner (16:13):
Yeah.
Well I mean, as my agent tellsme, he said,'well James, you
said you've only got five morepeople to kill in the field is
yours!'.
David John (16:20):
That's it.
If you can hang on long enough!
James Faulkner (16:24):
If you can hang on long enough, it'll come your
way!
David John (16:24):
So I've got a few, just five quick fire questions
just to throw at you.
Are you a cat person or a dogperson?
James Faulkner (16:32):
Dog person! Very much a dog person!
David John (16:35):
Favourite ice cream flavour?
James Faulkner (16:38):
Oh, vanilla.
You're a vanilla man! Well I'mnot a vanilla man.
I rather object to that!
David John (16:41):
Not in any way- yes!
James Faulkner (16:41):
But vanilla, there's always vanilla in the
freezer because you can alwaysknock up a quick affogato, with
the vanilla and pour an espressoover the top.
An instant dessert- takesseconds.
Even I can manage that!
David John (16:51):
A classic.
Now- tricky one- favourite movieof all time?
James Faulkner (17:03):
Well that is a tricky one.
There are so many great movies.
Yeah.
I'm particularly fond of LesEnfants du Paradis, because I
was in the RSC production ofthat when it was at first done
in the theatre, directed bySimon Callow.
David John (17:20):
Ah, now last time you went to the theatre, what
did you see?
James Faulkner (17:24):
It's been some time since I went to the
theatre, I will admit to thisand I feel rather guilty about
it, because I travel all thetime.
Some years, literally I live outof a suitcase.
The last thing I went to seethat I, that I can remember was
the recent London production ofGuys and Dolls.
And I went to see it becauseSamantha Spiro was in it, who's
a wonderful actress who plays mywife, Lady Tarly in Game of
(17:47):
Thrones.
The poor woman is married to theghastly Randyll Tarly, a man
with no sense of humourwhatsoever!
David John (17:54):
And finally, your favourite place in London?
James Faulkner (17:57):
My favourite place in London?
David John (17:58):
Yeah.
What springs to mind?
James Faulkner (18:01):
Oh, well Regent's Park- that'll do
nicely! I live just on the edgeof that spot.
I love Regent's Park.
It's fantastic.
What a privilege to be able towalk into town to do a voiceover
forty minutes through Regent'sPark.
Get a cup of coffee on the way,you know, listen to the lions as
(18:22):
you go! I love Regent's Park-and it's even g ot a theatre!
David John (18:26):
Well thanks James.
Absolutely fantastic.
What a pleasure talking to you.
It's been great.
Thanks a lot.
And next week we'll be talkingabout ADR.
If anyone doesn't know what thatis, it's automated dialogue.
replacement.
It's basically dubbing work.
It's in virtually everything youever see on TV or film.
There's a lot of apostproduction goes on.
And if you're interested infinding out any more about Voice
(18:48):
Squad, you can always listen toany of our artists at the
website, which isvoicesquad.com, and do check us
out, Facebook, LinkedIn, andTwitter.
If you've enjoyed this, pleaserate it on your podcast site
that you listen to it from andsubscribe.That's really the end
of this episode.
The Squadcast is a Voice SquadLtd production.
(19:10):
It's hosted by me, David John,devised by Neil Conrich and
produced and edited by EmmaSamuel.
So any questions you have aboutit, please contact us at
voices@voicesquad.com.
So hiya to everyone, wherever you're listening from,
and welcome to the Squadcastagain.
It is the second podcast fromthe Voice Squad- London voice
agents- and whether you're avoice artist, or you're in the
industry, or you're curiousabout the voiceover world, the
Squadcast is here to give you abit of an insight into the
machinations or mysteriousworkings of a voice agency.
(00:23):
I'm David John.
I'm an actor on the Voice Squadbooks, and a dubbing director,
and the Equity Audio Counsellor-so entrenched in the audio
world! I'll be interviewingdifferent people each week-
actors, producers, directors,movers-and-shakers from the
voice industry.
Now for this episode, we'rereally delighted to be with
(00:44):
James Faulkner, who is a VoiceSquad stalwart and has been on
the books from the beginning.
[He's] probably known morethroughout the world as Randyll
Tarly in Game of Thrones.
[He's] also Lord Sinderby inDownton Abbey and appeared in Da
Vinci's Demons and Paul, Apostleof Christ.
So lots of high profile stuff!In terms of voice, last
(01:09):
Christmas you'd have heard hisvoice as Frith o n the BBC
production of Watership Down,and through the years a t Voice
Squad he's appeared in manycommercials, and lots of games,
and all sorts of other workwhich we'll be talking to him
about.
So James, thank you very muchfor talking to us.
James Faulkner (01:24):
David! It's my pleasure.
David John (01:26):
So let's kind of start at the beginning.
Acting- you've been acting formany, many years.
Did you always want to be anactor as a young person?
How did you get into acting inthe first place?
James Faulkner (01:38):
I was certainly not brought up to be an actor
and with regard to many years,on June the sixth- which is
about to to come up- I think Ipass into my 50th year.
I certainly didn't intend to bean actor.
I was brought up to run myfather's business.
My father was a very interestingman who effectively had the
(01:59):
largest glazing company in theUK during the fifties and
certainly in London.
And you would appreciate thatafter the Second World War a
great many windows needed to bereplaced.
And that was largely down myfather.
That's what was earmarked forme.
David John (02:15):
That was the plan!
James Faulkner (02:15):
That was the plan! So every Saturday morning,
I would be taken to my father'sworks in the Marshalsea Road, on
the site of the old Marshalseaprison- the debtor's prison in
Dickens's world.
David John (02:24):
Proper London!
James Faulkner (02:24):
Proper London! And spend the day with the
workforce hanging out down therein South London.
Unfortunately, my father diedfrom Coronary thrombosis.
He was only 52 years of age.
(02:49):
And I remember going to ashareholders meeting when I was
17 years old, uh, at the DeVeerHotel in Kensington and the man
that my father had createdmanaging director, put his arm
around my shoulder and he said,'James, you will never work in
your father's business.
Not even as a f-----g tea boy.'And pushed me through the
revolving door of the DeVeerHotel Kensington! I landed on
(03:12):
the pavement and had to considermy future.
David John (03:16):
And that was acting?
James Faulkner (03:17):
That was acting.
Well.
There was another storyactually.
So what crystallised it for mewas this.
I went back to my boardingschool and I was fully involved
in the artistic life of myschool.
I never did any work at all, butI was in the choir and the
choral society and I did everyhouse play and every school
(03:38):
play.
But that my real delight atschool, because we had a
building we had, we had thetelevision hut at our disposal.
My friend Roger Wilkes and I-ran the puppet club and we had
(04:01):
our own, uh, puppet theatre witha full range of marionettes and
we would build our own puppets.
I would do all the voices andbuild a puppets and this that
and the other.
I knew that my partner had inhis locked desk, a carton of
two-hundred Kent cigarettes.
And I needed to think about myfuture.
(04:21):
I need to contemplate what onearth I was going to do in this
life.
And I jimmied the latch on hisdesk.
And there indeed was the cartonof two-hundred Kent cigarettes,
which I lifted out, andunderneath was a green booklet.
A prospectus for the centralschool of speech and drama.
David John (04:43):
Wow.
James Faulkner (04:43):
They have schools for actors?
I had no idea! I'd alwaysintended to go to America to
finish my education because Iwanted to go to the Harvard
school of business.
I knew that management practicesin the sixties were not good
enough to grow an internationalcompany.
(05:18):
And anyway, I opened theprospectus for the Central
School of Speech and Drama.
And on page three there was ablack and white photograph of
girls in tights at the barwarming up for a movement
lesson.
And I thought, well, sodHarvard, I'm going there! A nd a
year later, I went there! That would h ave been 1965,
(05:44):
mid-sixties.
I was very lucky because I had aboyhood chum, Jeremy Thomas, who
is our Pantheon film producer inthis country, has won, many,
many Oscars.
And his father, Rafe Thomaslived down the road from me and
Rafe took it upon himself to bein loco parentis and advise me
(06:09):
on my career.
And he said,'well you don't wantto be an actor, James.
I mean, really you don't want tobe an actor.
I see it close up.' He said,'well, I'll tell you what, if in
six months time you still wantto be an actor, I will help you.
You don't have a father toadvise you.
I will.
I will do it for you.' So aftersix months I[saw] Rafe and I
said, well, I still want.
He directed all the, all thedoctor films and many other
(06:29):
films in size.
He made fifty to sixty films asa director.
And his brother was GeraldThomas who was the director of
the Carry On films.
Right.
So bizarrely my first voiceoverjob, aged seventeen, was to do
the trailers for the Carry Onfilms in the cinema.
[Imitating Classic CinemaTrailer] Yes it's all your old
Carry On favourites in yetanother Carry On comedy
wiiiiiiiith Kenneth Williams asRandy Lal!- and all that! So I
(06:58):
did all those sort of sixtiesvoices.
I was seventeen years old when Iwas doing cinema trailers.
So Rafe sent me off to Hampsteadto be taught how to do an
audition by Peter Barkworth withwho was a very successful actor.
David John (07:15):
Who I've worked with! I've worked with Peter
Barkworth.
A fantastic actor.
James Faulkner (07:15):
Wonderful man- but at the time, interestingly,
he was head of technical actingat RADA.
So he was the man to talk to.
He was absolutely the man totalk to.
David John (07:29):
Didn't he write a book as well?
James Faulkner (07:30):
Yes, he did.
He did.
Yeah.
And I remember he apparently herang Rafe and he said, well,"I
will get him in, but he'll onlyever play restoration comedy."
They were going to enter me forall, for all the auditions, the
random auditions and all thedrama schools.
He said,'well, the first one upis for the Central School of
(07:52):
Speech and Drama.
You won't get in because it'sjust for the waiting list, but
go along.
It's good practice.' So I droveup to London.
I went through the day at theCentral School of Speech and
Drama.
I was still there at the end ofthe day and I was called into
see George Ford, who was thenprincipal, who said to me,'well
James,' he said,'Course startsin three days.' Wow.
(08:13):
'Can you move to London in threedays?
You're in.'
David John (08:16):
Fantastic! And you did!
James Faulkner (08:18):
And I did!
David John (08:19):
Well I was going to ask you about your first
voiceover job and where itstarted and you've already told
me.
The Carry On.
James Faulkner (08:25):
Doing the trailers for the Carry On films.
In the sixties!
David John (08:26):
You can't beat that as a first job!
James Faulkner (08:30):
Absolutely.
Oh boy.
And it was a particulardelivery, unfortunately.
I learned it at the feet ofmasters, but I didn't have a
voiceover agent until probablythe 80s?
When a friend of mine who madecommercials said,'really James,
you should have a voiceoveragent'" I said, well, I don't,,
nobody wants to take me on.
(08:51):
He said,'well look, I can getyou a voiceover agent because
I'm going to give you thisseries of advertisements to do
and that's how we'll start youoff.' And it worked.
I was in.
David John (09:01):
Yeah, because it was very different.
Back in those days it was oftenconsidered as a little kind of
extra thing that actors did ifthey had a bit of spare time,
whereas it's now such afull-time industry.
James Faulkner (09:11):
You're absolutely right, David, and so
many aspects of theentertainment industry when I
first started were notconsidered.
When I first became a client atICM, you did not do commercials.
They were forbidden.
In fact, television wasforbidden.
You weren't allowed to dotelevision.
You were only allowed to dotheater and film.
To have a proper classicalcareer.
(09:36):
And ICM represented all theleading actors at the time.
My first TV, uh, property at ICMwas I, Claudius, which was
considered proper quality.
Yeah.
So, so the skill, I mean learntthe skill of it going along as
you worked with the voice?
(09:57):
I mean, it's not something thatall actors particularly
necessarily good at it.
I would agree.
It's something you have to learnand you have to have a facility
for,
David John (10:07):
And you have to work hard at it- like anything else.
James Faulkner (10:08):
Like anything else- to develop the right
timbre and to develop your mictechniques.
Let's hope I'm not screwing itup now, on this podcast!
Muscularity within the voice isnot taught so intensively now as
it used to be.
My sort of accent, which isclassic RP, is largely ignored
(10:30):
now and regional accents havebecome much more normal.
And that's fine, but it's theinner muscularity that is not
taught quite as rigorously as itwas in my day, when we would-
the first year we had to wear abone prop in every voice lesson.
David John (10:48):
So what is a bone prop?
James Faulkner (10:48):
A bone prop is something that fixes the jaw at
an angle.
It's a prop you wear between theupper and lower teeth and so the
mouth is fixed and that helpsdevelop all the minor muscles
within the mask of the face.
David John (11:07):
So this is something from those days- it was a
theatre based course, everythingwas about production of the
voice and be able to do eightshows a week and using your
voice?
James Faulkner (11:16):
Exactly so, David.
You had to be able to hit theback row with no effort for
eight shows a week.And not cryoff because you were getting
tired! Unheard of!
David John (11:27):
Absolutely! Never off! Never off!
James Faulkner (11:29):
And if you were sick then Dr.
Greasepaint would get youthrough.
David John (11:33):
Absolutely.
But the technique of- as youwere talking about- using the
mic, is so different to that-
James Faulkner (11:39):
Well theatres weren't mic'd in those days,
right?
Yeah.
It had to be natural projection.
David John (11:44):
Never dreamt of having a mic-
James Faulkner (11:44):
So voice was was to do with your breathing and
the amount of reserve that youcarry in the ribs and the throat
- always open- and then themuscularity on top.
David John (11:55):
So there are a lot of misconceptions out there
about voice actors- about how itis kind of something anyone can
do and it's a very simple thingand you just get paid loads of
money for doing very little.
So have you ever come acrossthat?
James Faulkner (12:08):
Sometimes you get paid very little for doing
loads at work.
David John (12:11):
Yes.
Which most people don't know! Anaudiobook for example-
James Faulkner (12:14):
Is incredibly hard work! Because you are
expected to do a hundred pages aday out loud, eight hours a day.
And the voice is a muscle likeany other.
And it is very, very tiring.
When I do a book, I reel out ofthe studio! I haven't done one
for a bit.
David John (12:28):
And there's a lot of preparation and the focus in the
studio is so high.
James Faulkner (12:39):
It's very intense.
I mean you can get lucky.
You can have a really, reallygood producer that knows their
stuff, and will pick you up onthe tiniest thing.
And some books are much easierthan others.
When Dayton's Bomber wasoriginally done for the radio[it
was done] with a cast of 42 Iread the book on my own.
With all the characters.
(13:00):
And you have to keep six bombersin the air, and the base, and
the night fighters, and theack-ack teams and all the
civilians on the, on the ground.
How many German accents can youcome up with! Not easy!
David John (13:15):
So it's that versatility that's important.
James Faulkner (13:17):
Very, very important.
David John (13:18):
And people listening have to know which characters
are speaking.
James Faulkner (13:20):
Exactly right.
And although you still need tohear, essentially the voice of
the narrator, somewhere through,it's a particular skill- keeping
the voice of the narrator thereand still adding the characters
so that each scene will live.
David John (13:32):
Yes.
Favourite jobs in terms ofvoiceover, does anything spring
to mind?
What's your, what's yourfavourite?
James Faulkner (13:40):
Well I'm asked to do at the moment, quite a lot
of video games-
David John (13:43):
Quite new too-
James Faulkner (13:43):
Which is a whole new area.
David John (13:45):
And a massive part of the industry now.
James Faulkner (13:49):
And I'm told that the biggest game in the
world is League of Legends andI'm the voice of Swain in that.
And I've also just recorded forDreamworks, a new animation
series called Wizards.
And that was kind of fun to do.
You work over the net directlywith Los Angeles who direct you
in this thing.
David John (14:07):
So to prepare for that, you would have the script
up front and you would work onyour character before the
recording?
James Faulkner (14:15):
Yes.
But of course that can change.
I mean, you've gotta be light onyour feet.
David John (14:19):
Yeah.
Got to be durable.
You have to take direction.
James Faulkner (14:20):
You have to be able to take direction, take
notes, and come back instantlywith a response and and
sometimes with a new character,'Oh, just do this voice would
you James?' And suddenly you're,uh, you're a hamster.
Dressed as a detective!
David John (14:33):
Yes.
That versatility is stillimportant in the industry!
James Faulkner (14:37):
Everything aids versatility.
The more you do, the better youget at it.
David John (16:01):
Just just before we go, thanks so much for talking
to us.
It's fascinating.
And your career is still goingfrom strength to strength.
James Faulkner (16:08):
I'm still busy! To my surprise and amazement!
David John (16:10):
50 years on.
Absolutely brilliant!
James Faulkner (16:13):
Yeah.
Well I mean, as my agent tellsme, he said,'well James, you
said you've only got five morepeople to kill in the field is
yours!'.
David John (16:20):
That's it.
If you can hang on long enough!
James Faulkner (16:24):
If you can hang on long enough, it'll come your
way!
David John (16:24):
So I've got a few, just five quick fire questions
just to throw at you.
Are you a cat person or a dogperson?
James Faulkner (16:32):
Dog person! Very much a dog person!
David John (16:35):
Favourite ice cream flavour?
James Faulkner (16:38):
Oh, vanilla.
You're a vanilla man! Well I'mnot a vanilla man.
I rather object to that!
David John (16:41):
Not in any way- yes!
James Faulkner (16:41):
But vanilla, there's always vanilla in the
freezer because you can alwaysknock up a quick affogato, with
the vanilla and pour an espressoover the top.
An instant dessert- takesseconds.
Even I can manage that!
David John (16:51):
A classic.
Now- tricky one- favourite movieof all time?
James Faulkner (17:03):
Well that is a tricky one.
There are so many great movies.
Yeah.
I'm particularly fond of LesEnfants du Paradis, because I
was in the RSC production ofthat when it was at first done
in the theatre, directed bySimon Callow.
David John (17:20):
Ah, now last time you went to the theatre, what
did you see?
James Faulkner (17:24):
It's been some time since I went to the
theatre, I will admit to thisand I feel rather guilty about
it, because I travel all thetime.
Some years, literally I live outof a suitcase.
The last thing I went to seethat I, that I can remember was
the recent London production ofGuys and Dolls.
And I went to see it becauseSamantha Spiro was in it, who's
a wonderful actress who plays mywife, Lady Tarly in Game of
(17:47):
Thrones.
The poor woman is married to theghastly Randyll Tarly, a man
with no sense of humourwhatsoever!
David John (17:54):
And finally, your favourite place in London?
James Faulkner (17:57):
My favourite place in London?
David John (17:58):
Yeah.
What springs to mind?
James Faulkner (18:01):
Oh, well Regent's Park- that'll do
nicely! I live just on the edgeof that spot.
I love Regent's Park.
It's fantastic.
What a privilege to be able towalk into town to do a voiceover
forty minutes through Regent'sPark.
Get a cup of coffee on the way,you know, listen to the lions as
(18:22):
you go! I love Regent's Park-and it's even g ot a theatre!
David John (18:26):
Well thanks James.
Absolutely fantastic.
What a pleasure talking to you.
It's been great.
Thanks a lot.
And next week we'll be talkingabout ADR.
If anyone doesn't know what thatis, it's automated dialogue.
replacement.
It's basically dubbing work.
It's in virtually everything youever see on TV or film.
There's a lot of apostproduction goes on.
And if you're interested infinding out any more about Voice
(18:48):
Squad, you can always listen toany of our artists at the
website, which isvoicesquad.com, and do check us
out, Facebook, LinkedIn, andTwitter.
If you've enjoyed this, pleaserate it on your podcast site
that you listen to it from andsubscribe.That's really the end
of this episode.
The Squadcast is a Voice SquadLtd production.
(19:10):
It's hosted by me, David John,devised by Neil Conrich and
produced and edited by EmmaSamuel.
So any questions you have aboutit, please contact us at
voices@voicesquad.com.
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