Interview with Jacopo Calatroni: the voice of Peter Parker and Eijiro Kirishima
Why did you decide to do the voice actor?
I would like to tell you that it has always been my dream and to tell you a tear-jerking novel-style story, but the truth is that it was a set of random contingencies that brought me to the lectern. As a kid I wanted to be a director, and at sixteen I started studying acting to get closer to the stage. I found that I liked being on stage, perhaps more than directing, and since according to my teacher I was quite well versed, I went to the advanced course, that of the university, together with boys and girls older than me at least a couple of years, and I I joined two companies from Pavia. In one of them we mostly did shows for children, and I found that working on the voice to give credibility to the many different characters that I found myself playing during the frenetic shows was one of the things that came most naturally to me.
in that period, a friend of mine suggested that I try to dub with her a clip of Kingdom Hearts , a video game that I loved: the “ fandub ” as the phenomenon was still very far from realization, and become what it is today, but sporadic groups of teenagers were beginning to discover that Windows Movie Maker and the microfonini from 10 euro in the Trust together could create magic with a little imagination. The spark shot shortly after, when I met some of the people in the dubbing they did for real, I gave the whole a patina of reality and professionalism as opposed to the version of the amateur in which I have experimented...and I understood what that really would have given a turning point to my life: with the right preparation, perhaps acting applied to the voice could very well become my job.
Tell us about your first experiences: the first auditions, the missed opportunities, the first satisfactions...
I remember the first years as extremely hectic, between a thousand insecurities and frustrations. I was the university, because I wanted to finish my training, but also because underneath it all to this dream of voice acting I would have not thought of everything. And not I was wrong to think so: I've seen dozens and dozens of people fail in these years, and I blessed my foresight at the time to have thought of a plan B that would save me the ass is in the case in which the dubbing was not “my thing”.
I Was divided between watch shifts, ask for the auditions, the lessons in the university, the jobs I barcamenavo to keep me and a thousand other things. My parents paid me already education, I wanted to weigh as little as possible on them, but I assure you that spending the morning at school to manage educational projects for teenagers, or spend the weekend to unload the truck to set up the comic fairs, and then be fresh and snappy at the lectern when it was time to test was anything but easy. I remember endless afternoons of downtime and looking for a moment to ask for an audition, then feel inevitably not good enough in the moment that the opportunities I was granted. I remember racing at breakneck speed to arrive in time for the rounds despite it being released late from work. As a long time fan of comics, I drew my alter-ego, the Amazing Mendicaprovini , a sort of sfigatissimo superhero that did everything it could to pity the directors!
After some time I won, even there, a little’ for the event, the star of a tv series on Nickelodeon , and I think that that was one of the turning points of my career. I learned a lot on the field, putting all to learn in a hurry, and with the expertise was a little more trust in myself. The other turning point was when I won the protagonist of Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V , Yuya Sakaki, and I found myself dubbing a series that would last for almost 150 episodes, spread over three years. The continuity of that work and the dedication that it required made me realize that maybe I could begin to call myself “the voice” after four years in the first round and an infinite number of roles, large and small. I took a leap of faith: I left the other jobs and I began to live only for this.
you are a professional that lives at 100% the work of the actor. What is the relationship you have with the characters you play?
The dubbing is a craft recitative particular, because it is forced to act in the shortest possible time to find the key to better to make a role. We do not have months of preparation as in the theatre or in the cinema, it is a matter of minutes: you have to find the strings acting right for the character that you see on the screen, and you must be able to be deep in the understanding of the role, whilst tapping only on the surface. It is interesting for the immediacy that has: you have to be extremely adaptable, and even a little “schizophrenic”: in one day you can interpret for a few bars about a dozen played very different roles, going from a bucket that speaker in a cardboard pre-school, an adolescent problematic in a tv series, a hitman profession in an anime.
I Love this side of the job. Some acrobats, some’ bardi, we have to find the right key to make immediately credible, the stories we bring to life. Also, I define myself as always “a fan passed by the other side”, because they are first of all a fan of most of the products that double. I'm a player, I was a big fan of the animation, in general, are rather enhanced by the stuff that I do at work. It is not always so for the voice actors, and indeed many of my colleagues are outstanding professionals who are able to make a role to perfection by living it, however, and only as a job, without trespassing on the personal passion.
I have to say, though, that many recent generations of voice actors, especially my peers, are not in a situation so different from my own, so I feel less “alien”! But surely the fact to be so into the nerd culture and being a frequenter of regular focused events, it makes me live intensely the relationship with many of my characters. Cosplay is, for example, is a hobby that I carry with me from when I was a boy, and that I share with many friends, scattered all over Italy, and was curious to create a contact point with my work, I also “assume the role” of some of the characters to which I gave voice. It's a funny thing, that has left surprised many fans that I have met at various conventions. Especially in the case of Spider-Man, the illusion is even stronger, since the mask hides from me entirely! He is truly a piece of heart for me, I grew up with his stories and find myself to double it in a product that is as beautiful as the video game Marvel's Spider-Man was an emotion that I struggle to describe.
Now you are in the industry for 10 years, if you think back to the past, how do you feel? What would you say to Jacopo of the past?
The time has flown, really! It will be, perhaps, that my voice and my way of doing things are most young people of my age, and then often hold roles as a kid (the other magic of the dubbing!), but it is only recently that I stopped to think about the path that I have undertaken so far. I think the thing that has changed is that when you are young you tend to think have so much to prove. A little bit to everyone, especially adults, to parents, to teachers, to managers, to those who believe in thee, and who, on the contrary, we do not believe at all. And it is a nice way to draw! But after ten years I do this work, I feel I have proven that I can do and not smanio more because the thing to be noticed. I feel I have to prove something especially to myself.
Improve as an actor (and as a person), do not stop learning, be proud of the result. In this sense, I feel more ‘old’, but it is not a bad thing, far from it! To the me of the past I would not anticipate anything and I would avoid to give me advice. Not because he has made mistakes, indeed, but all deviations from the path that I have come to make, the energy wasted in projects inconclusive, the heartbreaks and the disappointments have served to shape the person that I am now. As stated in one of my tattoos (a quote from Doctor Who , always because I'm a damn nerd!):” We are all stories in the end. Is it just your both beautiful .”
theatrical Actor and voice actor. You also have other passions in the artistic field? Would you like to try something else?
The theatre, unfortunately not I work in a long time, and lately I've worked on some project in the video (there is a short film to be released later this year, The Jäger Within , which is a project that I was particularly fond), but I continue to postpone two major artistic enterprises that sooner or later I'll find the time to dedicate myself to learn how to sing well (not out of tune, but I never studied and, at times, would be extremely useful to have a musical education to dub some of the characters!) and write some screenplays. At the time of the university I often, especially for projects amateur videos, most of which remained in the drawer. It would be nice to create something that will bring my signature, maybe just a comic book, seen how this medium has influenced and “controlled” my life. It would be a way to close a circle!
If you like Spider-Man, you can buy this beautiful Funko POP! simply by clicking here .
