By: Izumi Hasegawa November 5, 2014
Hiro Hamada, the Japanese-American boy in Big Hero 6, is very much a nerd. He builds a high-tech robot, which the half Japanese actor Ryan Potter, who did the voice-over for Hiro, found in common with his character. We found out he is very nerdy too!
Q: How was the process of voice-over?
I would warm up my voice before I got there. The voice you hear in the film was what I sounded like, a year and a half ago; my voice has gotten a little bit deeper. But Hiro is up here, his voice is up here, his register is up here. He talks up here. That’s how I sounded a little bit earlier. As the film went on, I would warm up my voice, but we’d have to make sure the tone was consistent. That only happened for the last few recording sessions, where my voice had gotten a little noticeably deeper. We would always find that place, and I would always get back to it.
Q: What did you think about seeing people on the other side of the glass?
It’s funny, because sometimes they forget to click the button, and you’re in there, and they’re on the other side of the glass, and they’re like, “No,” and you’re like, “What?” And they’re like, “Oh, oh. That was great, except can you…” I don’t know, it’s great. When you say a joke, they can’t click the button to laugh, so there’s a bunch of people laughing silently. And then you’ll see, for emotional scenes, they’ll be crying, and you’re like, “What’s going on?”
Q: Are you good at handling computers and high-tech stuff?
I’m all right. I’m okay. I built the computer that I have now. I didn’t build each and every piece, but I did piece certain parts of it together. I’m a big computer guy. I really love trying to make it faster, and make sure it runs smoothly. Because when it doesn’t, I scream at the computer. Because I’m responsible for what happens, because I piece it together, or because of whatever I do to it, I’m screaming, “I shouldn’t have done that!” or whatever.
Q: What are you a geek about besides building computers?
Anime, I love anime. Growing up in Japan, everything; Dragonball, Gundam, Pokemon, you name it, all that stuff, that is my childhood. Moving here, it translates to video games, to action figures, to collectibles; you know, stuff you can’t take out of the box. Those are not action figures, they are collectibles. Artwork by certain comic book artists that I have, it’s a series of one of fifty, and I got it signed by them, and it’s hanging on my wall. I am a nerd, through and through, and I’m very happy about that.
Q: What is your favorite?
As a kid, I didn’t really appreciate the cultural impact about that, but this film Akira. I mean, this film has influenced so many sci-fi writers, directors, and producers, whatever. It’s a Japanese animated film, and it’s probably one of Japan’s most important animated films of all time. As a kid, I was like, “Oh, it’s okay.” Watching it now, I got the special edition, and I sat down and watched both the standard and the Blu-Ray and the director, whatever; I watched them all. And I fell in love with it. So right now, Akira is my favorite.
Big Hero 6 opens in theaters on November 7th.
