INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTIAN LANZ
VOICE OF FISHFACE IN THE NEW 2012 NICKELODEON SERIES


January 18, 2014


RUTGER
Hello TMNT fans, it's been a while but today I'm with Christian Lanz who voices our fishy foe on the current Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series! Hi Christian, welcome and thank you for taking the time to do an interview.

CHRISTIAN LANZ
My pleasure Rutger!

RUTGER
I read you studied for architect and for years you worked as a licensed architect throughout Latin America and the United States, what was it that made you change your job and pursue voice acting?

CHRISTIAN LANZ
I wanted to be involved in the entertainment industry from a very young age, and I was an especially big fan of animation, and still am. I learned to speak English as a young immigrant kid by watching TV, so in a way, voice actors and TV announcers were sort of my role models growing up.
I'd spend hours imitating them, much to the amusement of my friends and annoyment of my teachers. Is "annoyment" a word? I don't think it is. Which just goes to show that you shouldn't learn English by watching TV.
Anyway, It wasn't until well into my late twenties that I realized I could turn my love of voiceover into a career, and I left the architectural profession in 2005 to pursue it full time.

RUTGER
And you're doing a great job! I see you were an extra in a few television series and then started voicing for videogames. How was you very first job voice acting and what did you do?

CHRISTIAN LANZ
Before breaking into voiceover I started as an on-camera actor. I guest-starred in a couple TV episodes here and there and worked as a background actor on several movies and TV shows to pay the bills while I learned to navigate the business.
I soon began to have a lot of success acting in on-camera commercials, which led to a career in commercial voiceover, network television promos, and movie trailers. That's how I got my start in the business, and to this day that constitutes over 95% of my weekly voiceover work.

I started pursuing roles in video games and animation shortly after that, with the "Prison Break" game being the first title I ever worked on. By then, though, I had already been working as a commercial voiceover announcer for several years. I love doing animation more than anything, but I don't get to do it nearly as often as I'd like, since it usually conflicts with my commercial VO recording schedule.
Animation is a lot more fun to do, but the commercial side of the business is more lucrative, so sometimes it tends to take priority. I definitely made an exception when I was offered the role in TMNT though, since the opportunity to be a part of Ninja Turtle lore was just too cool to turn down!

RUTGER
Ha, who would turn that down! At a certain point you got to work with your favorite voice actor Frank Welker, a dream come true being a Scooby Doo fan, and later working on the show. Were you nervous the first time?

CHRISTIAN LANZ
Yeah, getting to work with Frank for the first time was incredible, and kind of surreal. I wasn't nervous, just very honored. As I mentioned before, I learned to speak English as a kid by watching TV, and back then my favorite show was the original Scooby Doo. Frank of course voiced Fred, who was my cartoon role model at the time.

Cut to 30 years later, I show up to my first day of work on "Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated" and right there on the mic next to me is none other than Frank, my childhood idol, still voicing Fred.
After introducing myself and chatting for a while about my life growing up in Mexico, he asked "So how did you learn to speak English so well?". I smiled and replied "Actually Frank, you taught me". That's been one of my all-time favorite moments in my career, and in life for that matter. I've worked with Frank several times since then and he's one of the kindest human beings I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.

RUTGER
Frank Welker worked on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze. And now you are part of the Ninja Turtles family, a coincidence?

CHRISTIAN LANZ
Haha! Yeah, coincidence, destiny, luck. I guess it depends on what you believe, but it's one of those things in life that make you feel like you're right where you're supposed to be.

RUTGER
You’re from my generation, have you always been a Ninja Turtles fan, or did you had to catch up when you joined the new show?

CHRISTIAN LANZ
Yeah, as a kid I was actually into the TMNT comics even more so than the 80's toon, but I watched my share of that too. I was pretty excited when I first learned that Nick was bringing it back.

RUTGER
So how did you got to join the new Nickelodeon Ninja Turtles show? And were there any other voices you auditioned for before you got the part of Xever/Fishface?

CHRISTIAN LANZ
I also auditioned for the voice of the Kraang, but Xever was the role I really wanted to land. There was an indication that he would be Latino, so of course I felt a special affinity for the character right off the bat. I didn't want him to be a stereotypical thug, but rather a much smarter, more unpredictable and complex villain.

I really wanted the viewer to get a sense of Xever's strong connection to his heritage, so I always envisioned him having a pretty noticeable accent, and that's how I auditioned him. I wanted him to sound menacing but charming at the same time, which somehow ended up being sort of a combination of Antonio Banderas and Ricardo Montalban, with a bit of my dad in there too.

RUTGER
Yeah you can definitly hear that pinch of Banderas. And did you know Xever was eventually going to mutate when you signed up?

CHRISTIAN LANZ
I did, as a matter of fact I saw concept sketches of both Xever's human and mutant forms during the final round of auditions, before I had even been officially offered the part.

RUTGER
When Xever got mutated into Fishface did you have to make a slight alteration to your voice, or did you keep it exactly the same?

CHRISTIAN LANZ
In the first couple of episodes after Xever gets mutated, his speech is a little slurred and he has a lisp. If you watch the scene where Dogpound is taunting him by tapping on the aquarium glass in Shredders lair, it's pretty noticeable. I wanted to show that Xever was still trying to get accustomed to his new anatomy, just like a kid with a new set of braces.

After the first couple episodes though, he gradually regains his ability to speak more like he did as a human, and that was a conscious choice on my part. I believe that Xever, more than any other mutant villain on the show, is desperate to retain as much of his former humanity as possible. He longs to be a man again, so he puts a lot of effort into sounding like his normal, suave, human self. Hearing that smooth, charming voice coming from that ugly, snaggletoothed face underscores the tragic absurdity of his situation, and I think the resulting contrast is, frankly, kind of hilarious.

RUTGER
I’m not sure if you are allowed to tell anything, but will your character still be present in season 2? Will Fishface and Dogpound be as regular as Bebop and Rocksteady were in the classic cartoon?

CHRISTIAN LANZ
As we've seen so far in season 2, Xever is indeed still around. As for what's in store for him in the future, we'll just have to stay tuned...

RUTGER
Being a Ninja Turtle actor is something special, you have a lot of dedicated and enthusiastic fans. I’m guessing you had your first convention, while being a Turtle voice actor, at the PowerCon, what was it like for you?

CHRISTIAN LANZ
PowerCon was a blast. Getting to meet the fans was an experience I enjoyed tremendously and I look forward to attending more events in the future. I was a huge science nerd as a teenager in addition to being really into animation, which meant I didn't have a whole lot of friends in high school.
Getting to spend time sharing in TMNT lore with the fans more than makes up for that now. They're like the friends I would've liked to have had back then. It's really cool.

RUTGER
Now that you’ve changed your profession from architect to voice actor, are you certain you found your calling?

CHRISTIAN LANZ
Absolutely, I love being a full-time voice actor. I also still love architecture and I always will, except that now it has morphed from a career into more of a personal hobby. I recently built my house and my recording studio, so it still comes in handy.

RUTGER
Well Christian that was it. Thanks for taking the time to chat with me and I hope we’ll see Fishface for many more episodes to come!

CHRISTIAN LANZ
You're very welcome, and thanks for watching!