Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, TV | Tagged: Hit-Monkey, secret level, what if

Hit Monkey: Feodor Chin on Accents, What If…? Tony Leung & More

Feodor Chin (Secret Level) spoke with Bleeding Cool about his work on the Marvel animated series Hit Monkey, What If...?, and much more.

Ever since, Feodor Chin expanded his horizons as an actor, embracing the live-action and voiceover worlds and bringing life to so many characters across several franchises, including animated series, video games, film, and television. Since making his debut in CBS's Nash Bridges in a live-action role, Chin took roles as he could get them, and among his first was the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft. He would also have roles in League of Legends, Guild Wars 2, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, XCOM, Red Dead Redemption II, and Overwatch. Recent roles included Prime Video animated series Secret Level, NBC sitcom St. Denis Medical, and Hulu's Futurama. With over 120 titles in his filmography, Chin spoke to Bleeding Cool about working in the Marvel animated universe in Hulu's Hit Monkey and Disney+'s What If…?, bringing authenticity to performance and respecting culture, and teasing his future.

Feodor Chin on Working in Marvel's 'Hit Monkey' and 'What If…?' and Future

Bleeding Cool: You've dabbled in DC and Marvel in your voiceover work, and I wanted to ask you about 'Hit Monkey.' I spoke to Fred Tatasciore about it, and he could only make Monkey's sounds, but your characters could obviously do a lot more. What was that experience like playing in that sandbox of Marvel, along with 'What If…?'

'Hit Monkey' was a lot of fun, and that was an interesting record, because we recorded a few different versions initially. When you have a show that's set in Japan, but they're speaking English, and there's always that question of this convention of, "Well, would they have accents? Or they're not actually speaking English. Presumably, they're speaking Japanese, but then why would they have an accent? With that whole question, we ended up bringing down the accent to pretty much nothing. You could see that on the final show, and you can judge for yourself. That was certainly an interesting experience, but it was a lot of fun to record that, for sure.

As far as 'What if…?' That was terrific because Tony Leung did such a fantastic job with the live-action version of Shang-Chi (as Xu Wenwu). To get to step in and play that character was a real honor. Also, even though I never got a chance to meet her, anytime you get to say you're playing opposite a two-time Oscar winner, Cate Blanchett is a real honor and a treat. I loved how the episode ('What If… Hela Found the Ten Rings?') turned out. They did an amazing job with it.

I've spoken to a number of different voiceover artists, and I never actually thought of asking until now, because you brought it up, and it occurred to me. Was there always a concern as far as bringing authenticity to a performance, and I guess this also applies to your live-action work too; if you're asked to perform in an accent, is there always something in the back of your mind as a performer to follow what the director is saying and do as best you can or is there concern the accent in the context might be confused or misconstrued as caricature?

There are a couple of things to consider there, and certainly, when we were talking about actors getting to play any part, I always think of accent work as part of the job. Any actor worth his salt would jump at the chance to dive into some heavy accent work, because that's what makes it fun. When it comes to particularly Asian or Asian American representation in Hollywood or mainstream media, there can be a tendency to… we're often othered in the sense that Asians can be seen as the perpetual form. There would be potentially instances where an accent, because there are accents in life, and certainly there are immigrants who might still have an accent. If it's what you always see of Asians in media, then that potentially could be damaging, but if it's valid to the character, valid and important to the story, then it can be fine. It is certainly something to be aware of.

What are some of the things you have lined up coming soon, or is there some project you hope to do in the future?

I can tell you, I believe it's out right now. I recently got to dub an anime series called The Fable. It's a Japanese anime, and I believe it's available on Hulu right now, and it's a lot of fun. It's a John Wick-ish story about a tortured hitman kind of deal. 'The Fable', you can check that out on Hulu. There is something else I can't tell you about, but hopefully we can talk about it again, maybe later in the year, because that'll be pretty big.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!