Roy Mustang Speaks! by Stephan M. Baptista
An exclusive interview with Travis Willingham, the voice of Roy

The voice behind Fullmetal Alchemist’s Roy Mustang discusses what it takes to bring the         Flame Alchemist to life.

Q: How were you first cast as Roy Mustang in FUNimation Entertainment’s revisioning of Fullmetal Alchemist?

A: It’s a funny story. Colleen Klinkenbeard and I– She’s one of the ADR directors and plays Riza Hawkeye in the show– she and I were in a theater show in Ft, Worth [Texas] where FUNimation is located. We invited as many people as possible to see us over there– and you know people and their work schedule, but Justin Cook actually ended up coming to see it.  Justin was the guy who first cast me over at FUNimation in a supporting role in Yu Yu Hakusho in the role of Yanna. So he saw the show and afterwards came up to me saying, “Aw man, I didn;t know you were such a good actor.” He said he was really impressed and actually had a part in mind that I’d be suited to play. It would be a pretty incredible case of tyecasting actually. I said that I was totally interested. I was a Dragon Ball Z fan, so I’ve always wanted to play a cooler part. I went in and Justin threw me the character binder and I flipped through it. He said to look for Roy Mustang and here’s this stud staring back at me. Roy Mustang– Colonel– Flame Alchemist… I was like, “Whoa, this is looking good!” I went in there, read a couple lines and Justine said that he didn’t want me doing anything with my voice. He felt that Roy and I share a lot of qualities. I was like, “What are you talking about?” and Justin replies, “He’s smug, he’s cocky, he’s arrogant. I think you got it.” [Laughs] He thought it sounded great– exactly what he wanted. We actually ended up recording the first video game before we ever did an episode, so I had to go record in a different sound studio. That is what the Japanese really first approved– the video game recording.

Q: Were you aware of Fullmetal Alchemist’s popularity prior to being cast?

A: Here’s the thng… Again, because I was such a Dragon Ball Z fanboy and once I figured out that Dragon Ball Z was like this nationwide phenomenon– not just among 6-13 year old boys, but we’re talking like seven year olds to 42 year olds across the country– so I wanted to be in a show that had that kind of fan base. Yu Yu Hakusho is popular as it is, but not nearly as popular as Dragon Ball Z or Fullmetal Alchemist. When I heard about Fullmetal Alchemist you can bet that I got on the internet as fast as could and started looking it up. The stuff I found was just incredible. I was instantly taken in by the animation, instantly taken with the plot line and the characters, and I tried to watch as many episodes as possible and I tried to hop into some chat rooms to see what people thought. I went to a convention about four months before Fullmetal Alchemist aired on Adult Swim and hardly anybody there knew who I was. There were a couple of 'sub' fans that were cheering, but nobody really knew. Adult Swim really, really helped to launch that. Its popularity has kind of taken me by surprise - a great surprise! I'm glad to see it catching on as much as it is overseas. It's a great show and I'm glad to see it doing well.

Q: How do you get into character before a recording session?

A: [Laughing] I could say the correct things and be very professional about it, saying I take the time to warm up and get into character and focus on what I'm doing, but the great thing about being a voice actor is that if you want to, you could show up in pajamas– you could show up in flip-flops, a bathing suit and sunglasses. With a character like Roy Mustang whose voice type is pretty much like mine, I don't have to do a whole lot of work to make Roy Mustang come out. I just have to get a little bit more smug. [Laughs] Be a little bit more of a jerk. I basically just walk in and pretend like I'm hitting on people while I'm reading. That's it. He has this huge personality and this huge ego, so you've got to be your cockiest self when you're being Roy Mustang. You get in there and grab a soda and go for it.

Q: Do you personally find any similarities between yourself and Roy Mustang?

A: Oh absolutely. The funny thing about FUNimation is that the directors and the people involve really want to make this show an all star cast. They want to get the best of the best for this show because they love it so much. With Mustang it's not just a character that's either going to be really mad or fighting or really happy and funny. He's got all the different levels of the human psyche. He's got all the different emotions that people display and that people hide. They had to be very real characters and you had to be able to display those emotions. For Mustang, he's got all this grief and this hidden regret and remorse and this real depth and mystery to him. That's something I can associate with - with previous life experiences and stuff like that. He's got a lot of emotion that he doesn't like to show. He's got a lot of walls up. Like anybody else, I've got tons of walls up to keep me protected from the outside world. That's exactly what Mustang has. On the other hand, he's a huge flirt. I'm a huge flirt. [Laughs] He's cocky, he's arrogant, and he likes to make sarcastic remarks. I think that if you asked anyone at FUNimation, "Who is cocky and sarcastic and makes smartass remarks?" that would probably be me. [Laughs]

Q: If we lived within the Fullmetal Alchemist universe, what alchemy power would you most want to have?

A: Good question! Hmm… I would have to say I would want to be the Water Alchemist. The Water alchemist or maybe like the Ocean Alchemist, because I'm like a dolphin by nature. I could swim before I could walk. I've always loved to swim, I was a competitive swimmer, and I love to surf. I love the beach and I just love being in water. I love being in waves and I love just being out of control. Having that weightless sensation– that sensation that you’re flying. Water is this beautiful element that's gorgeous to look at and sounds wonderful, but at the same time its powerful and uncontrollable, it's just raw unbridled energy. You know when you're caught up in a big wave at the beach that's throwing you around all over the place? If I was an alchemist, if I could control that with a Water Alchemist bracelet or ring or glove or something. the power of the ocean at my disposal… that's what l would have. That would be great.

Q: Fullmetal Alchemist deals a lot with the relationship between Edward Elric and Roy Mustang. It is difficult to portray that level of interaction given the fact that the actors record separately?

A: Not really because [Vic Mignogna] is such an excellent voice actor.  He’s the veteran and I’m the rookie, whereas in the show I’m the veteran and he’s the rookie. He does such a good job playing the line– playing the emotion of the scene and the way it’s going to go– he makes it very easy to react to not only the face that’s been drawn by the animator, but the voice he lays in ther. A funny thing that people don‘t know is that I think I recorded 20 or 30 episodes before I even met Vic. It was a long time down the line before I ever accidentally bumped into him in the studio. He’s from Houston and I’m from Los Angeles. There wasn’t a real good chance we’d bump into each other in the studio. There was a  better chance of us meeting up at a convention. When we finally did meet, we’re 30 episodes in and there’s all this great character rivalry, Roy versus Ed, Flame versus Metal, and there’s this standoff tension. He was like “Wow, you really are tall!” and I was like “Wow, you really are short!” [Laughs] Vic’s a great guy, he’s a great voice actor and he makes it really easy to read and lot of fun to act with.

Q: How does recording for a video game differ from dubbing the anime series?

A: You-know, there are not too many differences. You're still dubbing, so you still have to match the voice flaps. For the first video game, my character doesn't actually fight until the end of the game so they're real quick lines. They were like punching excerpts, kicking excerpts and getting hit in the face excerpts and little "It's no use" and "You're too slow" - all these little one liners. The intercut animated sequences are just like dubbing the show. For the actual animated series it's all just dubbing. It's the same kind of booth, same kind of equipment and same kind of setup. Sometimes you have mouth flaps to go with and sometimes you don't. When you don't, it can be really fun because you can just do what you want to.

Q: Are you a gamer?

A: Oh yeah, absolutely! I was totally at E3 this year. I checked out the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Revolution. I've gone through everything from Mario Bros. to Ridge Racer to Tekken all the way up to Tomb Raider. Right now my favorite games are Halo 2 and Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast. I love football games, too. I'm a football fanatic, so l've got NCAA and Madden and all those crazy big EA games that take up all the space on your memory card. So yeah, I'm a very avid gamer. I kick my friends around my apartment playing Halo 2 and start thinking I'm a Halo god, and then I go to these conventions and hop in a little game and get knocked out so fast by nine year olds talking smack.

Q: Have you been collecting any Fullmetal Alchemist merchandise?

A: I’m such a fanboy as it is. I wanted a character that had either a signature line or a crazy hairdo or lots of muscles or something. I’ve got to tell you, being a Colonel in the military is not a bad deal. I’ve got two sets of Flame Alchemist gloves, I’ve got an alchemist pocket watch, I’ve got all the DVDs you can buy with the collectors tin, I’ve got a Fullmetal Alchemist backpack, posters, pictures, postcards and little things that I can sign for fans. I definitely got the new Roy Mustang action figure kicking it up on my cabinet.

Q: Have you done any research into real life alchemy?

A: A little bit. I's a really interesting concept, It's fun to think that if you draw certain kinds of alchemy symbols different things will happen. It's just a medieval religion and a practice and I kind of leave it at that. You sure won't see me trying any human transmutation anytime soon.

Q: What do you think is the biggest misconception regarding anime dubbing?

A: That's a really good question. I don't know of too many misconceptions. I think a lot of people really don't know that it takes a lot. I think a lot of people think it's easier than it is. They think that because they sit in front of their television watching Cartoon Network when their favorite anime comes on and if they can say a line exactly when the mouth moves and at the exact time they hear the voice actor do it, then they must be able to do it too. They forget that there's no line to go off of. You' re making it up yourself. You have a certain amount of time to get exactly the meaning and the exact emotion out to portray what you're trying to. You've got to do it over and over until you've got it right. The hardest lines to record in anime are lines that are 3 words or less. "Yes", "no sir" and "I don't know" are so hard, because unless you get them perfect you just keep doing them over and over. If you try saying one or two word sentences 15 times, it doesn't even sound like English to you anymore.

Q: Do you have any parting words of wisdom for our readers?

A: All female officers enlisting in my army will be required to wear tiny miniskirts! [Laughs]