You know Michael Ironside. Even if you only know his unmistakably iconic tough guy voice, you know Michael Ironside. If you are in your twenties, you know him from his voice work on Splinter Cell as the lead character, Sam Fisher. If you are older than that, you know him from his work on V: the Final Battle, Total Recall or Starship Troopers. Animation fans should recognize him for his role as Darkseid in both the Superman and Justice League shows.
We stopped by the set of the new Crackle.com web series, The Bannen Way as they were midway into production and talked to Ironside, who was on a break from shooting on the set (located just outside of Downtown Los Angeles).
CraveOnline: How did you get involved with the production of The Bannen Way?
Michael Ironside: The actual agent of executive producer/lead actor (Mark Gantt) is also an old dear friend of mine, also when they were writing this they told me that they had me in mind and were hoping that they could get me. It’s a wonderful piece.
CraveOnline: Tell me about your character, Chief Bannen.
Michael Ironside: He’s the father of our lead character (Neil Bannen) and the brother of the lead villain (Mr. B), so there is a bit of a triangle going on. He’s a by the books kind of stone age mofo. He doesn’t carry an automatic weapon… He believes that people are their actions. You are your actions; Not your car, not the clothes you wear, the house you live in. You lie; you’re a liar. You steal; you’re a thief. You raise your voice to get your point across; you’re a bully.
CraveOnline: It looked like you were carrying a (Colt) Python out there.
Michael Ironside: That’s exactly what I was using, a .357 Python. I asked for it. It’s a stone age gun.
CraveOnline: You have played dramatic and tough guy roles before; what was it that attracted you to this character?
Michael Ironside: His sense of integrity.
CraveOnline: How long is the shoot for the series?
Michael Ironside: It’s a twenty day shoot.
CraveOnline: Was it strange working in this type of short episodic format?
Michael Ironside: No, I don’t think there is much difference in webisodes . That’s more of a production and delivery problem and an editing problem. As an actor, what attracted me most to the script is the incredibly well written dialogue, character development and there is just a sense of energy in the story and characters. Everything has a certain amount of authentic integrity to it, if that makes any sense. I think it will kick ass.
CraveOnline: Can you tell us about your voice work on the new Splinter Cell game, Conviction.
Michael Ironside: We’re just actually finishing it up. We’re were actually going to try to rush it out for Christmas and what I like is that Ubisoft said, “No lets slow down and take our time and do it correctly”. I saw some of the new animation, some of the stuff that’s going out, it’s really exciting stuff. I think it’s to Ubisoft’s credit that they didn’t make the kind of short money, fast, jam it out the pipe decision. I think that mistake was made on the second game… they were able to recover some of the fans on the third and fourth one. I am quite pleased with this.
After the talk about Splinter Cell, we moved to discussing Michael’s Canadian roots; “it’s where I grew up, it’s where I got my sense of family and tribe”. The actor has lived in the United States since 1982 but still has places in Montreal and Toronto and says it “just makes me feel safe”. Things seem to have improved for the large influx of Canadian actors currently working in the US (on shows as diverse as 24, Gossip Girl and LOST); Ironside recalls the old days (1970’s and 80’s) of work on US productions; “we only had like three or four casting directors. You mess up or say no to something, you lose 25% or 35% of your work, so you had to say yes to everything”. Proud of his roots, Ironside states, “It’s who I am, I’m Canadian”.
The Bannen Way premiers on Crackle.com on January 6th, 2010.
