Michael Sporn, the director and animator of Poe, spoke a few times of Hugh in his production updates on the official Poe website. Poe, for anyone who doesn’t know yet, is an animated feature film based around the life of Edgar Allan Poe. Hugh is the voice of Edgar and recorded his bits yesterday or so.

Here is the latest excerpt from the Production Notes diary:

07/19/07

I went to London this past Sunday to Wednesday to record actor Hugh Dancy in the part of Edgar A.

After arriving at my hotel room Monday morning, I waited for a call from Hugh so that we could decide where to meet to discuss the recording that would take place on Tuesday late morning. Once on the phone we just got into it and decided that it’d be too complicated to meet. So we arranged for a second phone conversation later that day.

I tend to prefer leaving a lot to the actor in the performance. I know what I want for the character, and as long as I’m getting that the actor can shape the character as (s)he likes. When you hire someone of the caliber of Hugh Dancy, you know that the performance will be all that, so you can just sit back and ride along with an excellent job.

The session on Tuesday was particularly easy and delightful for me. Only a couple of times did I feel compelled to urge the performance in a slightly different direction. Too often just enjoyed what was being given me - a real, living character.

The recording studio, Molinare, was certainly up to the task and did everything to make my job effortless,and I’d like to thank all those who helped make it so. This includes the engineer Steve Cookman and Jane Doughty. I’d also like to thank Libby Mourant of Incendiary, Ltd. for assistance in organizing the arrangements for us.

In a day or two, I’ll try to post an MP3 of Hugh reading one of Poe’s poems. He did a brilliant job, and I don’t mind sharing.

This sounds like a really cool project! I can’t wait to hear previews and, with Michael’s permission, I’ll post them to HDi.

Posted on July 19, 2007 by Anna
Filed In Movies • News • Poe