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Scream and Scooby-Doo actor Matthew Lillard has taken aim at Hollywood's tendency to populate animated movies with certain big-name actors who are "not able to carry a part" instead of voice actors.
"I think Hollywood has made a huge mistake by hiring actors that are not able to carry a part with [their] voice. As an actor, you have full function, your face, your body, you have all these things that you can play on when you're on the screen, but a voice actor has only their voice to work," Lillard said at Fan Expo Denver (via Screen Rant).
"The ability to carry a film, as the lead of a film with only a voice, is a power very few people have. And the idea that they keep hiring crappy celebrities to carry huge films is killing us."
The casting of celebrities and household names in animation is nothing new, right back to the likes of Tom Hanks in Toy Story and Billy Joel in Oliver & Company.
That, perhaps, isn't what is drawing Lillard's ire. Without naming names, the Five Nights at Freddy's actor alludes to the recent trend of star-filled stunt casts that don't quite capture the right tone needed for the performance – something that a day-to-day voice actor would accomplish with ease.
Away from his gripes over animation casting, Lillard has a busy few years in the pipeline. He's set to appear in Mike Flanagan's Carrie, Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow, and Five Nights at Freddy's 2. We wouldn't be surprised if his Mr. Charles character rocks up in Daredevil: Born Again season 3, too.
For more, check out the new TV shows and upcoming movie release dates on the horizon.
