Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Interview with... Denny Delk

Whether you know Denny Delk directly or not, I'm sure by the end of this blog you'll be saying "I remember his work, and boy did I love it!"

Denny has worked on numerous Star Wars video games, the Howard The Duck movie, and as Wicket W. Warrick in the Ewoks cartoon.

It is my pleasure to bring you my interview with Denny Delk.



You’ve done a lot of voice over work for the Star Wars video games. How did this come about?

I had worked with Lucas on movies, as an on camera actor and doing ADR and looping, so I was known to the folks at LucasFilm. When they came along, LucasArts was an early adopter in the video game world. They figured that folks would love to play the game associated with the movie. The first Lucas game I did was a spin off of the Indiana Jones franchise. It was just a step above Pac-Man. And the game producers in those days were very technically oriented and knew little about how to tell a story. The actors helped make the business what it is today, as we helped educated the producers on how to tell the stories. When we started doing the Star Wars games, the gamers really responded. Obviously there were games that weren’t associated with films, like Sam and Max, Day of the Tentacle and the Monkey Island series. There were others, too. But Star Wars really had legs. Someone wrote to me that he had gone to the original Star Wars movie as a college student, and his grandson was now playing the games. Is that iconic?

Have you been to any Star Wars conventions?

I have been to a convention, but not as a presenter or autographer or anything. It was pretty overwhelming.

What was it like to be involved in George Lucas’ film, Howard The Duck?

Howard was a really great time for me. There were a lot of very good (and then very young) actors involved. Lea Thompson, Tim Robbins. I loved the comic book the film was based on. Like many of the films based on a comic series, it was a difficult thing to bring to the screen in a way that satisfied both the fans of the comic and the general theatre audience. But those I know involved in the production had a good time and really threw ourselves into the fantasy.

The Ewoks are beloved by legions of fans. What do you think is their appeal?

Hey, they’re armed teddy bears. What’s not to like? Honestly, the courage and spirit of the (literally) little guy in the face of great odds and big bullies is the stuff of legend. I mean, they had a hand in beating Darth Vader. That takes some sand. No wonder people love ‘em. And when we did the Saturday morning cartoon show, we were able to mix that sense of adventure and daring with some fun. I loved that show.


Thank you Denny!
I hope you guys enjoyed that. I certainly found it very interesting.

What did you think of this interview? Please comment, or email me directly at mgbouw@yahoo.com.au
Until next time!

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