1968's Night of the Living Dead saw a band of survivors led by the heroic Ben (Duane Jones), a groundbreaking Black protagonist role in a time when movie leads were mostly white males. Fan-favorite actor Dulé Hill takes on the iconic role in the animated adaptation of George Romero's zombie movie classic, Night of the Animated Dead. In addition to starring in the film, Hill reunites with his longtime Psych co-star James Roday Rodriguez as their characters find themselves trapped in a remote farmhouse surrounded by the ravenous undead.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Hill shared his desire to go deeper into and explore Ben's trauma in Night of the Animated Dead, expressed the challenges and the joys in voice acting without the film's main cast present, and reflected on the recent opportunity to reunite with The West Wing cast and crew for a special on HBO Max last year.
How did the opportunity to star in the animated adaptation of the seminal zombie film Night of the Living Dead come about?
Dulé Hill: It came about because of the producer Michael Luisi. He reached out to me, through the help of James Roday Rodriguez, and told me about the world that he was endeavoring to do with this project and he offered me the chance to be a part of it. Once I knew what he was looking to do and the cast that he was putting together, it was a no-brainer for me. This is an extremely iconic film from 1968 and, to have a chance to step into that world, was truly an honor.
The role of Ben is an extremely groundbreaking one, with Duane Jones in the original and Tony Todd in the 1990 version. With it being such an iconic role, what did you want to bring with your own voice to the performance?
For myself, I really wanted to fill out the character, even more, to see different dimensions of him. He is very focused, determined, and filled with strength in trying to persevere through the night but I also wanted to tap into the trauma of what was going on for him. That was a bit I was hopefully trying to ramp up a little bit in specific moments, to see how it all was affecting him beyond trying to make it through the night because it is something that is so otherworldly that is happening, just mind-boggling.
A lot of the times you're going through those challenges in life you can press on through but it really affecting you on a deeper level. It is extremely traumatic but you also don't have time to focus the energy on even dealing with that trauma. In this script, we really felt it and I loved the opportunity to tell Ben's story in the diner: for myself, that was the chance to see how it was affecting Ben beyond the strength and determination to make it through the night.
I know this isn't your first voice-acting role but I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's a lot darker than Muppet Babies.
[laughs] Yeah, it's a lot darker! Definitely, not a lot of songs to sing in this piece! I don't think Mister Manny would've been able to survive this situation.
Going into those more emotionally raw areas to provide a more full-bodied look at Ben using only your voice, was it liberating or intimidating to go into the booth, especially in portraying an established character?
I would say it was both. You're dealing with an iconic movie and an iconic role and if you're not going, "What the heck am I doing?," there's got to be something missing inside of you because you have to acknowledge what you're even endeavoring. But also, that's what art is, to lean into the challenge, fear, and struggle. It was liberating to get into the booth and have [your voice] as the tool you're working with now. You don't have the camera to pick up the stillness in your eyes when you're gazing off into the sunset. All you have is the tonality and levels of your voice to be able to tell this story. Of course, they're going to add all the animation after but that was something outside of my control. It was challenging and daunting but, at the same time, it was liberating because I got to focus on what I wanted my voice to say and communicate in this time.
Going back to capturing Ben going through the trauma, that's what resonated with me because that's oftentimes what we go through in life today. When so many things come against us, you feel like you're under siege. We oftentimes don't take the time to acknowledge the trauma, in the overt trauma of those that lost their lives but also the covert trauma of seeing others attacked and gunned down. That really resonated with me, that diner moment resonated with me, to see how it affected Ben and even more ramped up his survival instincts. It was challenging and very liberating because it makes you focus on the specificity of what you're doing.
With your characters having such intense scenes together and yet you recording separately, how was it maintaining the energy when working with the director and producers?
You need to have a brilliant director like Jason Axinn because he is the glue that is connecting all the dots. He knows what's going where and how we'll interact with other people. Some things were recorded before I got there and some things weren't so you have to trust the director to steer the ship. There's a certain level of trust you need to put in there and then you have to go for it and leave it there. That was a challenge for me because, as an actor, you feed off each other. You think we'd be in the same room and run the scene a few times but that wasn't the case. I don't know if it was planned that way or the scheduling but we were all recording at different times. It made it challenging but it made it fun too -- if I'm being honest with myself. [laughs]
I love doing something different and going for it to see what happens. When you have actors like Josh Duhamel, Katharine Isabelle, Nancy Travis, Will Sasso, Jimmi Simpson, and, of course, James Roday Rodriguez, these are artists who know what they're doing. They're very gifted, in their own unique ways so you trust that. You toss it up in the air and trust that Roday will catch it and Katee Sackoff will put it in the goal. There is a certain level of trust that you have to put out there and that's what I did, throwing it out there and letting Jason [Axinn] and Michael [Luisi] figure it all out and they did in a wonderful way.
As someone that's lived in D.C. for the better part of my life, I have to ask: How was it coming back to the role of Charlie in The West Wing reunion last year? It all looked like something really special.
It really was! I loved stepping back into the role of Charlie, and, to be back in those shoes and suit with those characters and actors. It really warmed my heart. I love The West Wing family very much -- Martin [Sheen], Allison [Janney], Brad [Whitford], Rob [Lowe], Richard [Schiff], Janel [Moloney]. We're all still very close but to step back into that role really warmed my heart because Charlie is always going to hold a special place in my life because it launched my television career. It really was the catalyst that got me on this journey. To read the words of Aaron Sorkin again and be directed by Tommy Schlamme was refreshing for me and they're extreme pros, everybody over there. [laughs] And then Sterling [K. Brown] came and wonderfully stepped into the role that John Spencer started, Leo McGarry.
When you can get on an all-star team -- and I'm not saying I'm an all-star but I'm blessed to be on an all-star team [laughs] -- when you have a chance to be in that circle, it is always refreshing. These are sharpshooters and really skilled artists at the top level of their game and it was refreshing to be in that world once again. I love The West Wing and Charlie and I love what they tried to do, having a stage-reading version of it. It was a great hybrid of television and theater and a great way to blend the mediums. And in the midst of the pandemic, it was very refreshing to get together and connect and work.
Directed by Jason Axinn, Night of the Animated Dead is available now on Digital HD and Blu-ray/4K UHD.