When Matt Lanter is not voicing Anakin Skywalker in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (currently in its third season), he can be seen on the new 90210 as bad-boy heartthrob Liam Court, and in movies like Vampires Suck (where he spoofed Edward from Twilight) and the 2009 horror film Sorority Row.
Criticize This! spoke with Lanter during a promo tour for the release of Star Wars: The Clone Wars – The Complete Second Season on DVD
Criticize This!: How did you get involved with Star Wars: The Clone Wars?
Matt Lanter: It was kind of an everyday audition for me. I knew it was a Star Wars “something”. Dave Filoni, our supervising director, [was at the audition] and told me to do my best impression of Han Solo combined with Luke Skywalker. A couple of days later I got the call that I got the job.
CT!: Were you a fan of the Star Wars universe before doing the show?
ML: I had never really seen all the films. I didn’t know how the universe worked and how it all synced together. I had seen a couple of the prequel films when I was younger, and I knew the characters, but I didn’t know the cohesiveness of the saga and I certainly didn’t know the vast fandom that Star Wars has.
CT!: How do you find the fanbase now that you’ve been doing the show for a few years?
ML: It’s absolutely amazing. If there is one thing to get involved with to have a community feeling, it’s Star Wars. All the fans worldwide… everybody is passionate about it and everyone has a good time with it. It’s something everybody loves to do and it’s great to be involved with that.
CT!: What do you enjoy most about doing voice work over live-action work?
ML: Voice work is something that is a very creative, fun process for me. You don’t have any marks to hit, you don’t have lighting to worry about, you just get to be expressive in some of the most creative ways.
CT!: Have you had more offers for voice work since doing Star Wars: The Clone Wars?
ML: I’ve actually got a Tinker Bell DVD coming out sometime next year. I’m pretty busy with my on-camera stuff but I would absolutely love to expand my voice-over career.
CT!: Did you get much hate mail from Twilight fans for spoofing Edward in Vampires Suck?
ML: I was kind of worried about that because doing 90210… it’s kind of the same audience as Twilight – young teenage girls. It’s actually gotten a really good response from the fans, and it should, because it’s made for them. They’re the ones who are going to get all the jokes we tell and there’s no disrespect to the Twilight actors or story.
CT!: Do you have a dream project you’d like to work on one day?
ML: For some reason I’ve always wanted to do a war epic. My grandpa was in the Navy and I have a high, high respect for military men and women. Defending your country and fighting for freedom — it’s something I highly respect and I would love to pay homage to that with my own film.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – The Complete Second Season is now available on DVD
