Sir Faggot Dibs
21-07-09, 04:45 AM
Show gets rid of original voice cast...
In a pretty surprising turn of events, the Hollywood Reporter reports that Comedy Central and 20th TV were unable to come to deals with the cast of voice actors for Futurama and will now proceed to hire all new voice actors. The studio claims that they offered the originals "modest" pay increases but could not match what the actors were demanding. Some of the original cast actors include John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Billy West, Tress MacNeille and Katey Sagal.
A deal to produce 26 new episodes of Futurama was reached back in June.
Creator Matt Groening has gone through disputes with voice actors on The Simpsons but that show has never had to replace a key voice actor. Family Guy doesn't have to deal with these issues since creator Seth MacFarlane voices all the main characters.
:yotsuba:
UPDATE:
The old cast is back, after all.
LOS ANGELES–The Star has learned exclusively that the entire voice cast of Futurama has just signed a new contract with Fox after weeks of intense salary negotiations.
As late as last week, the network was threatening to replace the original voices of Matt Groening's cult-hit cartoon, to the point of actually announcing a casting call for voice actors to replace them.
The Futurama voice cast includes John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Billy West, Tress MacNeille and Katey Sagal.
The compromise agreement, with the studio paying more and the actors accepting less, comes after the announcement of a 26-episode pick-up here by Comedy Central. Futurama also airs internationally in syndication, has produced four bestselling straight-to-DVD movies (later cut into episodes) and an upcoming feature film.
"We are thrilled to have our incredible cast back. The call has already `gone out to the animators to put the mouths back on the characters," Futurama creators Groening and David X. Cohen said in a joint statement.
In a pretty surprising turn of events, the Hollywood Reporter reports that Comedy Central and 20th TV were unable to come to deals with the cast of voice actors for Futurama and will now proceed to hire all new voice actors. The studio claims that they offered the originals "modest" pay increases but could not match what the actors were demanding. Some of the original cast actors include John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Billy West, Tress MacNeille and Katey Sagal.
A deal to produce 26 new episodes of Futurama was reached back in June.
Creator Matt Groening has gone through disputes with voice actors on The Simpsons but that show has never had to replace a key voice actor. Family Guy doesn't have to deal with these issues since creator Seth MacFarlane voices all the main characters.
:yotsuba:
UPDATE:
The old cast is back, after all.
LOS ANGELES–The Star has learned exclusively that the entire voice cast of Futurama has just signed a new contract with Fox after weeks of intense salary negotiations.
As late as last week, the network was threatening to replace the original voices of Matt Groening's cult-hit cartoon, to the point of actually announcing a casting call for voice actors to replace them.
The Futurama voice cast includes John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Billy West, Tress MacNeille and Katey Sagal.
The compromise agreement, with the studio paying more and the actors accepting less, comes after the announcement of a 26-episode pick-up here by Comedy Central. Futurama also airs internationally in syndication, has produced four bestselling straight-to-DVD movies (later cut into episodes) and an upcoming feature film.
"We are thrilled to have our incredible cast back. The call has already `gone out to the animators to put the mouths back on the characters," Futurama creators Groening and David X. Cohen said in a joint statement.