In
a medium that seems populated mostly with teenaged heroes, Jet Black in
Cowboy Bebop is an exception. He's an older character, but how old?
Beau Billingslea, the English-language voice of Jet, played him as if
he was a middle-aged father - just like the actor, who has two grown
children. "I just loved this guy," Billingslea said of Jet. "I loved
voicing him. In a certain respect, Spike and Faye are, if not like my
kids, like my niece and nephew - I'm trying to guide them along. Jet
tried to keep his guard up like those rugged tough guys. He says `I
don't need you here,' but the subtext is `I love having you here.'" In
some respects, Billingslea feels that Ed, the most openly eccentric of
the Bebop characters, is the most mature. "Children in a traditional
sense, they need you. Ed had this ability and this bizarre wisdom that
was beyond her years. I had more of a parallel between my children and
Spike and Faye than with Ed."
So
how old is Jet? Billingslea played him as if he was in his mid-40's,
but the series' producers told him that Jet was 35 years old, which is
young by some standards but not when compared to anime series where
heroes have been getting younger. "I thought 35 was a bit young for his
perspective on life," Billingslea said. "There's a certain amount of
patience he's developed, and 35 might seem young for the patience he's
developed with the younger people. My voice for jet is maybe a little
bit older than 35, but I think it works. The age we're given is just a
number - even looking at the animation, it looks like he's more than
35." The voice of Jet took some experimenting to find, as Billingslea
said he and the director considered a southwestern U.S. accent before
choosing the straight-up dub voice for the character. During that
preparation, Billingslea also was told of Jet's backstory - an ex-cop
with a broken heart and body who turns to bounty hunting. "All actors,
you need to have the backstory to really get into the skin of the guy,
to get the fullest life. For some people it might seem like we're
reading copy, but there's more - much more to that. With voice acting,
we're limited compared to being on camera doing. The (facial) nuances
aren't there, so the nuances come from the vocal characterizations -
it's a great challenge."
In
a medium that seems populated mostly with teenaged heroes, Jet Black in
Cowboy Bebop is an exception. He's an older character, but how old?
Beau Billingslea, the English-language voice of Jet, played him as if
he was a middle-aged father - just like the actor, who has two grown
children. "I just loved this guy," Billingslea said of Jet. "I loved
voicing him. In a certain respect, Spike and Faye are, if not like my
kids, like my niece and nephew - I'm trying to guide them along. Jet
tried to keep his guard up like those rugged tough guys. He says `I
don't need you here,' but the subtext is `I love having you here.'" In
some respects, Billingslea feels that Ed, the most openly eccentric of
the Bebop characters, is the most mature. "Children in a traditional
sense, they need you. Ed had this ability and this bizarre wisdom that
was beyond her years. I had more of a parallel between my children and
Spike and Faye than with Ed."
So
how old is Jet? Billingslea played him as if he was in his mid-40's,
but the series' producers told him that Jet was 35 years old, which is
young by some standards but not when compared to anime series where
heroes have been getting younger. "I thought 35 was a bit young for his
perspective on life," Billingslea said. "There's a certain amount of
patience he's developed, and 35 might seem young for the patience he's
developed with the younger people. My voice for jet is maybe a little
bit older than 35, but I think it works. The age we're given is just a
number - even looking at the animation, it looks like he's more than
35." The voice of Jet took some experimenting to find, as Billingslea
said he and the director considered a southwestern U.S. accent before
choosing the straight-up dub voice for the character. During that
preparation, Billingslea also was told of Jet's backstory - an ex-cop
with a broken heart and body who turns to bounty hunting. "All actors,
you need to have the backstory to really get into the skin of the guy,
to get the fullest life. For some people it might seem like we're
reading copy, but there's more - much more to that. With voice acting,
we're limited compared to being on camera doing. The (facial) nuances
aren't there, so the nuances come from the vocal characterizations -
it's a great challenge."
