‘Masters of the Universe: Revelation’ Star Chris Wood Said He Made He Man Sound Like He Woke Up Groggy
Masters of the Universe: Revelation is an all new take on He-Man, created by Kevin Smith. Chris Wood provides the voice of He-Man in the Netflix animated series, and there’s one thing that hasn’t changed. He-Man is still the secret identity of Prince Adam when he calls on the Power of Greyskull.
Wood said he had a clear way of distinguishing the voice of Prince Adam and He-Man. He spoke with reporters over Zoom on June 3. Masters of the Universe: Revelation premieres July 23 on Netflix.
The reason Chris Wood made He-Man sound groggy
Wood discussed the dual personas of Prince Adam and He-Man. Lots of superheroes have two identities, like Clark Kent and Superman.
“I love that the character has two personas,” Wood said. “Obviously it’s the same guy but that was the most exciting part of it, not just being He-Man but that it really is two characters. I wanted your classic, earnest, excited prince and the other one is your classic big most powerful man in the universe hero. They kind of couldn’t be more different. But they have to feel the same so it never felt like I was doing two voices. It felt like I was doing the same character sort of two forms if that makes sense.”
So, the difference wood thought about was the that Prince Adam would sound like a more warmed up version of the He-Man voice. See if you notice the difference on Masters of the Universe: Revelation.
“Sort of like when you wake up and your voice is super low and by the end of the day it’s different,” Wood said. “That’s the only difference really. That’s one of the joys of doing the role now.”
How Chris Wood coped with the pressure of ‘Masters of the Universe: Revelation’
Masters of the Universe: Revelation picks up where the ’80s series left off. Wood’s been part of big shows like Supergirl and The Vampire Diaries before, but never as the iconic hero.
“There’s certainly a barometer for expectation and it’s certainly higher when it’s an icon like He-Man,” Wood said. “Whereas Mon-El or some of the other roles I’ve played, even if they’re in pop culture, it’s not Superman, it’s not He-Man. So there’s definitely the barometer was moving on the higher end for this but I try not to think about it too much when I’m actually working on it.”
Wood said it was the new direction Smith took Masters of the Universe: Revelation that helped him settle into the role of He-Man.
“It made it easy that the scripts were so exciting and this sort of revitalized, re-imagined Masters,” Wood said. “It was distracting in a way so I didn’t think about it too much and I didn’t go back and watch too much of the original show to take inspiration or compare or try to do anything because I kind of figured that was casting and direction, that was their job to make sure that I fit into the world. I just kind of did my own thing and hopefully everyone likes it.”
The voice of He-Man didn’t have to do much heavy lifting on ‘Masters of the Universe: Revelation’
Yes, Wood voices the central master of the universe. However, he didn’t feel he had to carry Masters of the Unvierse: Revelation himself.
It starts with Kevin and the writers and producers leading the direction of the show and bringing it into 2021 while staying true to the original and honoring everything that people love about the show. That’s what moves me so much when I watch it and why I’m reinvigorated as a fan of Masters by doing this and watching it. It has the essence of everything that people love but this version’s more accessible and it’s for more people. It’s not just catered to little boys. It’s for young girls, it’s for adults who knew the show, adults who didn’t. I think knowing that they set that tone, there wasn’t really any fear going into it because we knew we were just realizing something that had already been really well honed before we got there.
Chris Wood, Masters of the Universe: Revelation press junket, 6/3/21
