In honor of SeptBender, David Faustino recently chatted with Hypable about his role as the brave, romantically-challenged, and divisive firebender Mako on The Legend of Korra.
David Faustino is currently staring as Mako on Nickelodeon’s The Legend of Korra. David also appears on the Netflix comedy Bad Samaritans and, as a hip-hop enthusiast, runs a record label Old Scratch Records. Follow him on Twitter as @DavidFaustino.
Hypable chats with David Faustino
Hypable: Were you familiar with Avatar: The Last Airbender before you auditioned for The Legend of Korra?
David Faustino: I had heard about it, obviously, through that film that was out. I never was a big cartoon guy, when I was a little kid I was, but [I’ve] never really been a big sci-fi fan… I just heard about it peripherally, and then I knew it had a big following and then I saw the role and it looked cool.
And then I read the script, you know, I read some of the material and that’s when I thought, “Oh, okay, well this is more than just a cartoon.” It’s this well-written, really cool artistic piece, that’s very cool.
Do you have a favorite moment from the first season of The Legend of Korra?
I really like the moment where… Korra and I are separated… It was us thinking to each other and talking out loud, and then it cut to me, and her over there doing her thing. It was just a really quiet, interesting, kind of deep moment. I really liked it.
Mako is a little bit controversial because of some of his girl issues. How do you approach that from an acting standpoint?
Well, it’s interesting because I didn’t realize how invested the fans were. I had a lot of fangirls very upset at me, and I didn’t expect that at all. To see people on Twitter and other social networking sites angry with the Mako character – and they were able to separate me from the character, but they still couldn’t help themselves to let me know that they didn’t like Mako… It didn’t really bother me, it was just interesting and surprising to me.
Really for me, it’s all about the writing. The two guys and the whole writing staff really, but Bryan and Mike are just genius writers and they make it so easy for us. [Mako is] a complex character who’s got a lot of issues, and I can relate to that, no question. I have my own issues with girls and dates and all that scary stuff, so it just again comes down to well-written and complex character. And that makes my job really easy because it’s all there on the page.
Is there anything you specifically admire about Mako?
Yeah, I do. I admire his desire to stand up for what he believes is right. Yeah, [Mako] has his issues with commitment and has his issues with the ladies, but I believe he loves Korra and would stand up and protect her to the death. I respect his courage and bravery in situations of danger, when it comes to protecting his loved ones.
And if you could give him a piece of advice, what would it be?
Maybe, be able to laugh a little bit more. He can be pretty heavy and pretty intense a lot of the time. Unlike Bolin, who’s sort of a joker and very light-hearted all the time – maybe to a fault. It’d be nice if maybe Mako could have a little more balance and kind of ‘let go and let life’ a little bit more sometimes.
If you could be a bender, what kind of bender would you be?
Oh… moneybender! I’d be a moneybender. Yeah, bend money at my will!
How is watching animated voice work that you’ve done different from watching live action?
It’s a lot easier to watch the animation! Because half of your job is not there. If I’m being sincerely honest, it’s a lot easier doing animation in a sense. Some people find it very challenging, but if you’ve done it for a while, half your acting job is missing. You don’t to have the exact right emotions on your face. So in that sense it’s easier.
You’re [also] not constantly scrutinizing the way you look. You know actors… we can be very hard on ourselves. We catch a glimpse of ourselves in the reflection in the mirror and it’s like “Ooh! Wait! I didn’t know I looked like that!” And so you don’t have to deal with that, it makes it really nice, you just have to listen to your voice.
And even then, as an actor you still go “Oh my god, I could have done this better!” or “Oh my god, I can’t believe I said it like that! I could have done this!” You still do that, but not as much as you would if you had the visual aspect of it.
Is there anything about voice acting that’s unique to acting in general?
When it really comes down to it, you still have to put your all, one hundred percent in. Like I said, like if you have to cry, they don’t see you crying but you have to go in and I just do – and I think all the other cast would agree with me on this point – you go in and you act as if you’re in the scene.
You’re behind the mic and you’re standing there, and you’re doing your thing. You’re acting as if you’re that guy and these are the circumstances. You have to give it one hundred percent, and that’s it. You have to give the best possible vocal performance you can.
And you know, it’s just like any acting. Some days, you’re feeling it and some days you’re not. The days you’re not feeling it, you just have to drink some coffee and make it the best you can.
Is there anything that is challenging for you to perform as Mako?
There are days when it’s challenging, but that’s probably just because some days you’re in the zone and some days you’re not. It hasn’t been too difficult.
What tends to be difficult is poorly-written material, whether it be voice-over or live action, that is when your job is really difficult. But like I said, the staff and Mike and Bryan, they make our jobs so easy because the material is so well-written that it just kind of flows.
Can you share any funny moments from recording?
PJ Byrne (Bolin) is always fun. He’s a hilarious guy, I love PJ. He does the Bolin thing and goes off-book, and does his ad-libbing and improvisation. Sometimes he’ll just go way off, and it’s just so funny. They’ll have to reign him back in, and that’s always a crack-up.
And we always make fun of Janet [Varney](Korra) because they keep her in this isolation booth. There’s the group booth and there’s one, and she’s usually recording in there. We kind of make fun of her that she’s been a bad girl and she has to stay in the isolation booth away from the rest. We can see her behind the glass but she’s not in the same room, it’s pretty funny.
And then the other cool thing is seeing all the big stars that come through and do guest spots. I’m not at liberty to say who they are, but I’m always kind of star-struck, it’s cool!
Ooh, I’m very intrigued!
Yeah, there’ll be some good guest-stars coming up!
The Legend of Korra season 2 premieres on Friday, Sept. 13 at 7 pm on Nickelodeon.