QUESTION:
How does Granny Goodness compare to playing other female characters?

ED ASNER:
I don’t think I have played any other female characters before (he laughs). But if I did, she’d have more balls than any of them. It’s become the fashion lately – there’s Brian Bedford in Stratford doing Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde’s play. What hasn’t been done enough is women playing men in as butch a manner as possible. That’s got to be even more fun. I’m talking somebody like Marjorie Main pulling it off.

QUESTION:
What do you use as a focal point while voicing Granny?

ED ASNER:
I’m thinking she’s a lot of chest, a lot of high pressure steam, and that she’s probably got a constant focus on vengeance and wreaking havoc on whoever she can. And I want to get away with as much damage as I can in as high-flown an effeminate form as possible.

QUESTION:
You’ve done it all and had long-lasting success in the entertainment industry. What’s the enticement of voice acting for you?

ED ASNER:
It’s always a trip a joyful trip to come into the studio, and especially working with this group. Andrea (Romano) is a delight to work with, and Bruce (Timm) knows this genre better than anybody. Plus, it’s the ability to let your imagination take flight – to take chances, to plunge and to soar. That’s something you don’t get to do as an actor. You get to do it as a kid. So I grab the opportunity as often as I can.

QUESTION:
With all the animation work you’ve done, and the huge success of Up, can we assume you see animated films and television as a viable source of entertainment.

ED ASNER:
I’ve always loved cartoons – I watched them when I was young, I still watch them now. And it is interesting to see how much more adult they’ve gotten in terms of content, from these super hero pieces with their violence and more adult themes to the truly mature, fully-developed stories developed in films like Up and Wall-E. Today’s animation goes places cartoons didn’t used to go.

QUESTION:
How do you feel about spunk?

ED ASNER:
That all depends on who’s got it.