When Walt Disney gave birth to modern animation it’s fair to say that he didn’t expect the technological advances that have given this art form its realistic appearance. It’s even more likely that he didn’t foresee the way modern animation is geared towards an adult audience. In Walt’s day animation was a family affair. The episodic Comando Cero with its military storyline and edgy characters is closer to Platoon than Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Comando Cero is a highly popular Latin animated series focusing on two polar opposite characters, Samuel and Alfredo. The Argentinean series uses a halo style platform to show the adventures of the two soldiers that are polar opposites. Bruno Nunez Romagnoli is a live action star in his homeland, known for movies like Zombie Games and Her Last Job (a US release) but is also one of the most acclaimed and sought after voice over artists in Latin America. Comando Cero was the project which introduced him to much of the world and he is happy that the project is ongoing. Animated series like Comando Cero allow actors to work from anywhere in the world, including movie sets. That can be challenging but for Romagnoli but it allows him to pursue his movie career while still being involved in the series that helped to launch that very same career.
Comando Cero is an animated action show revolving around the adventures of Samuel and Alfredo. After destroying valuable military hardware, Samuel and Alfredo are demoted to the worst battalion in the entire army, the command zero. Through their adventures, they will learn how to work as a team and accomplish the mission. Samuel is the type of person who always follows the rules and does everything by the manual. Alfredo, Bruno’s character, is the opposite. Alfredo is a loose cannon; the kind of guy who is impulsive and does things without thinking. Gustavo Ancarani is the show’s creator and also plays Samuel, one of the two lead characters. After hearing some of Romagnoli’s prior voice over work, he approached him about playing Alfredo. Ancanari was already established as one of the top voice over actors in Latin America, so many actors were eager to work with him. Gustavo knew that this new young actor could bring the tension mixed with comedy that Alfredo required. Ancanari declares, “I would call Bruno’s character a charming psychopath. Bruno has a very strong voice and he really knows how to use it to convey subtle emotions. He plays a dark character but in such a way the audience will always like him, no matter what. The improvisation that he brings to the character is just brilliant. I’m so glad he became my partner in this series.” Romagnoli finds great amusement in playing the character, especially when others find Alfredo dangerous. He reveals, “Alfredo is a very pleasant person to play. I have so much fun doing it. It’s always fun when I get the opportunity to play tough guys; who doesn’t enjoy that? I wouldn’t call him a dark character, that makes him sound like the villain. I would call him a negative one. He always complains about the missions and everything in general. The funny part of playing Alfredo is that I get the chance to insult a lot, but he is the only character with censorship. It’s part of the plot. Alfredo has a chip in his head that beeps the bad words; that’s so much fun. It adds to his frustration and the comedy of the story.”
Comando Cero has been airing since 2013 with its most recent installment currently in production. That’s a major achievement during an era when any show struggles to compete for the public’s short attention span, but especially gratifying for an animated series whose target audience is one with more adult sensibilities and tastes. Although Comando Cero is visually amazing, a great deal of the success of the show is credited to the actors who play the characters. The Machinima platform (which is similar to the appearance of Halo) shows the characters in futuristic body armor, including helmets. This means that all expression of emotions must come solely from the actor’s voice and inflections. Rather than be inhibited by this challenge, Romagnoli revels in it. Bruno reveals, “You can’t just speak in your normal voice. You have to find the character as you would in any role but you also have to know how subtle or overstated you can make him. The process to find the voice was very interesting. Because he is rude and kind of a badass character, I wanted the pitch of my voice to be lower. Something was missing so I added a raspy quality to my voice because I thought he seemed like the type of guy who would spend time in a bar drinking whisky. Still, something was missing, so I added a change of tone. When he gets angry he talks faster, which I added because he is crazy and a very stressed out person. I wouldn’t call myself a method actor but it takes me a while to get out of the space that is Alfredo. I need to shake my body and run for a while because of all the intensity. He is very anxious and leaving that behind requires a physical catharsis.”
While his career in live action films has become prolific in the last few years (Her Last Job, Zombie Games, S.A.M., and many others), Bruno still finds time to do his first love of voice over acting in productions like The Death of Spiderman and Comando Cero. He believes that this seemingly constrictive avenue of using only your voice results in making him a better overall actor. Bruno comments, “One of the most difficult things nowadays is to record the voices separately. We can’t react to the other actor. We have no cues, no rhythm or anything; we record our lines by ourselves. Every dubbing studio works that way. In some rare cases you might get the chance to record the voice with other actor in the room. This usual method makes you dig much deeper than if you were working alongside another actor. It can be quite difficult so when you are on a live set with other actors, it’s much easier. I am thankful to have a career that challenges me in so many ways because the end result is a better performance for the audience.”
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