The following is an exclusive interview with Nicolas Cantu who plays “Charlie” on the “Skull Island” animated show produced by Legendary Entertainment Television. Interview conducted on July 3rd, 2023 at Anime Expo in Los Angeles, California. This interview was edited for flow.

 

Chris Mirjahangir
Prior to this, were you familiar with the MonsterVerse?

Nicolas Cantu
Yeah, I was. I was a pretty big fan of Godzilla when I was younger, and then once Kong: Skull Island came out? That was like one of my favorite movies that came out that year. Like just the adventure of it all was great!

Chris
What did you think of the little tag at the end with Godzilla? The cave paintings and everything?

Nicolas
Oh, I thought it was great! I thought it was great that they teased that! Like the fact that everything’s becoming kind of this shared universe? It’s like for some things it’s like… you remember that Dark Universe they were gonna do with the Universal Monsters? Like some of them don’t go. But like, honestly as a monster fan seeing like, some crossovers in that world, it was sick.

Chris
Did you have a favorite MonsterVerse film so far?

Nicolas
Probably Kong: Skull Island. Also what counts as the MonsterVerse? Because I doubt the original Godzilla’s from Japan count…

Chris
The 2014 one.

Nicolas
Actually, people didn’t like the 2014 Godzilla one, but I thought it was great. People said they didn’t like it. I could swear that was the consensus when it dropped at least.

Chris
And then Kong: Skull Island, Right?

Nicolas
I think that’s my favorite, I would say. I love the 2014 Godzilla and then like, what was the one where Godzilla and King Kong fought? Was that Godzilla vs. Kong?

Chris
That was Godzilla vs. Kong, and then King of the Monsters is King Ghidorah.

Nicolas
King Ghidorah! And then that one was sick! When King Ghidorah showed up and there was like the cross and everything? That was dope! But I got to give it to Kong: Skull Island.

Chris
I do wish there was more Mothra in that one because it was kind of like a cameo.

Nicolas
Yeah, you’re right, but he did come in clutch. I mean, he had, like, a clutch moment.

Chris
The one shot at the end and then Rodan in the sequence with the jets and everything.

Nicolas
That was dope! I mean, the MonsterVerse is sick! They do good stuff!

Chris
Are you familiar with the comics line as well?

Nicolas
Ah no, I’m not. They gave me one, actually! I went to the Legendary Offices, and they gave me one of the comics! I have yet to read it but yeah.

Chris
Birth of Kong?

Nicolas (to Legendary Representative)
I don’t remember, you actually gave me a comic when I went to the Legendary Offices. Which one was that? A Godzilla vs. Kong one or?

Legendary Representative
I gave you one with Godzilla, one with Kong.

Nicolas
Okay, so I have two separate issues.

Chris
Because when Skull Island (2017 film) came out, there was Birth of Kong (tie in comic).

Nicolas
Was it like a prequel comic to like, what?

Chris
It was a prequel, but this one, the show you’re on, pre-dates that.

Nicolas
Oh, really? Ok!

Chris
It wasn’t really kind of clear, like when it (took place)? So that was an interview question for the director, and so the animated series (Skull Island) is 93, the Birth of Kong took place in, I think 95.

Nicolas
Oh, okay so we’re before that!

Chris
Did you perform alone or with other actors?

Nicolas
Ah, this was a solo recording. So, it was actually during the pandemic, and we were talking about it during the panel, but my, like space to record was in an Airbnb. And it was just like, like a bedsheet in a room! I had to like, improvise my setup!

Chris
You set it up yourself?

Nicolas
Oh yeah, I had to! That’s how it works!

Chris
There’s a lot of pressure!

Nicolas
Yeah, it was just like a comforter nailed into the walls of an Airbnb like, it was some real gung-ho stuff!

Chris
How long were the recording sessions?

Nicolas
Oh, like one to two hours. It really depended, because sometimes you would knock out a few episodes at a time, but I would say an average of 2 hours.

Chris
Per day?

Nicolas
Sometimes per week. It really just depended on when they wanted to book me. I was also working on another show at the time, so that’s why I was in the Airbnb cause I wasn’t home. So, I had to set it up in Richmond, Virginia.

Chris
Did you deliver your lines as written on the page? Or did you add your own spin on anything?

Nicolas
I think Brian did a great job with the character and it’s always great when you have like somebody who understands the experience like just pat, so I can just go off the page. And I would say I added some like quips. Like they were pretty loose with the recording. There was some improvisation that I could do, so yeah.

Chris
All right, so the final product. You’ve seen everything, the final battle and all the other stuff, how cool was it to kind of see everything all put together? I mean, did you like binge everything?

Nicolas
I watched it all in one day yeah! We did the watch along with Dan (Casey from Nerdist.com), that was really fun! He’s great. I love that he moderated our panel. He’s a good guy. And after that, I saw every episode. I think in the span of a day? Or maybe I saw two on one night, then I finished the rest of it. But yeah, working on stuff like this it’s always so fun. And I’m a huge fan of cartoons and animation, so being able to do this as my job is, is quite the blessing. So, seeing it all come together was really fun!