Will Arnett is a no-nonsense TV producer — he even almost fired himself.
Arnett, 53, serves as both executive producer and star of the Peacock series Twisted Metal — based on the video game of the same name — which premiered earlier this month. The actor voices the character Sweet Tooth, a killer clown who is portrayed on camera by pro wrestler Samoa Joe.
“I was like, ‘I don’t want to mess this up,’” Arnett told ET Canada in an interview published on Friday, August 18. “[Samoa Joe] did such an awesome job. And now I’ve got to come in at the end and do this voice, and it took a few sessions to get it right, I’ll say that much.”
He joked, “I got really close to firing myself … For real.”
Anthony Mackie, Thomas Haden Church, Stephanie Beatriz and Neve Campbell also star on the post-apocalyptic series, which follows John Doe (Mackie), a motor-mouthed outsider with no memory of his past, who is offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change his dangerous, nomadic life for the better. He can only do it, however, if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Arnett admitted he was surprised at how many A-list stars agreed to do the show — “Usually when I’m attached to a project, people run the other way,” he joked — and wasn’t initially intending to have a role at all.
“When we first started to develop the show, I wasn’t necessarily going to do anything on the show,” Arnett explained. “Then they were like, ‘Hey, what about the idea of you doing the voice of Sweet Tooth?’ And I was like, ‘Sure.’”
Arnett confessed that he’s “not sure” he ever got Sweet Tooth’s inflection the “way he wanted,” and that getting the voice good enough for the show “took a while” due to the show’s comedic and violent tones.
“Our show is fun and he’s got to be a psycho that you believe wants to kill everybody,” Arnett explained. “I know that sounds like a bad thing. In this case, it’s good. And at the same time, we want him to be funny and kind of be the comedic relief in a lot of ways. So, yeah, it took a few sessions to get it right, if I’m being honest and I am being honest.”
Twisted Metal isn’t Arnett’s first time working as a voice actor. He’s lent his deep baritone vocals to The Lego Batman Movie, Danny Phantom, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Ratatouille, Horton Hears a Who!, Monsters vs. Aliens, Despicable Me, Teen Titans Go! and more. He also starred on Netflix’s hit animated series BoJack Horseman from 2014 to 2020 and is part of the “SmartLess” podcast alongside pals Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes.
“I didn’t really realize [I had a distinct voice]. You know, I’m a dumb guy,” Arnett quipped to the Associated Press in June. “I remember going to one of my first agents in New York and they were saying, ‘Hey come with me, this is the voice-over department’ … And they were like, ‘We think that maybe this is something you could do.’ And I was like, ‘Cool.’ It never occurred to me!”
