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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2008

JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE NEW FRONTIER'S PHIL MORRIS

SAN FRANCISCO -- Phil Morris is everywhere this year.

* He was in a No. 1 movie, the 300 spoof Meet the Spartans.

* He's guest-starred as key characters in a couple of prime-time series, including Martian Manhunter in The CW's Smalville.

* He's the voice of the big bad guy, Imperiex, in The CW's Legion of Super Heroes.

* And this week, he's featured as the voice of King Farraday in Justice League: The New Frontier, the direct-to-DVD animated movie based on Darwyn Cooke's comics series.

The Continuum sat down with Morris backstage at WonderCon last weekend to discuss the movie and his other roles.

The Continuum: Talk about King Farraday in New Frontier...

Morris: He is the human CIA secret operative who is aware there's an alien presence on Earth, most likely from Mars. He's a real no bones, take-no-prisoners, just-the-facts-ma'am kind of guy. Very ultra-realstic. I really liked him.

It was very surreal. I did this movie prior to getting the role of Martian Manhunter on Smallville, so when I got the role of Martian Manhunter, I had just been voicing scenes opposite him for New Frontier.

And I was also doing the Legion of Super Heroes then. And I'd go to work and tell them, 'You know, I'm up for Martian Manhunter.' And they'd go, 'OK, good luck...' And then one day I came in and went, 'I got it! I got it!' Like a child. Just like a child finding a little Easter basket.

And that's exactly how I feel about this universe, whenever I work in this world. Because I'm a comic-book fan, from the bottom of my heart, and I am rank and file. So it's like one of their members got a job in one of their shows. And I'm always thrilled.

The Continuum: Do you think you'll be back on Smallville?

Morris: I think so. I need to be. He's the kind of character who has established himself, established his relationship with Clark to the degree you would miss him if we didn't resolve it or have another J'onn J'onzz sighting, as it were.

I'm just a recurring character, not a regular. But I sure do hope in my heart of hearts they feed me some more stuff do to.

The Continuum: They've got quite an operation tucked away there in Vancouver.

Morris: It really is out there. It's pretty cool. It looks dynamite, the crew is dyanmite and the cast is terrific. A lot of times when the cast is away from their home as long as they have been, there's this disgruntled thing that goes on. But (with Smallvlle) you feel none of it, you feel none of it, from that cast.

They get it done. They're really professional And those kids -- literally kids -- and have grown up with that show as actors. And they've been well served professionally, I think.

It's always an honor. I love working with Tom Welling. He and I are really good buddies now because of it.

The Continuum: As far as Legion goes, I guess Imperiex will be rearing his ugly head before the season is over.

Morris: They do me dirty in Legion, which if they didn't, they'd be really horrible heroes, wouldn't they? Otherwise, they'd be the Legion of Kind of Heroes. Not super-heroes.

The Continuum: There's a big season finale?

Morris: You'll have to see. You'll have to watch. It's a very interesting turn of events that happens on Legion. The villain, who turns out to be the villain, is somebody very unique and surprising. That's all I'll say. No spoilers!

The Continuum: You're in Terminator, too...

Morris: Yes, I'm in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

The Continuum: You were shown before very briefly already...

Morris: I'm in the paper as Miles Dyson and that's the character I do play. And I have in fact worked on the show, but I think they're working through how do you reveal Miles Dyson when he's supposed to have died in Terminator 2. I think there are some questions they need to deal with before they can bust me out.

Or the audience is going to go, "Oh, I though he was dead. I'm confused." I think they want the show to be really popular and up and running, define itself, get going and then throw the curves.

I am very honored, again. I'm not a regular, but a recurring character.

The Continuum: Do you have more voice coming up?

Morris: I'm doing a show called Secret Saturdays for Cartoon Network. We just finished 26 episodes. It's myself, Nicole Sullivan, Diedrich Bader, Will Friedle, Corey Burton and Sam Lerner.

It's a wonderful kind of updating a Jonny Quest-esque show. I play a composite of the Race Bannon and Doctor Quest character. A very bright guy who kicks a bunch of booty!



E-mail the Continuum at RobAlls@aol.com



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