Interview: Voice actor Ryan Colt Levy geeks out over CHAINSAW MAN popcorn bucket

It’s no exaggeration to say that anime, once considered only niche, has entered the mainstream. Case in point, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc dominated the box office last weekend against all newcomers. Based on the manga of the same name, the story of Chainsaw Man follows Denji, a poor young man who makes a deal with a dog-like Chainsaw Devil granting him the ability to transform parts of his body into chainsaws. Voicing the titular character in the English dub is none other than Ryan Colt Levy. 

Ahead of the American release of Chainsaw Man – The Movie, The Beat had the pleasure of interviewing Levy who not only discussed his work on the franchise but his unique voiceover career path as well as his own artistic and pop culture interests. 

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Taimur Dar: I’m a big James Gunn fan and interesting enough, you both originally began your careers as musicians before embarking on a different path in the entertainment industry. Has your music background influenced your work as a voice actor?

Ryan Colt Levy: Yeah, it’s very strange and surreal. I feel like the more I’ve gotten to work in this industry, the more I’ve found a lot of people [in voiceover] sing or have played instruments or have been in bands or have been part of musical theater. Even a lot of the engineers that I work with come from music. So there’s definitely a weird shorthand connection to these worlds. Part of it is just the recording studios and audio engineering. I grew up obsessed with film and acting and wanting to create no matter what, especially growing up in New York where art was such a part of culture. I was taught about great painters and musicians. Culture was all over the place. And I was fascinated by everything because everything was telling a story

At first, I wanted to do theater and film but I felt like there wasn’t a place for me there at the time. So I started focusing on music because I had more control. Music was twenty years of my life, more or less. And I thought for sure that was what I was going to be doing in every capacity. And when the band broke up, I had already moved to LA and there was this weird calling and an itch to try it. Anime and voiceover were not on my radar. I grew up playing video games. Cowboy Bebop was very influential to me as well as Akira and Aeon Flux. There were so many things that I watched as a kid that I didn’t even process were anime at first. I fell into [anime] and fell in love with it. At the same time that I was getting into it and working, it was exploding because of the pandemic and just culture shifting.

I feel like now is the time for the stories that I would be interested in. The mangas are so interesting and these animes are talking about subject matter that isn’t normal addressed.

Q: It’s funny you mention how anime has exploded in recent years. It’s definitely gone more mainstream since I was a kid as evidenced by the enormous box office success of the Demon Slayer movie. Perhaps the greatest sign is the fact that Chainsaw Man received its own popcorn bucket.

Ryan Colt Levy: Dude, that was, that was one of those things when I saw it, I told my friend Lindsay [Seidel] who voices Pochita, “You are an icon officially now.” Once you’re a popcorn bucket that might as well be an Oscar!

Q: The legendary Mike McFarland directed you on Chainsaw Man. It’s heartbreaking to hear about his recent health issues. What was your experience working with him?

Ryan Colt Levy: He’s one of my closest friends. He’s someone that deeply means the world to me and is an extraordinarily special human in so many ways. He embraces life with such gusto. He has such an appreciation of art and food and culture and music and experiencing life. He only really shared that with me and inspired me with that but also has changed my life and my co-stars’ lives.

When all the auditions for this show went in, I can promise you there were so many good auditions, he trusted me and fought for me to have this part. To have somebody who’s so special and who is so good at their craft as an actor and a director to believe in you and trust you with something that feels so important and was so personal to me already, it’s such a deeply special thing.

We didn’t get to work with him on the movie, which was the most heartbreaking thing for all of us, but he genuinely was there in my heart and in my mind the entire time. I thought about him with every take, “What would make him laugh?” What would he say to me for a note?” He helped me create this performance. The heart of this story is so much with him. He’s just the best and we love him.

Taimur Dar: The creator of Chainsaw Man, Tatsuki Fujimoto, also wrote and drew the one-shot web manga Look Back which was adapted into an anime that you were also in. Though completely different, there’s a lot of emotional depth to both works. I’d love to hear how these projects resonated for you?  

Ryan Colt Levy: I’ve become such a fan of Fujimoto in general that I’ve tried to read all of his work. Goodbye, Eri is extraordinary. I always stood by the idea that Chainsaw Man is an incredibly sensitive and nuanced piece of work written by somebody in touch with the human experience. And it treats its characters with vulnerability and honesty in a way that is rare. He does that in all of his work. The tenderness is obvious in something like Look Back. You can feel the love of what it means to be an artist and the pain and the process and what that can do to you, good or bad.

And to have that kind of sensitivity in storytelling, you have to be somebody who’s super dialed into the human experience. I think that’s what’s magical about his writing and what I love in great filmmaking and great storytelling. I just saw the new Paul Thomas Anderson movie who’s been my favorite American filmmaker since I was in high school. His movies were a part of my understanding of film artistry and expression. The reason I love movies and making stuff is because when it is special and all the pieces are in place, it’s magic.

Taimur Dar: I’m a big DC Comics fan, so I definitely took note that you voiced Damian Wayne in the DC: Dark Legion mobile game. Damian is quite a popular character so what was it like to play a fan-favorite character?   

Ryan Colt Levy: Yeah, we got to do it on the Warner Bros. lot. That was my first real bite of the apple into the DC universe. And I have always wanted to play in that space. There’s something exciting about the son of Bruce Wayne, but even more so also being the son of Talia al Ghul and having the League of Shadows as part of your lineage. He’s just this dangerous, brilliant, stubborn, child genius monster. There’s something about him that’s so unpredictable and unhinged, but so measured. I love that dynamic between him and Bruce and just the fact that you kind of know he’s smarter than you and dangerous in so many ways.

Taimur Dar: Any performances from your voiceover friends and colleagues that have blown you away?

Ryan Colt Levy: I do my best to at least catch an episode of something that friends are in if it’s a new show or something. I have watched all of Chainsaw Man, which I wanted to watch just as a fan. And I have to say, my co-stars are incredible. I got so lucky that they’re not only extraordinarily talented, but they’re the sweetest, funniest, loveliest humans. And we’ve become this crazy family. There are so many moments throughout that show where Sarah [Wiedenheft], who voices Power, will just say something or do something tha tcracks me up. Reagan [Murdock] has made me cry so many times as Aki. Across the board, Katelyn Barr as Himeno is legendary. We actually got to see the movie last night.

Three years ago when we brought the first episode to New York Comic Con, nobody knew who I was and nobody knew why I was getting to play Denji. We aired the dub in an audience of 5,000 people. It was such an out-of-body experience. It’s really wild now three years later after people have sat with the performance and these characters. We’ve gotten to travel around and meet so many people and connect with so many people. It’s a really strange sensation. My friends and peers completely morph into the characters for me. As I watch, I’m not even thinking of the actor. They give so much and it’s so cool to get lost in something.

Taimur: Finally, any projects you want to plug?

Ryan Colt Levy: There’s some really exciting stuff that I don’t know when I get to announce. So get ready for stuff. This movie is about to dominate. I don’t think people are really prepared fully for what they’re about to experience. I think it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever had the privilege of working on and it’s ready to be unleashed. So, prepare yourselves, y’all.