Steve Hughes Works on Award-Winning Animated Film in Spain, "The Missing Lynx"

Steve Hughes sends along this report on his work on an award-winning film, "The Missing Lynx," in Spain:

I collaborated closely with the director and co-scriptwriter of The Missing Lynx, Manuel Sicilia. As a fellow Andalusian, Antonio Banderas was happy to get involved in the production and promotion of the film, although he didn't do any of the voices in the film, since none really suited him. It's a fun film with great detail about Andalusian wildlife, with an ecological message.

Anyway, I adapted the script into English, cast the original English voices, directed the recordings and revoicings, and voice-acted in the film. Despite being the child of the Spanish production company Kandor Graphics, located in Granada, the original version – the one recorded first to animate the mouths in high-quality animation – was recorded in Madrid but in English because the English-speaking markets are the biggest and most lucrative. We recorded all the voices with only 7 very versatile actors. I recorded Gus the chameleon, Newmann the evil white hunter, Diogenes the vulture, all the wolves, and the henchmen-soldiers, among others. They liked my interpretation of Newmann – the lone American among all British voices – so much that they asked me to repeat the part when the film was dubbed into Spanish, again with an American accent.

Anyway, last year The Missing Lynx was nominated for the Goya award, Spain's equivalent of the Oscars, for Best Animated Feature Film and won. Although it did get onto the big screen on numerous European countries apparently, The Missing Lynx was never released in theaters in the US, unfortunately, although it was released on DVD. The DVD was reviewed in Variety in October, 2009, and one of my proudest moments as a voice artist came when I read the reviewer's comment that Newmann was "voiced with delicious richness by Hughes". Working way over here in Spain, it meant a lot to get a pat on the back from a Variety reviewer.