Will Arnett on Voicing Twisted Metal’s Killer Clown Sweet Tooth: ‘It Was a Real Challenge’

Will Arnett has voiced a number of characters including a German sous chef (in Ratatouille), Batman (in the Lego franchise), and a humanoid horse (in BoJack Horsemen), but the actor says that voicing Sweet Tooth for Peacock’s upcoming Twisted Metal presented a “real challenge.” In conversation (pre-SAG-AFTRA strike) with Slash Film, Arnett opened up about voicing the killer clown, who is portrayed on screen by wrestler Samoa Joe. Voicing characters, Arnett says, removes the “benefit of expressing yourself in a visual way,” which requires “a lot more thought.” For Twisted Metal, Arnett relied on watching Samoa Joe’s on-screen execution of the character to help bring the character’s voice to life:

“I mean, when we were shooting, I was watching dailies and seeing what’s going on and as he’s working through it. Like you said, he’s the physical embodiment of this character. He’s out there and he is doing these amazing scenes and working with all the actors and with Anthony [Mackie] and everybody. I start to get a sense, obviously we both get a sense from the script, but I really start to get a sense as I see him visually, what he’s doing and it starts to kind of set the tone for what maybe Sweet Tooth will sound like. Obviously, he’s doing the scenes and so he’s actually on set. He’s doing the dialogue in the scenes because he is working with the other actors. It was always, how much of that do we use? Yeah, he was so great, Samoa Joe. It was always a balance to try to figure out what to do, what to use, et cetera, et cetera. It was a real challenge. It was the first time I’ve ever really done something like this, so it was very unique.”

As well as voicing Sweet Tooth, Arnett serves as a producer for the Peacock series, airing tomorrow. Twisted Metal, based on the popular vehicular combat video game franchise of the same name, follows John Doe [Mackie], a motor-mouthed outsider offered a chance at a better life, but only if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The series stars Mackie, Stephanie Beatriz, Thomas Haden Church, Arnett, Richard Cabral and Samoa Joe.

Related: Twisted Metal’s Samoa Joe Shares His Crazy Attempts to Steal Sweet Tooth’s Iconic Mask

Will Arnett: Sweet Tooth’s ‘Funnier Than Those Other Clowns’

Killer and evil clowns are a horror, urban legend and nightmare staple, but Arnett believes that Sweet Tooth has something those other well-known clowns don’t possess:

“Pennywise seems really scary in a way that haunts your dreams. Sweet Tooth is pretty above board. He’s just going to kill you. You know what I mean?” He adds: “He’s funnier. He’s funnier than those other clowns. He’s legitimate.”

As Twisted Metal is based on a vehicular combat game, Sweet Tooth’s vehicle of choice is an important point of conversation. Fans of the popular video game franchise will surely recognize Sweet Tooth’s creepy ice cream truck, adorned with pink polka dots and a clown head (hovering above the truck with flame like hair) resembling the driver himself.

“He’s [Sweet Tooth] super fun, and the truck is pretty rad. Although, he has kind of turned me off on ice cream trucks. I mean, no offense to ice cream truck drivers out there, but now, knowing what I know, I’m a little freaked out,” Arnett shared.