You may know actor Santino Fontana from his performances in My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, or as the voice of Hans in the blockbuster Frozen, or from his many starring roles on Broadway, but he has also become the indelible voice of many a beloved character here at Audible. Editor Katie had the chance to talk to the Audie and Tony nominee about the highlights in his career, and how he taps into the dark side of any character.
Katie O'Connor: Hi, Audible listeners. It's your Audible editor, Katie, here, and today I am so excited to be talking to Santino Fontana. Hi, Santino.
Santino Fontana: Hello.
KO: , by Caroline Kepnes, really took over this office a few years back. Your performance of stalker/murderer, Joe, completely mesmerized us, and we're hooked on this series. How do you get into the mindset of Joe?
SF: Thank you. I think, really, it's all in the book. I think all of that is owed to Caroline. All I have to do is follow the tracks that she set up. They're fascinating, but I didn't feel like I really had to do anything in particular, other than just tell the story that she wrote.
KO: Yeah, the combination of Caroline's writing and your performance, it just really made us root for him. That's hard to do with a character that has so many shortcomings and felonies to his name. What do you think it is about Joe that oddly endears him to people?
SF: I think everybody has a feeling of wanting to fight back at injustice with things that they view as not fair. From Joe's point of view, I think we root for [him] because we're only seeing his point of view. We're seeing all the people that we all have had problems with, or feel like, "Oh, god, I can't stand that kind of person. I hate when people do that and they just get away with it." Or, "Why can people behave that way and no one punishes them?" Or, "No one tells them they can't do that."
KO: Yeah, the secret dark side in all of us.
SF: Yeah, you have a sociopath who doesn't feel like there's a limit to what he can do to enact revenge or just ... whatever he wants. It's a screwed-up fantasy that we all kind of want.
KO: Oddly freeing. In a similar fashion to Carolyn Kepnes' book, , by Fredrik Backman, really also took over our office. You're narrating a novella for Backman called A . What appeals to you about Backman's writing style?
SF: Oh, boy. I know it's lame for me to say, but I love being able to read different writers, and just jump into their world and hopefully carry the baton for them into the listener's ear. Just kind of be able to pass it on. I would say that about every writer that I've worked on. I think every book that I have read, I have been kind of fascinated by, and learned so much from. I have never left the recording booth and not called friends of mine and been like, "Hey, I just read this thing, you have to check this out."
