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PEOPLE & ARTSThursday 17 September
Audiobooks get some starry help from Broadway and Hollywood
MARK KENNEDY
AP Drama Writer
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Ac-
tress Vanessa Johansson
recently found herself in the
middle of a steamy interra-
cial romance, one compli-
cated by a gunshot and a
looming lawsuit. It was also
purely fictional.
Johansson, older sister of
Scarlett, was sitting in a
comfy recording studio,
narrating Sandra Kitt’s nov-
el “Close Encounters” for
Audible Inc., the industry
leader in audiobooks.
In one of six darkened
recording spaces at Au-
dible’s sleek and inviting
Newark, New Jersey, head-
quarters, the actress read
from a glowing iPad, si-
lently swiping pages as she
moved through the book.
Across a partition, her di-
rector, Ian Hackney, kept
an eye on accuracy and a
In this June 16, 2015, file photo, Nicole Kidman arrives at the
Women in Film 2015 Crystal And Lucy Awards in Los Angeles. rector’s chair and Scarlett
consistent tone during their
six-hour sessions. Johansson
changed voices for each
character — some more
sensuous, some flecked
with wonder.
She read from page 374:
“He was busy consoling
himself over losing Carol
for this second time. But
he was pragmatic. It was
Carol who had changed
much more than he had in
the past few years ...”
Just then, Johansson was
gently stopped by Hack-
ney, who had heard a
slight hitch. “Let’s take that (“Go Set a Watchman”).
sentence one more time,”
he said. Johansson paused
and then dived into the

published last year was Family Corleone,” a pre-
25,787, more than four quel to Mario Puzo’s “The
times the 6,200 titles in 2010. Godfather.”
According to the indepen- “I’m pretty fast at it. It’s an-
dent Edison Research firm, other form of acting. It’s like
some 55 million people lis- doing a radio play,” said
tened to an audiobook in Cannavale. “And I can
the last year. take smoke breaks. I can
“To millions of people, it’s wear a hat.”
their preferred way of ex- For actor Kevin Weeks, nar-
periencing literature,” said rating is “the closest thing
Katz. “And it has this mas- to a day job I’ve ever had.”
sive utility in a busy time be- He reads everything from
cause you can’t use your Westerns to juvenile fiction,
eyes to read or look at a a book about the Penta-
screen or watch a play if gon Papers and one about
you’re in a car or on a Stair- mushroom foragers in the
Master.” Pacific Northwest.
Vanessa Johansson, an “We’re paying attention
actress and artistic associ- to story and plot. A lot of
ate with the Scandinavian things that actors do when
American Theater Com- we’re working on new
pany, said narrating au- things onstage, we’re do-
diobooks has been a way ing to make things work on
to practice her skills while the page,” he said. “We’re
earning a reliable pay- tying up loose ends and
check. we’re adding inflections
“It’s one of the best things to things so you can hear
that’s happened to my ca- what’s happening.”
reer,” said Johansson. “To Johansson prepares for
be a working actor, you re- each reading like a stage
ally need to have a lot of role.
pots simmering at the same She reads the book with
time. I see audiobooks as attention to how the story
In this July 20, 2015, file photo, actor Jake Gyllenhaal attends on that same stovetop.” flows and adds texture to
the premiere of “Southpaw” in New York. Other celebrity readers the voices. She looks for
Associated Press
passage again. ing comfortable handling
Audiobooks — for so long large chunks of text, flex-
dismissed as the things on ibility in approach, stamina
CD you hope keep the and an ability to give life to
kids quiet during long car characters.
trips — are all grown up, “I think there’s a level of in-
and lately the balance of terpretive experience that
power has shifted from the a great actor or a great
director-producer can
bring to this that causes the
greatest scripts arguably of
all time — like a great nov-
el — to then be refracted
through a brilliant perfor-
mance,” said Donald Katz,
founder and CEO of Audi-
ble, owned by Amazon. He
calls what he does “theater
for your ears.”
Vanessa Johansson has
had such a good time in
the booth that she recently
recruited her younger sister
to narrate Lewis Carroll’s
playful “Alice in Wonder-
land” for Audible, due out
in February.
This time, she was in the di-
Johansson voiced the likes
Associated Press of Alice, The White Rabbit,
author to the presentation. The Cheshire Cat and The
Just as the technology has Mad Hatter.
gotten a digital upgrade, “Obviously we know each
the bland narrators of the other very well and we’ve
past have been replaced been doing silly voices with
by theater pros like Alan each other since we were In this April 13, 2015, file photo, Scarlett Johansson arrives at the
Cumming (“The Poetry little kids,” said Vanessa. “It Los Angeles premiere of “Avengers: Age Of Ultron.”
of Scotland”), Jim Norton didn’t take any convinc-
(“Dubliners”) and Michael ing, really.” Associated Press
C. Hall (“Breakfast at Tif- The increase in celebrity in- include Damian Lewis, Di- clues in the text about her
fany’s”) and A-list actors terest is mirrored by soaring ane Keaton, Claire Danes, approach and even sends
like Nicole Kidman (“To the profits. Anne Hathaway, Samuel L. an email to authors to ask
Lighthouse”), Jake Gyllen- The Audio Publishers Associ- Jackson, Kate Winslet, Kim if they have any particular
haal (“The Great Gatsby”), ation estimates that audio- Basinger and Jennifer Con- requests.
nelly. “When you’re reading, you
Matthew McConaughey book sales in 2014 totaled Stage and TV star Bobby cannot hesitate. You re-
(“White Man’s Problems”) more than $1.47 billion, up Cannavale, who read all ally need to be just in the
and Reese Witherspoon 13.5 percent over 2013, a seven Harry Potter novels moment,” she said. “It re-
bump attributed to easier aloud to his son, recently ally makes you free up be-
narrated “Lush Life” by cause if you’re hesitating,
Seasoned actors bring an digital downloads and Richard Price and “The you’re not reading.”q
assortment of voices into higher quality.
the booth, a history of be- The number of audiobooks