Maybe you know him from television, from his stints on JAG, or CSI: Miami, where he delighted his devoted fan base as Detective Frank Tripp for just shy of a decade. Or maybe you know him from the endless list of movies in which he’s been cast—Cliffhanger, Django Unchained, Tin Cup—sometimes as a sheriff, an FBI agent, a bad guy, but always a force with which to be reckoned. You know who we’re talking about, folks, the one and only Rex Linn.
But Rex is also a wonderful audiobook narrator, often lending his gravelly, commanding tone to biographical tomes such as A Man Called Cash, Full Throttle: The Life and Fast Times of NASCAR Legend Curtis Turner, and One Ranger: A Memoir. But it’s not all cars, cowboys, and cash. We here at Skyboat have had the pleasure of working with Rex in the process of recording several story collections, and no matter the genre—sci-fi, mystery, thriller—he can always be counted on to bring gravity and presence to the work. So when it came time to cast Dap in ENDER’S GAME ALIVE—the character who welcomes the launchies to Battle School by telling it how it is—there was really only one name that came to mind.
EGA CAST LIST
Andrew “Ender” Wiggin………………Kirby Heyborne
Valentine Wiggin………………………….Susan Hanfield
Peter Wiggin………………………………….Paul Boehmer
John-Paul Wiggin…………………………..Arthur Morey
Theresa Wiggin…………………………..Gabrielle de Cuir
Mazer Rackham……………………..Richard McGonagle
Chamrajnagar/Fly Molo/Pol Slattery…..Vikas Adam
Jayadi………………………………………..Samantha Eggar
Colonel Graff……………………………….Stefan Rudnicki
Doctor/General Levy…………………………….Theo Bikel
DeeDee/Server………………………………………Janis Ian
Dap………………………………………………………..Rex Linn
Rex flew out especially from location to record with us in Burbank. The moment he stepped into the studio, he absolutely commanded the launchies (see the video above), unafraid to tell them all what was what. But on set, he wasn’t afraid to show his silly side, posing for photos with Janis Ian, one of his all-time favorite musicians, and offering “very serious” interviews that provide deep insight into Dap such as the one below.
Yep, ENDER’S GAME ALIVE was certainly a lot of work, but we had ourselves a fair bit of fun too. Lucky ducks we are.
