Calling Mr. Moviefone

Russ Leatherman’s name may not be familiar to many, but his voice is another story. Hint: “If you know the name of the movie you’d like to see, press 1 now.” In his voice-over incarnation as Mr. Moviefone, Leatherman is the go-to guy for movie times, theater information and advance ticket sales, which Moviefone processes to the tune of about 5 million per week. But Leatherman isn’t all talk: The 42-year-old L.A. native founded Moviefone 15 years ago with three partners and was the only member to stay on after selling the company to AOL in 1999 for $388 million. We talked shop with a box-office presence.

Moviefone has made you one of America’s big voice-over stars. How did this happen?

One of the guys I started the company with sounded like Donald Duck, and the other guys could barely speak. I had done some Top 40 disc jockeying stuff in the past. I knew how to put that “Dick Clark on crack” spin on it. We either wanted people to think, “That’s the happiest guy I’ve ever met,” or “That’s the most obnoxious voice I’ve heard in my life.”

What is Mr. Moviefone’s inner life, and how do you get “in character”?

Over-the-top disc jockey: the kind of guy you love to hate and hate to love. I like to do most of the recording in the morning, when most people have their deep voice going on. I put on a baseball cap, get the game face on and head into the recording room. Sometimes you’ll hear a movie title or theater and you can tell I was depressed that day. Mr. Moviefone has really developed a personality of his own.

C’mon, weren’t you an actor before co-founding Moviefone in 1989?

Kind of. I’m one of those people who has thought of myself as unemployable. When I first came back to L.A. [after graduating from the University of Idaho], I did a lot of odd jobs in television. Right before starting Moviefone, I was working on a promotional video for a company doing interactive telephone for polling and surveys. I wondered, “If you put in a movie title and put in a ZIP code, would that work?”

You also review movies for CNN, ABC, CBS and several radio stations. Does this conflict with the lofty and impartial calling of phone-ticket sales?

I don’t see a conflict. The critical thing is having some integrity. I believe reviewers as a group have many hidden agendas. We’re all aware of the shill meisters. Moviegoing is not cheap. I’m going to give my opinion and the guy’s that sat next to me. I like to think of myself more as a consumer advocate.

You are often quoted as to what’s hot or what bombs. What trends are due?

Big-budget, effects-driven action movies with nothing but action and effects are fun to look at, but when people started talking is when these movies started running into trouble. You look at “Spider-Man,” they spent $100 million but took time to throw in some story. Moviegoers are smarter and more savvy than they used to be. With the media and Internet, it’s getting harder to sell a bad movie and easier to sell a good one, and I think that’s a good trend.

Moviefone began in L.A. and New York and still has those cities as its big bases. How do L.A.’s attendance patterns differ from New York’s?

There are a lot of movie screens in L.A. New Yorkers tend to buy more movie tickets in advance. People in L.A. will wait till the night before or day of.

You’ve seen more than one movie ticket price hike. Is there a point at which people won’t pony up the dough?

I think we’re close to pricing moviegoers out of the market, especially if we’re selling a bad movie. Out-of-home entertainment is expensive. I think going to a movie is still a good value. Above 10 bucks, I think, moviegoers are going to be forced to be more discriminating.

We hear you whale-watch. Is this an antidote to the movie biz?

I go with my family a few times a year. We charter a boat and go to the San Juan Islands or Maui, and hang out with the orcas or humpbacks. They’re amazing animals. They’re smart. They have a family hierarchy where they just love each other. This is about as close to religion as I get. An antidote to dealing with people in Hollywood? Maybe so.

What great truths has advance ticket sales taught you about the movie biz?

What I’ve learned is that most people love movies. People simply can’t get enough, whether it’s buying tickets in advance or using the Internet to look up reviews or things about the cast. People are passionate about movies. Everybody I meet wants to talk about movies. They love to tell me about each and every one of them over and over. That’s why I like to go hang with the whales.

Your favorite movie of all time?

That’s so hard. One that struck me most as a kid was “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.” It sort of led me down this path into the movie world.