Bankrate: You've done some historic work. On your Web site, it says that you did the trailer for "Godfather Part II."

Don LaFontaine: I had my own independent company and the first picture I was assigned was "Godfather Part II." That inaugurated my short-lived company.

Bankrate: So you handled the production and supplied the voice?

Don LaFontaine: Yeah, I wrote it, produced it, had a big hand in the cutting of it, and did the narration.

Bankrate: What are some of the more notable and classic films you've voiced the trailers for?

Don LaFontaine: Oh, boy. The re-release of "West Side Story." The "Terminator" movies, except for the last one. A lot of the Rambo films. "Fatal Attraction," "A River Runs Through It," "The Crying Game." The original Batman pictures. "The Elephant Man." It's hard to remember because there are so many of them.

Bankrate: How has the way trailers are designed changed over the years?

Don LaFontaine: They've grown along with the changes in films themselves. Obviously, the advent of CGI, or Computer Generated Imagery -- which generally refers to the computer graphics used to create special effects in films -- has made a huge impact on trailers. But what has also happened is that trailers themselves have had a huge impact on the film industry, because they started to cut the films in the same fast, snappy style as the trailers.

Bankrate: How big an impact do you think the trailer has on the movie's box office?

Don LaFontaine: I think it's huge, absolutely huge, and I think that's amplified by the fact that when you go to a film and you see the starting time is 7:30, you know what's happening at 7:30. That's the start of the trailers. The film will start maybe 10 minutes later. When you go to a film, all the seats that are going to be filled are filled by the time the first trailer rolls. That's because people want to see the trailer, they anticipate that. That's why trailers have had such a huge impact.

Bankrate: Would it be a logical stretch, then, to say that your voice plays a major role in the success of certain films?

Don LaFontaine: Mine or whoever's narrating it, certainly. We're part of the overall package. To consider ourselves to be the most important part is ridiculous. We're simply a companion piece, a sort of a guide, along with the music, the picture itself, the sound effects, the dialogue and everything else. Our part is important in that if it's not truthful, if there's no veracity in the delivery, it can hurt a trailer. If you have a terrific picture but the narration is kind of flat or not believable, it diminishes it, certainly.

Bankrate: How do you prepare to do a voice-over?

Don LaFontaine: I really don't. The script tells me how it wants to be read. It's always been that way. I have a relationship with written words that I think is very special. Since I was a kid, I've always loved to read, I've always loved the music of the language. When I see a script, it literally tells me where to pitch my voice, the pace at which to speak and what words to give weight to. It's an absolutely natural thing to me. There's no preparation at all.