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Batman As Hamlet, With Kevin Conroy and Loren Lester

SaraJean Greenaway (of Nerd Team 30) writes for Bleeding Cool from Wizard World Des Moines-

Today was a momentous occasion for me as I got to sit and listen to two voices from my childhood sit and tell anecdotes for 45 minutes. I used to watch Batman: The animated series religiously after school everyday. As a girl sometimes I would get mocked for watching what was then considered to be very boy centered TV show, but I did not care. The voice acting, the visuals and the amazingly devious villains and plot lines had me hooked from the very first season. Listening to Kevon Conroy and Loren Lester today, I can see why I enjoyed it all so much. This was a wonderful panel, Kevin and Loren are very charismatic, gracious and well worth meeting should you ever get the chance. Below are the best questions from today's Q&A session with the Audience members.

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To start off this interview, several questions were asked about the upcoming R rated The Killing Joke animated adaptation. Kevin stated that he cannot talk about any specifics except to say that he and Mark Hamill are both in it and it is coming out.

Question: Hi. When you guys first started like making the TV shows, did you guys, what I have heard in a lot of Q&A's recently is that when you're the characters you kind of start to feel like them. Did you guys ever like feel like Batman and Robin as yourselves or take on the persona personally or like feel more in depth with them I guess?

Kevin Conroy: Hmmm. I think that would be really scary (laughs heartily). I don't think so. I have to say that when we first started doing this show I don't think any of us knew what we were getting into in terms of how big it would be; what a landmark show it would be; what it would evolve into. And I remember, because you know the way the process is done we do the recordings first, so we would get the scripts first and would record them like a radio play in the studio together. And then those recordings were sent off to artists to paint. So we are the first step in the process. So when the show was just being developed, we hadn't seen anything except sketches of what the characters were going to look like, so we were all kind of using our imaginations and just acting. And we didn't really see any footage until six months down the line when it came back from the artists and we went in to so the ADR process which is the syncing up of the soundtrack to the visual track. And the first time I was in an ADR session was at Warner Bros. and it was a full screen, it came up on the full screen, I was in the ADR session with Mark Hamill and Mark and I are both in there and I looked at him and I said "Did you have a clue this is what we were doing?!" Because this beautiful color came up, these rich colors and the Shirley Walker music, this full symphony score and these dramatic graphics and I looked at Mark and I said "This is beautiful!!! This is unbelievable." He said " I had no idea it was going to be this big. This is great." So we were just all acting as actors too, you know you in habit the characters, you play the role, um, but I don't think any of us really understood how big it was going to be.

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Loren Lester: And during those six month periods you know when we were waiting for the show to come back, uh we would be doing other things, you know we would be doing other roles. So uh, you know, only now seeing that this has gone on for two generations do we really realize how incredible the whole thing has turned out to be.

Moderator: Do you ever use that as an excuse to get out of chores around the house? Our wife asks you to do dishes and you're like "No, I'm Batman."

KC: (In Batman voice) "I'm Batman. I'm Batman damn it, I don't do the dishes." (Loud applause from the audience). I still do the dishes anyway, but you know.

Q: Out of all the Villains that Batman and Robin have come across which one is your favorite?

KC: Well for me it's easy, it's always been the Joker and its just because Mark Hamill and I have such a really wonderful working relationship. He's a hugely talented guy. Umm, he's got a kind of an insane imagination, he's a very smart person. And he inhabits the character when he does it. I wish the audience, I have often said this, I wish people in the audience could see what he does in the booth, because he becomes Joker. He get s so involved physically when he is acting that he practically devours the microphone. I mean that, that physicality, what you hear in his voice, you see in his face when he is recording. It is really wonderful. And he's, um, the kind of actor, and Andrea Romano does the casting and is really good at hiring people like this, he's the kind of actor that's really generous. There's a wonderful secret in acting, that you're only as good as the people you're working with. The better the other people are, the better they make you. So you want them to be good. You want to give to the other actors. But there, like in all communities, there are generous people and there are selfish people. And there are a lot of actors with big egos who tend to be very selfish and they just take and take and take and they are no fun to work with. And so the work is never as good. But the wonderful thing about Andrea is she doesn't tend to hire those actors. She goes for the people she knows are generous, that she knows will feed the situation, and Mark is just, he's just so definitively a generous person to be in the booth with. He gives you so much, that you just can't help but give back. So I would have to say Mark.

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LL: I think it was a huge thrill to work with Michael Ansara and a huge thrill to work with Roddy McDowell. I had seen him, he had been a kid in the movies in the 1940's, so that was a huge thrill. And John Glover was just fantastic and I loved working with him especially on an episode called 'If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?' We go through a maze, it was a terrific episode. That would be my votes in addition to Mark Hamill.

KC: And Paul Williams

LL: Paul Williams is the Penguin. I could have all the villains in the list

KC: He was amazing. Oh my God yes. And john Glover, we have such a history. We did a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the old Globe Theater where he did Benedict and I did Claudio. And then we did a production of King Lear where he was Edmund and I was Edgar, we played brothers, no he was Edgar and I was Edmund. An then we did a mini-series called George Washington with Barry Bostwick, we were both heroes. And then we did the Kennedy mini-series where I play Teddy Kennedy. So I have 4 different big projects with John. I've know him for 40 years and so when he came and did this it was like oh my God, can't I ever get rid of you, you know? (Laughs) No he's a wonderful actor to work with. So it's an interesting question because a lot of Batman is defined by the villains. People think of it as Batman and Robin and defined by those characters, but it's really about these incredible villains. And we haven't even touched on the females. The female villains have been amazing. Harley Quinn,

LL: Adrienne Barbeau

KC: Adrienne Barbeau as Catwoman. I mean these are wonderful perfomances. So it's really hard to pick.

M: So maybe you should re-ask the question, which villains don't you like?

KC: Yeah I know, there haven't been any.

LL: Caesar Romero (Laughs). I'm just kdding.

Q: So I'm just closing my eyes and trying to picture Batman and Robin (to Kevin) you sound just the same, (to Loren) you sound different, it's weird. (Laughter) I guess my question would be, have you guys had the opportunity to actually, because you guys have been handling these roles for so long, and are so definitive even thought you are just the voices, have you had the opportunity to meet any of the live action actors and been like "you know the fans like me better?"

KC: I think, I think the question is have the live action actors had the opportunity (applause) to meet the REAL Batman and Robin (laughter from Kevin, Applause from the audience). No I'm kidding. No I've never met them.

Q: What's your favorite humanizing moment for your character? I know mine is in Justice League Unlimited when Batman stays with Ace until she dies.

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KC: Oh yeah. Cuz I'm a dog person, so I loved that. I loved that. What is your most favorite humanizing moment (to Loren)?

LL: When I punched you. (Audience laughter)

KC: And I was so good to him for so long. (In Batman voice) Ungrateful little (mutters)… Uh no I think that Ace moment is really humanizing.

Q: (British attendee) Mr. Conroy, Mr. Lester, how you doing?

KC: (British Accent) Very well how are you?

Q: I'm very well thank you. That is a pretty good accent.

KC: Thanks so much (laughs)

Q: Really brilliant, I approve. I think we can all agree you are the definitive Batman.

KC: Hey, Thank you.

Q: I think you're biggest fan is my wife she is vicariously asking her question through me, and if you could say Hi Misha that would be great

KC: (In Batman voice) Hi Misha. Get in the Batcave. I've got a surprise for you (laughs).

Q: You just made her whole year so thank you. The question is for both of you um, obviously given time and age, those aside, how do you guys feel the voices of Batman and Robin have evolved over the years?

KC: That's an interesting question because part of the challenge for me, and I'll be curious to hear what you say, has been to NOT have it change, it's to be consistent over 24 years and keep it, are you an actor or in the business?

Q: No

KC: Not yet, ok. Actors know that a lot of the challenge is in keeping something fresh, keeping it alive. When you do 8 shows a week, keeping it real, keeping it spontaneous, making it always seem like is the first time you've done it. When you're doing a role over 24 years, not letting it fall into a cliché, not letting it become unexciting, you know keeping it fresh. So keeping it consistent, keeping it true to the voice that was established in 1992 has been a real challenge for me. And working with Andrea is great because she started out as an actress in college, so she knows how actors think and work and she's great at bringing you back to the character you know keeping it real. Um so for me it has been keeping it consistent and keeping it alive has been the challenge overall this time. What do you think?

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LL: I love the transition from Robin to Nightwing. I'm sorry they didn't do more with those episodes, um, but that was a tremendous transition, and what I did was I modeled it after him (points to Kevin), I thought (in Robin's voice) Instead of being this guy up here asking all the questions, (in Nightwing voice) now I was this guy down here like he was because he was his own superhero. (Normal voice) So that was a fun transition to make and I hope one day they'll revisit that. You know that is actually something that you all can facilitate by going o social media and saying bring the show back with the original people and they listen, I mean they do, they listen to that. I remember going to the first Star Trek convention ever and William Shatner was up on stage he was very bitter and he said "this new film Star Wars, they could have done a Star Trek" and everybody was like YAY! So people started to write letters and insist on a Star Trek movie and I think that really made it and it became a huge franchise so you could bring us back.

Q: Of all the Women that have ever been in Batman's life, who do you think he has had the strongest connection with romantically? Who do you think he could maybe have a future with? You know from Talia, to Vicki Vale, Catwoman, Andrea Beaumont, Wonder Woman, Zatana…who do you think he can maybe have a future with, if any at all?

KC: I think that Andrea Beaumont was the closest, which is part of what I liked about Mask of the Phantasm so much is that she really touched a place in him that no one else had touched and uh, he felt so vulnerable, you know, and exposed emotionally. So as an actor that was just fun to play. But I think that the character came closest- he asked his parents, the spirit of his parents, to release him from his pledge because of that. I don't know how much more committed you can get than that. So I really think that was the closest for him.

Q:If you could do any other character in the DC Universe, which one do you think you'd do?

KC: That's hard for me because Batman, you know, that's it. No people ask me that all the time and I think what do you do after Batman? I mean my God.

LL: And I would say, and I not kidding or being factious, but I would say the same answer, but not as Bruce Wayne Batman, but when Nightwing becomes Batman. I would like to make that transition.

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KC: It was fun doing old Bruce Wayne in Batman Beyond, and getting into the mentality of that age and the paternal instinct that came out in dealing with Terry McGuiness. I hope that they re-visit that in maybe a video game or something like that. Because old Bruce was fun to play.

Q:You kind of stole my question, I was going to ask about Batman Beyond. But uh here's another question, what other Batman story would you like to see kinda be rated R?

KC: Here's a terrible secret about Kevin Conroy- You probably know a lot more about the Batman universe than I do. When I got this role, they had to explain to me who the character was. Literally. Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Andrea Romano. I went into an audition, they said well what do you- I didn't even know it had never been made into a cartoon. I just assumed it had an animated series already. I said "Batman, hasn't that been done?" and they said no, none's ever done it. I was a New York actor, I was in LA, I was doing a series, my agent sent me over to Warner Bros to meet them. I did a cold audition, I had never done an animated voice before. I said the only exposure I've had is the Adam West show from the 60's and they said "NO! NO! NO! That's not it." I said ZIP POW POP and they said "NO! It's, think film noir, think the 40's New York. Think dark, think a kid who just watched his parents get murdered and spends his life avenging their deaths and he lives in the shadows. He's got this dual personality and he's never resolved this torture of his youth. I said you are telling the Hamlet story, this is heavy stuff. And he said yeah, no one has ever said that before, but yeah I guess it is. This is like a classic archetypal, Shakespearian tragedy. So I just used my theater training and put myself into that head (Batman voice) And I got into this very dark place and came up with this voice. (Regular Voice) And as I did it I saw them all running around in the booth. And I thought well either I did something really bad or something really good because I hit a nerve, I know I hit a nerve. And they came out and they said well we've seen about over 600 people and how would you like to do the part? So it's a terrible thing when people ask me questions (interrupted by Loren)

LL: So they asked you, they said right there you had the part?

KC: Yeah pretty much (laughs heartily and for a minute) And um, you probably know more about a lot of the stories than I do, isn't that terrible?

Q: Well you are still the definitive Batman.

KC: Thank you.

Q: Hi, uh for both of you. Thank you very much for your work. Question when Batman and Superman encounter each other or when they are working with each other, what do you think goes though Batman's mind when he's with Superman? I mean obviously on one hand he's dealing with a big blue boy scout. On the other hand he's essentially working alongside or sometimes even dared fighting against essentially a Kryptonian powered by the yellow sun. So I was just wondering what you think Batman's thought process would be and other given character's thought process would be.

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KC: I always thought of Batman as the original MacGyver, he creates everything. He's totally human. His strength is in his imagination. His power to invent tools and think his way out of things. Superman's powers are supernatural, you know he can see through things, he has X-Ray vision, he can fly, blah, blah, blah. He doesn't have to really think. Batman's powers are totally human and he's mastered them. So I always think that when I am in things with Superman I look at him like 'yeah the big boy scout, he's got all those superpowers but I can think him into knots,' you know what I mean? I think he just sees Superman as a boy scout, know what I mean?

Q: Yeah I figured that was the answer on that.

M: What about Robin, what do you think Robin thinks about Superman?

LL: He doesn't care about Superman at all.

Q: Was it difficult to pass down the Batsuit down to Terry McGuiness?

KC: That's a good question. Because I felt really weird when Adam West came in to do the Gray Ghost and I thought this is going to be really weird, I am sort of treading on his cape. And he couldn't have been more gracious. He's such a wonderful guy. And he said 'I had so much fun doing this I hope you have just as much fun I have doing it,' and then he gave a wonderful performance as the Gray Ghost. And I understood what he meant when I then passed it on to Terry, you just want the next person to have as much fun with it as you have, you know what I mean? And the fact that I got to be this sort of Father figure to Terry was gravy because I got to guide him into the role (in Bruce Wayne voice) and supervise his maturing. (Speaking normally) I love the relationship we developed in that. So it was a good, very good working relationship.

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LL: But now you have the Batsuit back

KC: (In Batman Voice) Yes I do. Back where it belongs.

Q: I was just wondering for both of you- between Tim Burton's and up to the new Superman VS. Batman, are there any of those movies you wish would have been animated that you could have done?

KC: well I think the Christopher Nolan movies are the closest in terms of live action to what we did, you know that sort of noir, dark serious aspect to it. I know people have problems with Christian Bale's Batman voice, but other than that I thought they were really, really wonderful. But having said that, I think that part of the magic of Batman and that whole world is that it's animation and I don't think any of those movies have come close to sub-zero or Mask of the Phantasm

Q: Yeah they haven't

KC: You know what I mean? It's just where it belongs. So I would love to see more animated movies.

LL: They haven't come up with the definitive on camera Robin or Nightwing, so?

Q: Yeah you're the only one.

KC: And he's available.

LL: Thank you.

Q: My question is: Nightwing and Batman are very different in their personalities, do you think there are ways where Nightwing has strengths that Batman doesn't have? Are there ways where he is maybe in certain instances a better hero than Batman?

KC: That's impossible. You don't even have to say anything. I'll answer for you, that's impossible (evil laughter). No I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Go ahead

Q: I would like to hear from Robin here

LL: I would say that having been a child and having been a father, when you become a father after having been a child you say, "I'm not going to do those things that my parents did." Well in many cases you can avoid those things, but in many cases you go "oh, I acting just like my father." So in a lot of ways he fights as hard as he can to not have those traits that he found so offensive, the heartless traits that he found offensive and he-

KC: What are you talking about?! (audience laughs)

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LL: I'm just talking about his perceptions here.

KC: Your perceptions-

LL: No Nightwing's perceptions

KC: Are erroneous.

LL: (Laughs loudly for a minute)

KC: (In Batman voice) Damn ingrate.

Q: Thank you for that.


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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