BATMAN ON BATMAN
This past July I had the unique (for me) honor to report on the Big Kahuna of comic conventions, SAN DIEGO COMIC CON 2017, for Bleeding Cool. I spent most of my time saying "I can't believe I'm talking to...." to myself, but this was by far the moment that still haunts my dreams.
My day was spent running ragged, covering multiple panels and press rooms. Now, as the effects of sleep deprivation is setting in, fueled only by caffeine and my love of Batman, I am finally sitting down to interview the cast of Batman vs Harley Quinn.
Kevin Conroy is sitting RIGHT NEXT TO ME as we talk about many things, but then the conversation turns to the relationship between Batman and Joker, and his favorite Batman moment..
NO CAMERAS ALLOWED, BUT I SNEAKED A SELFIE OF BATMAN SANS MASK
“Batman and Joker are like ying and yang. If fate had been a little bit different, Batman could have been Joker. Know what I mean? One does not exist without the other, and Batman just made the choice to go to the light, and Joker made the choice to go to the dark.”
WOW!! Talking Batman psychology with BATMAN himself. I’m in heaven. It may be hallucinating due to lack of sleep, or I am actually hypnotized by Kevin's voice- as he transforms, briefly, into BATMAN! I rub my eyes and Kevin continues to recount his favorite Batman scene...
“He understands that madness because he has a piece of it in himself. He’s really complicated. I always say He’s a guy with issues, he has such issues. That's why my favorite scene in, do you know Mask of the Phantasm, that movie?” of course, I’m nodding along. “It's a wonderful movie. My favorite scene in that was when he was at his parents grave because he’s fallen in love with Andrea Beaumont. And he realizes what love is. And he wants to have a normal life, he wants to have a chance at normalcy but he has to ask to be absolved from the oath he made to his parents. And he's begging them at the grave, and he knows he can't. But he wants it so much to have a normal life, but he knows he is a freak inside and he can't do it. And he just breaks down, and you see him really emotionally naked. Its one of the few times you see him that way in the whole arc of the Batman legacy. And boy he's just stripped bare at that point. I loved playing that scene. But that's...he knows there is a freak in him.”
I can feel the genuine love for the character in Kevin's voice as he relates Bruce's anquish. EVERY hair on my body is standing up while this mans heavenly voice cradles me in it's arms and says" Shhh, Batman is here to protect you." It was a great moment in my life, and one that will be at the top of the show once the DMT starts to flood my brain.
Stay tuned for lots more tales of Batman on Batman, coming soon!
I did the heavy lifting for you, watch it here!
read the entire interview with the cast and crew of Batman vs Harley Quinn here
