The Point Radio: KILLING JOKE’s 30 Year Trip To Animation

In the wake of Comic Con, so many fans were talking about just one thing – BATMAN:THE KILLING JOKE and the new R rated DVD release. Cast members Kevin Conroy,Tara Strong & Ray Wise join us to talk about their respect for the classic story and how it was transformed from page to screen.

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Transcript

The Point Radio Hey it's Mike Raub, in the wake of Comic Con it's all about killing jokes. The first R-rated Batman animated feature ever and we've got the cast here to tell you just what you can expect. Plus if you follow the news out of Comic Con we've got the five things you just might have missed. Let's get to The Point.

This is The Point, The Point Radio, get The Point Radio. Almost 30 years ago it was the most important comic we'd ever read. The classic Batman the Killing Joke is now a feature length animated film from DC and the first one to carry an R-rated. So how do you go about taking something this iconic from page to film? Well first you start by bringing on board Kevin Conroy.

To many he's the quintessential Batman having started with the character on the much loved animated series back in the 90's. Kevin was an accomplished stage actor so how did he transition into becoming The Dark Knight? I think my approach to the character was from the inside out and I think the audience senses that. I think that the passion of Batman comes from the tragedy of his childhood. It's not just a dark moody voice that you connect or puts on.

That voice has got to come from your gut, come from your pain and just approach it as a stage actor will approach that. And I saw him, I wasn't as familiar with Batman as a lot of the audiences. So I kind of approached him with a threshold and I approached him as someone who came from the theater and trained at Juilliard and did a lot of Shakespeare. I said wait a minute this is like a classical Greek tragic hero. This is Hamlet, this is a rescue, this is a killing. This is the great great hero. This is a classic story. This is a modern telling.

And I approached the character that way and I think the audience respected that. So what's his take on the flip side of the character? Bruce Wayne. Well Bruce Wayne originally I just wanted him to be more like, I always envisioned David Niven. So I was thinking of it as very urbane and sophisticated because to me Bruce Wayne is the armor that Batman puts on to face the world. Bruce Wayne is the classic man. And Batman is who he is when he's alone.

It's his id, you know. And I always thought of that armor as being very David Niven as urbane, sophisticated, wry. Originally in the original couple of years there was a lot of sarcasm in the show. They let me put a little humor in it. Bruce Wayne was funny. He was like a funny playboy. Then they gradually as they darkened the color, they darkened the show more. They had me go against that. And then they eventually toned down the voice so much that it was very similar to Batman.

This is a very subtle difference now. Kevin has stepped up to the mic to become Batman a lot of times. Does he ever change his approach? No, I think that the trick with the character as iconic as this is remaining true to the character. The trick is keeping it fresh, not changing it. The audience will tell in a second if he's changed or if it's not authentic. So for me the trick through the years has been to keep it fresh, keep it real, keep it…

It seems like it's the first time each time, like you do on stage. In this story there were certain areas of the character I had never had to explore before. And to vocalize those was interesting. I mean, how does Batman laugh? Where does that come from? It certainly doesn't come from that pain of childhood.

And how does that come out? Also returning is Tara Strong, who first played Barbara Gordon on the animated series. It was so exciting to have had the opportunity to play Batgirl in her earlier years. And then now as a woman in The Killing Joke, which is such an incredible story. And it's a story that the fans have wanted to hear and see for so long.

So it was a pressure to do it right and do it well. And really exciting because it certainly goes places Batgirl's never gone before and done things she's never been before. Because she's a woman. There's all these crazy things that happened to her. And I saw it for the first time earlier this week and I literally cried. It's so good. And I tweeted it because it's true.

I thought it's my favorite Batman anything I've ever seen. It's so good. How does she get ready for this role? In terms of preparing vocally it's not challenging. In terms of preparing for the story it's challenging in a way that some shows you can just go in and not have read the script and do a brilliant job. But in this particular case you really want to be authentic to the story.

So there was a bit more prep in terms of reading it and learning about the story and learning about all the things that she goes through. And that all the characters go through. And then once you're in the studio I know everybody has their own way of performing but I imagine all the moments in my head. So you'll see if there's ever behind the scenes sometimes I'll be tearing up or I'll be really going through the emotional moments with that character. As you might imagine this isn't your average Batman story or film.

I'd say there was definitely something different and special and unique about this story in the Batman universe. And then being alongside Hamill and Conroy was really like suiting up. You know it seemed like no time had passed since the original series we all worked on together which was what, 1996 or something like that. So it's been a while but it really felt very organic. It felt like that's the next step we're supposed to all take together. New to the Batman family, actor Ray Wise.

I'm Police Commissioner Gordon and I go through hell in this piece and I had to come up with a lot of grunts and groans and screams and I had a great concern from my daughter who is the Batgirl, of course as you know. And I try to keep Batman on the straight and narrow to keep him reigned in because he can go a little crazy sometimes himself. Especially when he's dealing with Big J, the Joker. So there's a lot of other guys who have and are playing Jim Gordon in various productions. Did you ever watch any of them? I've seen them but I like Gary Oldman. Yeah, fine. But nothing like that. I'm not very good at impersonations anyway.

I just took it as a fresh approach, my character. And I tried to be a good father and a good friend of Batman and a good Police Commissioner. That was my mission. So what drew Ray into this project? The appeal was that I love the story, the killing joke, the original graphic story. And I've been a Batman fan since I was 8, 10 years old. That's a long time ago. And for me, Kevin will always be Batman. He opens his mouth and that's it.

He's in my mind, he's my image of Batman. So it was a thrill just to be doing it with Kevin and the lovely Tara who plays my daughter. And the writing was great, the direction was great. And I just saw this for the first time a couple of days ago. And I was thrilled. It's a hell of a good movie. Batman, the killing joke available on Blu-ray, DVD and digital download right now.

There's no small amount of news that came out of Comic Con this year. However, there are five things that we want to make sure that you didn't miss. Important stories starting with this one. We're always happy when people try to expand the comic book market and Paper Cuts has now announced Charms, a graphic novel imprint aimed at tween girls between the demographic of ages 10 to 13. Paper Cuts believes that that particular market has been underserved and so they're going to do it with the new imprint, including some things called Crush Fiction. There'll be four new titles that will debut in May of next year. There'll be six by nine in size and they'll sell at $9.99. There's plenty about Marvel movies and Marvel TV, but what about Marvel animation?

Well, the next season of the Avengers animated series from the Disney XD cable channel will be called Marvel's Avengers Secret Wars. It'll pick right up where this year's Avengers Ultron revolution took place, which by the way, if you're counting is season three of the original series Avengers Assemble that debuted back in the spring of 2013. The new episodes will debut late this year or early in 2017 again on the Disney XD channel. Well, there were no shortages for teasers or trailers for upcoming movies and TV shows. One you might have missed is the first look at Star Trek Discovery. A test flight of the new ship that'll be part of the new CBS program was previewed in a clip which we put up for you right now at popcultureupload.com.

Of course, this is the new series. It'll debut on the CBS network in January of 2017 and then be exclusively available with the CBS All Access streaming network as well. The clip is the first thing we've seen from the new series so far. Among all the good and the bad controversy over a killing joke, DC announced more animated projects, including a version of Teen Titans The Judas contract. There'll also be a Justice League Dark and a Batman Harley Quinn feature as well, all of which will debut in 2017. Comic Con gave us news of a literal ton of crossover events that are coming in comics over the next few months.

Well, the most interesting though Batman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but it's not the Batman you might think. It's Bruce Timm's animated Batman from the TV series back in the 90s. That'll tie together with a new series with the Turtles that'll debut in November. There's also another Green Lantern Star Trek crossover planned for sometime next winter and both will be coming from DC and IDW. That does it for the podcast, but hang on. You know it is the most unique and interesting TV season ever. And it starts in just a few weeks and we've got everything you need to know, including some backstage coverage about some of the shows that are certainly going to become your favorites. Well, here are all that and more on websites like GetThePointRadio.com, PopCultureUpload.com, TrekTVNews.com, and ComicMix.com.

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