Aside from all the hype surrounding next summer’s anticipated last installment of Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed Batman trilogy, ‘The Dark Knight Rises,’ fans of the superhero team Justice League have their own film to look forward to, ‘Justice League: Doom.’ The animated movie, which is based on Mark Waid’s ‘Tower of Babel,’ had its world premiere on February 13, 2012 at New York’s Paley Center for Media.
Actor Kevin Conroy, who reprises his voice role of Batman, and his co-star Phil Morris, who can be heard as villain Vandal Savage, were joined by Emmy Award-winning casting-dialogue director Andrea Romano on the red carpet at the premiere. Following the screening of ‘Justice League: Doom,’ the three took the time to speak to the audience about their experiences while shooting, during a Q&A session.
‘Justice League: Doom’ is set to be released as a Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD, On Demand and for Download on February 28, 2012. The movie, which was directed by Lauren Montgomery and was the final DC Universe film script from the late screenwriter Dwayne McDuffie, follows the members of the Justice League as they’re pursued by their enemies, led by Vandal. The villains want to take down Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Cyborg and Batman. They used the Dark Knight’s contingency plans for stopping the superheroes, so Vandal can take over the world.
While the Justice League is upset to learn their enemies plan to kill them, they’re equally upset at Batman for creating the contingency plans, which he would use if he needed to stop a rogue team member. At the same time, Batman must question whether he wants to continue working with his fellow team members when they express their concerns over trusting him again.
While on the red carpet and during the Q&A session, Conroy and Morris had nothing but praise for Romano, and expressed their delight with working with her. She has an “artful way of directing, as it’s in what she doesn’t say,” Conroy said of Romano. She’ll “give an approximation” of where she wants the actors to take the characters. While Romano shows a “command of her domain,” she also respects the actors, and allows them to work through finding the right fit for their characters.
Conroy added that he finds Romano’s work habits “refreshing, as she gives us the freedom to go places we’d be afraid to go otherwise.” The actor also said he feels fortunate to have worked with the dialogue director, as she very rarely gives line readings, and doesn’t come off intimidating.
Romano said she doesn’t like giving line readings because she wants the actors to “sound organic and find their own voices.” But she will help them hit the notes if they can’t find them on their own.
Romano can credit the respect she receives from Conroy and other actors to the fact that she dedicates a majority of her time to recording. During 11 months of the year, she’ll be in the recording studio from 9am to 6pm, Monday through Friday, and sometimes over the weekends as well. She’ll start her prep work at 4am, especially if she’s casting a series.
When Romano is casting, whether it be a series or a film, the “number one thing I look for is acting ability. A lot of people can do lots of voices, which can be clever and fun at a party. But if they can’t act, I can’t hire them.” She added that she can teach mic technique and how to manipulate voices in a recording session, but she can’t teach people how to act in four hours. “Even if you can only do one voice, you have to do it better than anyone else, on top of the acting ability and versatility,” she said.
While recording, Romano emphasized on the red carpet and during the Q&A that she prefers working with an ensemble cast. “The main part of acting is reacting, as you naturally react to what other people say,” she explained. When the actors record separately, she has to remember how the actors who recorded first spoke during their sessions, and feed that to the actors in the later sessions. But that doesn’t always sound genuine, as actors naturally “act off each other.”
Conroy, Morris and Romano also expressed their appreciation for ‘Justice League: Doom’ and their love of the characters. The casting-dialogue director said she wanted to work on the film because she felt it was visually compelling, and shows the superheroes are all vulnerable. Morris added that to see his character, who is immortal, “at the end of his rope and not afraid to die,” was persuasive. Conroy was intrigued by the fact that Batman is still adjusting to being an outsider in the Justice League; he is the only human on the team, and continuously embodies his fear of being on the outside.
Conroy was also initially an outsider in the comic book world when he first started voicing Batman during the Warner Bros. animated television series ‘Batman’ between 1992 and 1995. Having studied drama at Juilliard during the mid-1970s, he only knew of the television series of the time. But he knew Batman “wanted to avenge his parents, and was in a dark place.” So the actor drew on his life experiences to create memories for his new alter-ego.
While Conroy added that it’s fun to voice different characters, since he’s been playing Batman for so long, it would be hard to leave him. He even enjoys voicing the character in various video games, including 2009’s ‘Batman: Arkham Asylum’ and 2011’s ‘Batman: Arkham City.’ However, games are hard, as he’s often isolated in a room for hours. It becomes difficult to make his lines sound continuously organic, as he has to say each one multiple times in various ways.
Morris listened to classical music to get into the mindset of Vandal, who he felt matured as much as any immortal could. The actor, who appeared as John Jones/the Martian Manhunter on ‘Smallville’ between 2006 and 2011, is also a fan of comic books, which also helped him understand Vandal. While he voices the villain in ‘Justice League: Doom,’ his superhero and comic book fan took over his acting side, and wanted to “see Vandal be beat by the Justice League.”
Romano, Morris and Conroy all expressed their respect for McDuffie during the Q&A session. Romano, who previously worked with the screenwriter on Cartoon Network’s animated series ‘Ben 10,’ said she was “blessed to have (Dwayne) as a friend.” Romano added that he took the graphic novels and made them “actable, as scripts need to be actable.” She added that she was also happy to say yes to his scripts.
Morris first met McDuffie while working on Warner Bros.’ animated series ‘Static Shock.” The actor described the screenwriter as being a “quiet guy, who was so humble, modest and supportive. You would have never known that he created the show, because he was humble, modest and somewhat shy.
Morris added that McDuffie was “a humble, sweet guy, who loved acting.” The actor also said the writer was smart, as he was able to keep track of all the important plot-lines.
Conroy, Morris and Romano all fun sharing their fond memories of working on ‘Justice League: Doom’ at its world premiere at the Paley Center for Media. While the animated film features the Justice League and several well known superheros, including Batman, Superman and Green Lantern, it hasn’t received anywhere as media attention as ‘The Dark Knight Rises.’ But the three showed how much hard work goes into recording the voices for the ‘Justice League’ films, part of which helped bring in the tremendous fan support shown at the premiere.
Written by: Karen Benardello
