'Batman: Caped Crusader' | Variety Studio presented by Google TV
Hamish Linklater, Jamie Chung, Minnie Driver step into our video studio at San Diego Comic Con 2024.
Presented by Google TV
Presented by Google TV
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00:00She makes a splash. She is a penguin, but she makes a total splash.
00:04Good one. I got that.
00:06And she's the mother of the year, you know.
00:09I sing in the show. I mean, it is like I sing like a full crazy cabaret deal.
00:16You have to watch it.
00:24Hi, everyone. So I want to start because I am so excited.
00:28I feel like the fans are clamoring for this new animated series.
00:32And I know villains are so iconic in the Batman lore.
00:36So I'm curious, before signing on,
00:39what was the Batman villain that you connected with the most and why?
00:44Whoa. I mean, it's always, I mean, it's always been the penguin.
00:51It's always been the penguin.
00:52Like, I found them to be the one that looked like they would not be a problem for the Batman,
01:02but was really the most dastardly.
01:05It was really like, a penguin? Seriously?
01:07This is going to be a problem?
01:08But I like how incredibly awful the penguin is.
01:14I love that. How about you guys?
01:16I would say Catwoman.
01:18We didn't have a lot of money growing up,
01:19and I was a bit of a kleptomaniac when I was younger.
01:21So that's how I resonate with the Catwoman.
01:25Clayface.
01:28Because he's like a character actor, you know?
01:33And that turns to murder.
01:36And I can relate to that.
01:38Oh my goodness.
01:40Oh my goodness, Hamish.
01:42Well, of course, you are not going to be a villain in this series.
01:47You are taking on a pretty iconic role.
01:50And obviously, Kevin Connery is so beloved in the fandom.
01:54Did you take inspiration from his performance
01:57in looking to how you would bring Batman to life?
02:00Well, I said this before, but his voice was really the voice of my god growing up.
02:05So it was in there.
02:07But when I made my feverish audition tapes in the back of a Subaru in Minneapolis,
02:17I didn't go back and study it.
02:19I was too scared to refresh my memory.
02:24But then when I finally heard the results of it,
02:28it was quite, I hope, close to him.
02:31I hope it doesn't give the viewer a bump.
02:36I think there's wonderful reimaginings of so many characters in this series.
02:43But I hope that, I don't know,
02:47I'm just desperate to honor the amazing legacy that Kevin left behind.
02:53And so you do sound like Batman.
02:55Oh, good.
02:56Well, that's good.
02:58Yeah.
02:58The comments when the first trailer was released were overwhelmingly positive.
03:03This seems like it's going to honor him in a solid way.
03:06So that's the aim.
03:08That's the aim.
03:09Absolutely.
03:10It's really difficult to reimagine icons and to reimagine a world,
03:19to make it true to that world, but also to allow it to expand.
03:23Because that's what a reimagining is.
03:25And that's what we're doing.
03:26We're evolving these wonderful ideas.
03:28But knowing the line of the things that must stay the same
03:32and then the things that we can start shifting and move around,
03:36that's what's so brilliant.
03:38And what Bruce and the whole team have done so amazingly is
03:41to walk that very fine line between paying homage and allowing it to evolve.
03:49Well, one of those fan favorite characters is, of course, Harley Quinn,
03:52who has seen such a massive, I feel, resurgence in recent years in fan culture.
03:58We've gotten to see Lady Gaga, Kaley Cuoco, of course, Margot Robbie.
04:03What is your take on Harley going to be like?
04:05How is it different from that?
04:07It's hard not to be influenced by all these fantastic actors,
04:11and also Arlene Sorkin, who is an incredible voice actor,
04:14who made Harley Quinn who she is.
04:16I think we all have to give big ups and respect to Arlene Sorkin
04:20because she's the reason why she brought this really character to life.
04:24And I think the twist is, Bruce had a great idea of making Dr. Quinzel
04:33really bubbly and fun, you know, what Harley Quinn would have been,
04:36and Harley Quinn to be a bit more menacing.
04:40And so it was fun to kind of play the different dynamics of the same character.
04:45Now, Minnie, we've got something entirely new with Miss Oswalda.
04:49Yes, yes.
04:52I am so unbelievably excited to see this take on the Penguin.
04:57So what kind of feminine vibes are we going to be bringing to the character?
05:02I mean, not a great deal.
05:04Not a great deal of feminine vibes.
05:06I mean, some pretty out there gangster Penguin lounge singer vibes
05:12I can give you for days.
05:15She's terrifying.
05:17She's been animated so, so beautifully and so terrifyingly.
05:25She's a larger than life character.
05:28And the fact that she has this amazing gambling cabaret boat
05:35that is, I suppose, outside the laws of Gotham.
05:39And it's just super imaginative and beautiful.
05:42And it feels very much like within the oeuvre.
05:44But yeah, she's terrifying.
05:46I love her.
05:47I really love her.
05:48It was very fun.
05:50Very fun voicing her.
05:52Now, obviously, we love how passionate the fans can always be.
05:56Do you have any fear of fans saying, oh, why is Penguin going to be a woman now?
06:02Yeah.
06:02I mean, here's the thing.
06:05If it hadn't been so beautifully imagined, reimagined,
06:10if it had somehow just been shoehorned in to tick some box of,
06:14oh, we have to now have a fluidity around characters.
06:17That's not it.
06:18The essence of the Penguin is the essence of the Penguin.
06:23She's properly evil.
06:26She really does some terrible things.
06:28And I hope that she will be embraced as the villain that she always has been.
06:36And I think plenty has stayed the same.
06:39I think with Harley Quinn, again, this amazing expansion of the psychiatrist of Harleen.
06:49So I don't know.
06:52I think we have to get away from this purist idea.
06:55Because the essence of this show is quintessentially Batman.
07:00Like, they make no mistake.
07:02And the fact that the Penguin is a really terrifying woman
07:06just speaks volumes about the imagination of Bruce and the whole team.
07:11Yeah, I think that's really right.
07:13Like, if she didn't enter making a total splash, she makes a splash.
07:17She is a penguin, but she makes a total splash.
07:21Good one, I got that.
07:22And she's the mother of the year, you know.
07:26I sing in the show.
07:27I mean, it is like I sing like a full, crazy cabaret deal.
07:33You have to watch it.
07:34I mean, roll the clip.
07:35I want to see this.
07:36I think you'll get it.
07:37I think it will make, I really think it will make sense
07:41just in terms of this beautiful noir world.
07:44She fits into this world and is still the Penguin.
07:48And by the way, about five times as evil as I've seen the Penguin be.
07:52What she does is bad.
07:54I can't wait to see it.
07:56Now, obviously, this weekend, we're here celebrating the best of TV,
08:01movies, things that fans are excited about.
08:03So for each of you, what is on your watch list?
08:06What are the shows that you are watching right now, excited to see movies?
08:10Deadpool, Wolverine, hands down.
08:12Can't wait.
08:12Came out yesterday.
08:13Might see tonight.
08:14We'll see.
08:14Gladiator, Gladiator, Gladiator, Gladiator.
08:17I honestly, when I watched the trailer,
08:20it was like I was a kid again going,
08:23oh my God, look, oh my God, Denzel, oh my God.
08:27Is Russell Crowe in it?
08:28No.
08:29He's not.
08:30It's Paul Mezcal and Denzel.
08:33Paul Vassilata.
08:35And, um, um, um, oh, oh, oh, Pedro Pascal is in it.
08:40Oh my God.
08:40Come on.
08:41Daddy.
08:42Just those, right there.
08:44I can't wait.
08:45Well, what's Russell Crowe doing?
08:48He's going to be watching it at home, drinking a beer.
08:51Sounds about right.
08:52Yeah.
08:53Do you think he'd have me over?
08:55No, not now.
08:56Or me, frankly.
08:59That's okay.
09:00No, I would be, I would be there if Russell.
09:02I bet he, I bet he feels like, you know, when you've,
09:06when you've been the originator of something.
09:08Right.
09:08Which is, this is specific to Batman.
09:11Surely there's, I'm hoping that there's like a
09:13largesse around the evolution of that.
09:15Particularly if it's still looks incredible.
09:18I think that was your third French word you used in this.
09:20You said homage, oeuvre, and largesse.
09:23I, I use French words like you reference presidents.
09:26Homage.
09:27We pronounce it homage.
09:29No, we don't.
09:29I said homage.
09:31In England, I said, I said the American, I Americanized it.
09:34So that I could understand it.
09:36So that you would understand.
09:37I would say homage, but then I said homage.
09:39How many presidents do you usually bring up in conversations?
09:42I mean, FDR, Hoover, Lincoln.
09:44How many do you got?
09:45Forty something.
09:46He's done Lincoln, FDR, Hoover was in there.
09:49Garfield.
09:50Garfield.
09:50Got Garfield in there.
09:52Yeah.
09:53That's enough.
09:54I'd say it's time for a Sam Adams.
09:56How about you?
09:56Okay.
09:58The beer or the president?
09:59Obviously.
10:02Brother of the president.
10:03Brewer brother.
10:03That's so American.
10:04That's so American.
10:05It doesn't have to, why can't it be both?
10:08The beer and the president.
10:10Right?
10:11You're right.
10:12Let's pay homage to that.
10:15I thank you guys so much.
10:16I really appreciate you coming to the studio.