'Batman: Caped Crusader' | Variety Studio presented by Google TV - video Dailymotion

Variety

Hamish Linklater, Jamie Chung, Minnie Driver step into our video studio at San Diego Comic Con 2024.   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.

'Batman: Caped Crusader' | Variety Studio presented by Google TV

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