Are you ready to face your doom? Luckily, you probably won’t have to yet... But the Justice League did last night, as the newest DC Comics animated adaptation from Warner Brothers - Justice League: Doom
There were a couple of other surprises along the way, but first, Miereanu introduced the screening, and briefly paid tribute to Dwayne MacDuffie. JL: Doom was the much beloved writer’s last script for DC Animated, after a long run that included facets of the DC Animated Universe ranging from Static Shock, to some of the best episodes of Justice League Unlimited. This wasn’t the last shout out to the late MacDuffie, either: his wife was in the audience, and the panel later fondly remembered him. But the screening was also a joyful remembrance of his work, and a tribute to one of the great comic book writers of our time.
Moving on, Miereanu then made a bit of a gaffe: he told the crowd that Doom was based on issues 74-77 of Justice League, which prompted anguished cries of “No!” from the DC staffer sitting behind me. After showing off DC’s reel advertising their relief efforts in Africa, Miereanu corrected himself, stating that was their NEXT animated feature, Justice League vs. Elite... This was actually based on the Tower of Babel storyline from earlier in writer Mark Waid’s run.
Miereanu then introduced a short reel featuring actors who couldn’t be there, ranging from Nathan Fillion (Green Lantern), to Michael Rosenbaum (The Flash), and then it was time for the movie!
We won’t spoil anything here: it’s far enough away from what Waid wrote in Tower of Babel to make the movie its own beast entirely. Here’s a couple of spoiler free impressions, though:
- There’s a LOT of big fight scenes in this movie. It’s interspersed with exposition scenes, but this is mainly about the Justice League throwing down with the Legion of Doom.
- It breaks my little heart that Nathan Fillion didn’t get to play Green Lantern in the live action film, because he’s so damn perfect as Hal Jordan here.
- There are a LOT of alternate designs for the Legion of Doom, and a number of them - particularly Alexis Denisof’s Mirror Master - are kind of a vast improvement. Normally the opposite is true, but there’s a lot of cool looking stuff here I hope seeps into the comics.
- This is basically the biggest budget “Batman Is a Dick” movie EVER. Pretty much every line Conroy delivered got huge laughs from the audience, and this is very much Batman’s movie. Not only that, but one of the best emotional beats from Tower of Babel in particular is here... And if anything, MacDuffie found a way to make it creepier and more upsetting for Bruce than it was on the page.
- In general? This is a great last episode for Justice League Unlimited. Sure, it’s a slightly different animation style, there’s none of the ongoing plotlines, and a bit more focus on action over emotional beats, but fans of JLU should be very pleased.
After the screening, it was time for a panel, and Miereanu welcomed Romano, Morris, and Conroy up on the stage to huge applause from the crowd. Kicking things off, Romano said that doing the movie was a pleasure. “I had to make Nathan Fillion cry, I had to make Carl Lumbly scream his heart out, and I had to make [Kevin Conroy] say ‘uh’ about a million times,” joked Romano, followed by Conroy making “being kicked and punched” sounds over and over, to laughter from the audience.
Moving on to talk about Vandal Savage - the main villain of the movie - Morris contrasted the character with his earlier take on JLU: “He’s a little straight - no chaser. He’s had a couple of shots, but there’s less nuance to him here than what you see in the Justice League series. He’s matured... If an immortal can mature.” Added Romano, “He’s all evil at this point.”
They briefly then talked about how they were surprised about some of the huge laughter from the audience on some of the lines, particularly as, “There’s some really dark stuff in there,” said Romano, talking about a key scene involving Mirror Master, Flash, and an old lady in a box. Conroy chimed in, talking about MacDuffie’s writing, saying, “There’s seven distinct stories there... Think about the script, how he kept each character so true, and distinct throughout.”
Conroy then discussed whether he would want to play anything other than Batman, saying, “Once you luck into this character, what do you play? It’s always fun to do off the wall character voices, but the type of voice I have, which characterizes me as romantic lead... Where do you go from here?”
Miereanu then asked Romano whether she preferred recording in an ensemble, or individually. “Recording wise, always ensemble...” said Romano. “A major part of acting is reacting, and you’re always going to respond to what I’m saying to you. It’s just more interesting artistically. Sometimes the actors aren’t even in the same city, and my job is to put it into a cohesive whole. When I have to record people individually, I have to remember what the actor before him sounded like, and what the actor after him sounds like. So it’s more work for me.”
She continued that Nathan Fillion recorded on a Sunday of a Holiday weekend, because he “just can’t say no.” The rest of the actors, for the most part, recorded together in a series of four hour sessions. “You don’t realize guard number three, and guy number two sound exactly the same if you record them three weeks apart,” added Romano. “That’s why it’s important to get them in a room together.”
Prompted by Miereanu, Romano then led the crowd in a voice lesson! She had the whole crowd do a “walla walla,” which was general crowd murmur sounds. This was followed by more frantic crying in horror; and then the women screaming while the men shouted, “Oh no, Superman!” With a laugh, Romano cut everyone off and joked that usually would take half an hour. “We recorded that, and you’re not getting paid,” quipped Miereanu at the end of the lesson.
Miereanu then said that two of the people on the panel don’t really read comics, while one does. “Phil, how many comics do you have?” asked Miereanu.
“Like, legitimately, seventeen thousand,” said Morris. “The first was Iron Man and Captain America... In the last year, I’ve been working on this other show I do, I haven’t gone to the comic book store... And they changed the whole DC Universe around! I’m going to have spend a fortune, getting the graphic novels...” The audience laughed, and Miereanu joked, “I think you might be able to get someone to give you the issues.”
Morris continued, saying, “When I saw myself fly for the first time in ADR in Smallville, I went, oh my god, oh my god! I’m a fan just like you. I’m playing Vandal Savage, so I want to win... But I also want them to kick my butt!”
Then the panel opened to audience questions! Here’s some highlights:
- Asked how Romano chooses projects, the Director laughed, saying, “I hardly ever say no! It has to do with the day of the week they want to record... I have eleven projects in the works right now.” She continued that she actually takes a month off every year, and tells people which month a year in advance, because otherwise she’s working nearly twenty-four hours a day.
- Romano was then asked what she looks for in a voice over demo: “Number one, acting ability. Lots of people can do lots of voices, and are fun at a party, but initially it’s about the acting.”
A fan asked the panel to relate a story about Dwayne MacDuffie:
Romano started, saying, “He took these graphic novels and made them actable. There’s something on the page when you look that way, but when you have a script, you need to be able to act it. But I also had the great fortune of working with him on Ben 10. Whenever I would see a script that had Dwayne’s name on it, I would say: I’m in.”
Morris: “I first met Dwayne when I was working on Static Shock. I knew them from the Milestone Comics, because they opened up a world of minority heroes that was very much needed. I saw this quiet, big guy at the console. We’re on a break, and I feel this tap on the shoulder, and it was Dwayne. He was so humble, so modest, and here he was the guiding force behind this work... But you would never know it. I was so taken with him that I gave him a hug! I truly honored his work, and he was a master of the genre.”
Conroy: “You hit the same word I was going to use: modest. He was such a sweet guy. There are so many egos you have to deal with in Hollywood... And that just wasn’t there.”
Miereanu: “A year ago this week we came to the Paley Center in New York, and then we went to LA and had the premiere there, he told me it was one of the best weeks of his life. He would be as excited... He just liked having the appreciation for the work that you guys have.”
- On the more memorable directions Romano has given, Romano joked, “Act better!” Conroy said that Romano has a more artful way of giving direction. “It’s what she doesn’t say,” chimed in Morris. “She’ll give us an approximation, rather than doing it for us. She has a command of her domain, and great respect for us. It gives you great freedom to go places you might not go otherwise.”
- Next up was a semi-confusing question from a fan clearly emotionally affected by the movie, saying that she was “torn apart,” watching the Justice League almost lose. Romano did answer saying that, “I think what’s compelling about this piece is that you see them all close to their doom... Which is the title. They come very close to that point when they’re lost to us, and then they come back. I have to credit Lauren Montgomery, the Animation Director, for making those scenes so dynamic.”
- The next question was from a fan in a Batman sweatshirt, who asked if the panel had a favorite moment from the DC animated universe:
Morris: “The Justice League episode where I’m on this planet alone... The character I mean, not Phil Morris,” which prompted Conroy to fake-slap Morris to wake him up, to laughs from the audience. “He’s done, he wants to live long enough, and he wants Superman to kill him. That almost took me out at the session, to see an immortal so at the end of his run. That’s compelling.”
Conroy: “Perchance to Dream,” plugging the Batman: The Animated Series episode where he played Batman, Bruce Wayne, and an older Bruce Wayne, and Conroy did most of the voices. “All of the voices were recorded in real time, so I was having arguments with myself. It was a blast.”
Miereanu: “There’s a scene in Wonder Woman - the film - and I see these movies forty times a piece, but there’s this moment where one of Ares forces pulls down the head of the Lincoln Memorial, and Nathan Fillion - Steve Trevor - says, ‘Hey! No one messes with Lincoln!’ Makes me laugh every time.”
Lastquestion, a fan asked how the actors find their voices:
Morris: “Being a life-long comic book fan, I’ve been doing research on this since I was six. For Vandal, I listened to a lot of classical music, because I thought that’s what he had running in his head.”
Conroy: “For every actor it’s a different thing, and for each character it’s a different thing. I didn’t really grow up with comic books, so when I went into the audition, I was pretty naive. You were describing the story, and I said, ‘Well, I remember the show with Adam West,’” followed by him miming, “No! No!” to laughs from the audience. But once they started describing who Batman is, Conroy felt he was like Hamlet, and just let the voice come out of him. “It was luck,” he added.
Miereanu then thanked the Paley Center, plugged the DVD/BD, and the panel was dispersed, but not before Conroy stood up, and said, “Oh, one more thing... I am vengeance... I am the night... I AM... BATMAN!” And then he shot a grappling hook into the ceiling, and disappeared. Just kidding about that last part.
Check these video interviews with Kevin Conroy, Phil Morris, and Andrea Romano below - as well as the trailer for Justice League: Doom:
Kevin Conroy On 'Justice League: Doom'
Phil Morris Chats 'Justice League: Doom'
Andrea Romano Talks 'Justice League: Doom'
Justice League: Doom hits Blu-ray and DVD on February 28th!
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