Batman: Under The Red Hood Director Brandon Vietti dishes on the Batman DVD (that I picked up yesterday).
What was heard:
Well, I think that most people know that this movie opens with the death of Robin at the hands of The Joker. That really is just the beginning. In this [version of the story], Joker’s story works as Death, really. He’s Fate, in a way. There’s nothing personal about what he does. He’s more of a force of nature in this story, which drives the movie, actually. Everything that happens in this movie takes place based on his actions, and then he comes into play at the end of the movie, falling into the balance between Red Hood and Batman.
…I can definitely say that Bruce Timm’s Batman was an influence on me and that was an influence I certainly enjoyed getting into the show. The old “Batman: The Animated Series” had a very strong film noir feeling. Art Deco was a very strong influence on the background designs. But we kind of stripped that out. We didn’t want it to feel like a period piece with Deco buildings, we wanted it to fell very modern, so we sort of modernized all of the buildings and tried to make them as realistic, as possible.
I think the Christopher Nolan movies were definitely an influence on me, as well. I love the realistic depiction of Batman that Nolan has. I’m a big fan of manga artist Kia Asamiya, who did a Batman story. I loved his take on Gotham City and all of Batman’s gadgets.
And he also talks about NOT casting established Batverse voice actors Kevin Conroy as the voice of Batman and Mark Hamill as the voice of the Joker:
Is that a tough choice, to go away from the tried and true combination of Mark Hamill as The Joker and Kevin Conroy as Batman? The two have become so synonymous with the characters.
I guess it’s just one of those problems that you face when you’re doing this line of work. With every new project, you want each one to find its own identity. One of the ways we do that is to find a new cast each time. You just kind of need to do that. Honestly, as a fan even, I don’t think I would want everything to be exactly the same. I think it’s just more interesting and it helps transport me from one movie to the next and it makes each movie become its own thing, or each TV show its own thing. I like that variety, myself, and I like the variety a range of voice actors will bring to each project. It makes each project more unique and allows each one to stand on its merits.
Source: CBR
More through the opening link.
Also check out the official site for the DVD with a neat gallery and other features.
