August 8, 2014 by Billy Henehan

Son of Batman – Review

When it was announced that James Tucker was going to succeed Bruce Timm as the head of DC’s animated film line, I think people thought Tucker would succeed, but did they think he would succeed this well? Ladies and gentlemen, there is a new king in town. It started with Justice League: War, which quickly rivaled Under the Hood as my favorite DC animated movie. Son of Batman is even better. James Tucker is now responsible for two of the three best DC animated movies, or the two best, depending on which day of the week you ask me the question (Justice League: War and Under the Red Hood are so close! Might as well give them the tie for the #2 spot).

Ethan Spaulding directs Son of Batman. Judging by the quality of the movie, you would not think that this is directorial debut, but I believe it is. The first five minutes of the movie are immediately exciting. Far from Gotham City, R’as Al Ghul’s League of Assassins is under attack in their impenetrable mountain stronghold that turns out to be not that impenetrable. This fight scene is awesome! The first five minutes of the movie are worth the price of the DVD alone.

Tim Drake is nowhere to be found in Son of Batman. His parts from the comic have been transferred to Dick Grayson, aka Robin I aka Nightwing.

But if I have any quibble with Son of Batman, it’s in this scene. It’s a minor quibble, but it’s so ridiculous it kind of makes my head hurt: the League of Assassins’ Gatling gun full of arrows. I don’t remember if the arrow Gatling gun was in the original comic book story. It’s something that I can see Grant Morrison writing; it’s that crazy, or it could be solely from the mind of the screenwriter. In this movie, the League are pretty much all ninjas. The invaders have guns, but the assassins in the League wield no guns, just swords, bows and arrows. You’d think a group called the League of Assassins would be up on the latest in assassination technology, they seemed to have stopped looking for new equipment somewhere around Feudal Japan. Except for the arrow Gatling gun. At some point, R’as must have been mighty impressed with the might of the Gatling gun and commissioned his own, but his was to fire only arrows. This special gun must have cost the League a lot of money; it’s no small task to say, “No, I don’t want this gun to fire bullets. I want it to fire arrows.” And R’as got his way. Arrows it did fire. Enough to knock helicopters out of the sky. I guess if you’re an immortal with wealth going back centuries, you’re allowed a certain amount of levity with how you choose to spend your money. I probably would have gone with grenade launcher that shot Fribbles, but that’s just me.

But I digress…

In case you’re not familiar with the premise of the movie, Batman has a son. Okay, I guess that’s there in the title. This isn’t some future story line; it takes place in the present. Years ago, R’as Al Ghul’s daughter Talia drugged Batman, had her way with him and secretly had his baby, whose existence she kept hidden for years. The fallout of the first five minutes of the movie lead to Batman’s now teenage son being dropped at the foot of the Batcave.

One of the coolest villains in the DC Universe, Deathstroke, is the main villain in Son of Batman. Deathstroke is an assassin who is blind in one eye. The DC Animated Universe gets its version of how Deathstroke was blinded in that eye in this movie…and…It. Is. Awesome.

Seriously, I want to gush about this movie more, but I don’t want to ruin it. Go rent or buy Son of Batman. It rocks.

Make sure to watch the movie all the way through the credits. There’s not a special end credit scene, but there is something very cool. Nightwing and Damian’s fight on the streets of Gotham is told in stills as the credits roll. In the movie, we see them encounter each other, and we see how it ends, so it’s cool to see the (very awesome) middle part here. If only they put that scene in the movie!

The bonus features have some Robin-centered Batman cartoons. I watched all of them and enjoyed all of them, especially the seeing the original Teen Titans on Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Son of Batman is a very strong follow-up to Justice League: War, and really has me excited for the future of DC animated movies under James Tucker.

This review contains Amazon product links. Shopping at Amazon through these links helps to support this site.

January 29, 2014 by Billy Henehan

Flash Poster Contestants

We’ve received some great entries in our Justice League: War Flash Poster Contest. The winner of the contest will receive a Blu Ray Combo Pack of Justice League: War signed by voice of The Flash and Covert Affairs star Christopher Gorham, and a follow from Christopher (@ChrisGorham) on Twitter! Check out the contestants’ entries below!

@JuneGilhouse

@Lovra2

@raiseborough

@Will_iamVega

@UniversoDC1

And the winner is…

…@Lovra2! Congratulations! Christopher Gorham had this to say about @Lovra2’s entry: “I think this captures the heart of the film, and we all know hearts are red. :)”

Christopher also gave an Honorable Mention to @Will_iamVega for having the most original entry in the contest.

Thank you to everyone who entered!

January 24, 2014 by Billy Henehan

JLA: Trapped in Time – Review

Tuesday, January 21 was a big day for the Justice League. That day saw the world premiere of Justice League: War at the Paley Center in New York City and the release of JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time exclusively at Target stores nationwide.

The release of JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time may have caught you unaware. The first I heard of it was less than two weeks ago. Needless to say, I was intrigued, so intrigued that I ventured out in a blizzard during lunch to my nearest Target to secure a copy.

A sticker on Trapped in Time says it’s a limited time Target exclusive. I’m not sure if this means it will see wide release into other stores after a few months, or if once Target sells out of their stock, that’s it.

JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time is a very different movie than Justice League: War. While War’s art direction is based on Jim Lee’s New 52 costumes, Crisis in Time draws its inspiration from many places. Superman is basically in his New 52 outfit with a more stylized S-symbol on his chest. Wonder Woman is wearing her caped costume from Infinite Crisis. Batman’s costume is a mix of New 52 and the recent Brave and the Bold cartoon. It’s not clear which Robin we’re seeing, but he’s in Tim’s original costume with a mop of hair.

The lineup is straight out of the Super Powers years of Super Friends. The JLA consists of Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, The Flash and Aquaman, and the villains are their Super Friends era Legion of Doom counterparts. Even Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog make a very quick blink and you’ll miss them cameo.

Diedrich Bader, aka the best thing about The Drew Carey show, voices Batman here. This isn’t his first time voicing the dark knight. He also voiced Batman on Batman: The Brave and the Bold. The voice of the narrator in Trapped in Time is also Diedrich Bader, which made me think for a second that he was doing every voice in the movie early in my viewing of it.

The story of Trapped in Timeis a fun one, involving Lex Luthor being thawed out of an ice block in the future ala Demolition Man. While in the future, Lex learns Superman is really Clark Kent and acquires the means to time travel, which leads to exactly what you think Lex Luthor would do if he knew Superman’s secret identity and could travel in time. He’s pursued by Dawnstar and Karate Kid of The Legion of Superheroes. Dawnstar is one of my favorite LoSH members, so I was happy to see her represented here.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. I would have liked it better if we saw the ramifications of a world where Superman didn’t exist. But the same fight that causes Superman to blink out of existence Back to the Future style is resolved in a way that the viewer never gets to see what the world would be like if the Legion of Doom could run amok without having to worry about the Justice League. One of my favorite movies is Back to the Future II, so of course I’m be disappointed by not being able to see the Legion of Doom controlled alternate timeline. The movie does end with a twist that sets up what I’m guessing will be the next Target exclusive original JLA DVD. The twist ending was good enough that I would venture out into another blizzard to acquire the sequel.

Comparing JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time and Justice League: War, Trapped in Time is definitely the more family friendly movie. War contains a hero uttering a curse word in the climatic final battle, something that played well to the 20-and-30-somethings at the premiere, but might not fly as well in the living room of a family with a small child. The storytelling in JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time is perfect for pre-schoolers to 6th graders. I’d recommend Justice League: War to teens on up.

As per comicbook.com, Trapped in Time is a retelling of the Super Friends episode Secret Origins of the Super Friends, with the story updated to focus on Lex Luthor travelling back in time to eliminate Superman from ever existing. This is a streamline of the original, which focused on the villains trying to eliminate Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern from history. Oddly enough, Secret Origins of the Super Friends is not one of the two Super Friends episodes included in the DVD’s bonus features.

YOu can

January 22, 2014 by Billy Henehan

Justice League: War – Review

A theater full of excited fans and I braved a blizzard in New York City to attend the world premiere of Justice League: War at the Paley Center. I can’t lie, I was both excited and apprehensive when I took my seat. I was excited because Justice League: War represents a new initiative in the DC Animated Universe. Producer James Tucker has a vision of the films now operating under a shared continuity. I was also excited for the talent that Andrea Romano cast to be in the movie. I’m an unabashed fan of Justin Kirk and wanted to see what he brought to Green Lantern. But I still had a lingering apprehension, which stemmed from the source material. I love Geoff Johns and I love Jim Lee, but I found the story in Justice League: Origin to be a bit underwhelming. Not to say I didn’t like their run on Justice League. I own all of the issues and even a page of Jim Lee’s original art from #5. I just wanted more from that story.

Justice League: War brings the more.

Screenwriter Heath Corson and Director Jay Oliva make a number of improvements to the Justice League: Origin story in Justice League: War. My favorite line in Justice League: Origin, “Who’s Bruce Wayne?” is still here, but it’s moved much earlier in the story. It definitely works better in its new spot. Later, Bruce’s unmasking to Hal, which I remember being a big sore point for fans when the comic was released feels much more organic in the movie. The scene is now an inspiring one and seems to fit perfectly into the narrative. The biggest change to story is Vic Stone’s transformation into Cyborg. In the Justice League comic, his cyborg body is basically built out of a bunch of spare parts that his dad had lying around. But in the movie, his cyborg half stems from the techno-organic virus-like goo that transforms beings into parademons. I feel this new origin works better, because it gives Victor something to overcome. Vic is still saved by his father Silas when he’s near death, but this method gets Vic back in the game much more quickly.

Corson’s humor definitely shines in the script, and because of that, I feel that this is a superhero movie that non-comics fans can enjoy alongside comic book fans. It has that same wink and a nod tone that the best episodes of Justice League Unlimited had. Whether it’s Batman and Green Lantern’s verbal jabbing, the ice cream scene with Wonder Woman, or even just the reactions characters give to certain lines, the humor makes this movie stand out. And don’t think for one second that this comes at the cost of making the movie feel silly. Just the opposite. Corson plays the humor in a way that heightens the seriousness of the threat. And it makes sense. Thematically, Darkseid is the absence of all joy, so of course the heroes should have a tinge of mirth to them.

Jay Oliva can really direct a fight scene. At NYCC, Jay said he wanted Justice League: War to be balls to the wall action, and man did he deliver! This might be the most action-heavy DC animated movie yet. The movie revs up quickly and does not slow down for the most part. Oliva does take small breaks from the action, but this keeps things from getting monotonous. There’s a fine line that separates great action from overdoing it, and Jay walks that line well.

As you watch the movie, you may notice the pace of the story has been dramatically increased. In the comic, the story played out over a few days, but here it’s been reduced to one night. It’s almost like Justice League: 24. The shortened timetable both increases suspense and raises the stakes.

I really liked the character design work by Phil Bourassa. He took Jim Lee’s New 52 designs and improved on them for the movie. This is particularly true for the parademons. Gone are the bugged out red eyes that defined Lee’s parademons for me. Bourassa’s parademons don’t even have eyes…unless that’s them on their chins. Bourassa also designed a very cool Wonder Woman costume. It’s the most athletic looking Wonder Woman costume I can remember, while retaining all of Wonder Woman’s iconic pieces…the tiara, the bracelets, the lasso, the boots and the chest plate symbol.

Andrea Romano cast what I would call a perfect cast for this movie. Sure, I’ll always want Nathan Fillion to voice Green Lantern and Kevin Conroy to voice Batman, but they’re not always available, and you will not hear any complaints from me on the casting of Justin Kirk and Jason O’Mara in their stead. Christopher Gorham’s take on The Flash is what I found most interesting. It’s definitely not the voice for Barry Allen that I hear in my head when I read the comics, but his choices on he played Barry make sense. He gives Allen a definitive cop voice, which makes sense, because Allen is a cop. I think Gorham and Romano took a risk with playing Barry Allen this way, but it’s a risk that paid off. Gorham speaks quickly as he voices The Flash. He has a knack for speaking quickly. During the panel after the screening, he let the audience know that he’s a trained auctioneer. You can listen to clip of him training the audience on how to be an auctioneer right here:

In my opinion, Justice League: War is the new reigning champ among DC animated movies. And I say this as a HUGE fan of Under the Red Hood and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 and Part 2. I think the crew there are operating on all cylinders, which makes me very excited for Batman: Son of Batman, their next release. If you are a fan of the Justice League, consider Justice League: War a must-see!

Justice League: War is available for digital download right now and will be released on Blu Ray and DVD on February 4. You can preorder it on Amazon right now.

“Where’s The Flash?”

Tuesday Night Movies is running a contest where one lucky winner will take home a copy of Justice League: War, signed by Christopher Gorham of Covert Affairs, who voices The Flash in the movie. While interviewing him at the premiere last night, I pointed out that The Flash wasn’t on the poster for Justice League: War. The fan who makes the best poster for Justice League: War that includes The Flash will win a signed Blu Ray combo pack of Justice League: War by Christopher Gorham and a follow from him on Twitter! You can find all the details on how to enter here.

January 22, 2014 by Billy Henehan

Justice League War Poster Contest!

Christopher Gorham, star of Covert Affairs and the voice of The Flash in Justice League: War, was at the World Premiere for Justice League: War at the Paley Center in New York City last night. Ironically, The Flash is not on the poster for Justice League: War.

Here’s your chance to rectify that and win yourself a Blu Ray Combo Pack of Justice League: War signed by Christopher Gorham and a follow from Christopher on Twitter!

Entering is easy:

Follow @TuesNightMovies on Twitter
Design a new poster for Justice League: War. The poster must include The Flash and the title logo for Justice League: War. Other than that, get as creative as you can!
Tweet a pic of your poster to @TuesNightMovies and @ChrisGorham with the hashtags #JLWar #FlashPoster

Winner will be chosen on January 29th!

Justice League: War is available for digital download now and will be released on Blu Ray Combo Pack and DVD on February 4! Pre-order it now on Amazon.

December 2, 2013 by Billy Henehan

Director Jay Oliva Talks Justice League: War

In the third and final installment of my interviews with the crew from DC Animation at NYCC regarding the upcoming Justice League: War animated movie, I sat down with Director Jay Oliva. Jay is no stranger to directing animation, as he’s already directed Green Lantern: Emerald Knights and the excellent Batman: The Dark Knights Returns Parts 1 and 2, among other things.

Jay explained what makes Justice League: War different from Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. “It’s much more ensemble than Flashpoint. In Flashpoint, Flash was clearly the main one.” Cyborg does have a major arc in Justice League: War though. “In this one, Cyborg is the one the audience can empathize with more, because you see him as a regular guy, and then you see him become the hero he eventually does.” But from the sound of it, unlike in Flashpoint, the story will be more divided among the League members and not mainly focus on one hero. Jay explained, “(Cyborg) has more of an arc. Batman shows up and he’s Batman. There’s no Batman arc…He’s just Batman from beginning to end. He’s just a bad ass all the way through.”

I asked Jay if Geoff Johns, the writer of the Justice League comic that Justice League: War is based on, was involved in the script at all. Unfortunately, Jay didn’t know how much involvement Johns had with the script. “When I start, it’s usually after the script has been written. Then I take over and try to do my adaptation of that,” Jay went on to elaborate.

When you sit down with Jay, the first thing you’ll notice about him is that he very energetic. I think this comes from the huge level of enthusiasm he has for his work with Warner Brothers Home Video. He wants his animated movies to stand out. Jay explained, “You guys are paying 20 bucks for it. It’s on the same shelf as Man of Steel, Dark Knight, The Avengers. I have to be able to compete with that. I want you guys to say, “Hey, this looks like a good film,” and when you watch it, even though it’s animated, I want it to hold up with the live action stuff out there: balls to the wall action, good storytelling….I’m having fun with this stuff.”

When asked what storyline he’d like to turn into a film, he was very quick to answer. “I would do Gotham by Gaslight,” Jay said. He would go on to namedrop Gotham by Gaslight a few times in our conversation. The dude really likes Gotham by Gaslight. And looking at how he handled The Dark Knight Returns, I bet he could do a stellar job on the period piece Gotham by Gaslight. Warner Brothers, let Jay Oliva make Gotham by Gaslight!

Gotham by Gaslight features Batman taking on Jack the Ripper.

Jay also said he’s love to a Kingdom Come movie, but that he wasn’t sure “if we have the technology to do it. It’s too hard. It would have to look like Alex Ross’s watercolors…We don’t have five years for this. We have a one year turnaound.” The 76 minute limitation posed by the budget of the animated movies also comes into play. “I’d love to do 120 minutes,” Jay said, “But the animation studio could not physically do it. Hopefully we can do parts 1 and 2 or more if it sells well….Dark Knight Returns sold really well, so Home Video is seeing hey, maybe we can do two-parters.” I don’t know about you, but if Kingdom Come were done as a four-parter, I’d buy every release!

“Action, action, action.” That was Jay’s response when asked what we’re going to see in Justice League: War. “The comic is literally an invasion of Earth…It’s about a group of heroes who are powerful, but couldn’t take down Darkseid by themselves. So they have to band together to take down this greater evil. Personalities clash. Superman and Batman, whenever they meet they gotta fight. They’re so polar opposite…Ultimately, they become the team we all know and love,” Jay said. He also confirmed that we will see Apokolips, the home of Darkseid and his parademons in Justice League: War. But Jay also pointed out that, “We don’t see any New Gods, which I would have loved to put in there. It’s strictly just Darkseid and his parademons.”

Jay has worked for both DC and Marvel’s animation divisions and was candid about the differences between the two. “From my own experience, the DC stuff I work on, they leave us alone…I don’t have to show my storyboards to the president of animation…They trust us. They know that we’ll do good work,” said Jay. Comparitively, he said about Marvel: “At Marvel, there’s a lot of hands in there. Mind you, I haven’t worked for them since they were taken over by Disney…I would never have been able to get away with The Flashpoint Paradox at Disney. Never.” That said, he also mentioned that he would love to work for Marvel again one day, “but right now I’m enjoying the freedom I have here,” meaning at DC. Going by the quality of his output at DC, I hope Jay Oliva stays with them for a long time.

The February 4 release date for Justice League: War is approaching quickly. Have you made your pre-order yet?

November 25, 2013 by Billy Henehan

James Tucker Talks Justice League: War

After sitting down with Andrea Romano at NYCC, I had the chance to sit and talk with James Tucker about Justice League: War. As you may know, James is the new Bruce Timm at DC’s animation group. In other words, he’s the new head honcho.

When asked if it was a smooth transition taking over for Bruce, James said it was. He elaborated, “He was outside smoking and said, “Hey, do you want to take over the DVDs?” and I went, “Sure.” It was that simple. It wasn’t like a coronation or anything. I didn’t go into the throne room and he knighted me. It’s very casual at Warner Brothers. ” By the time the official announcement was made, James already had experience in the job. According to James, “When it was announced, I had already been doing the job for two years. We were working on War a year ago. I had been doing the job long before they announced it. He was working on Green Lantern. It was very smooth and not a big deal.”

Regarding the future of the DC animated movies, James said that from this point forward, we’ll be seeing a Justice League movie, followed by a Batman movie, followed by a Justice League movie, followed by a Batman movie. Having movies whose stories focus on specific characters set in the framework of the Justice League. James used Wonder Woman as an example. “With the way we’re setting it up, it’s easier for us to do a Wonder Woman featured Justice League movie, meaning the story has something to do with her, but it’s a Justice League movie.” If you’re wondering why, according to Mr. Tucker, it’s because, “Home Video thinks they can sell it better. Rather than doing standalones. Because the Green Lantern movie didn’t do so hot. The Wonder Woman movie didn’t do so hot, despite what you see online about statistics. Pretty much Superman doesn’t even sell well. Sometimes it’s easier to focus on the character you want to focus on and in War, if you read the graphic novel, Cyborg gets a lot of the spotlight. Each movie will have one character who gets a lot of spotlight and the other characters will get…story development that will carry over to the next movie.”

In case you’re wondering what the next animated movie will be after Justice League: War, it will be a Son of Batman, based on the Grant Morrison Batman story that introduced Damian Wayne into the DC Universe. The Son of Batman movie will be in continuity with Justice League: War. “It’s totally different from what Bruce and those guys had done before. I like world building, so it’s a nice opportunity to have continuity among the movies, and yet Son of Batman will feel totally different than Justice League. It’s kind of like comics in a way, in that they’re connected, but not connected. Justice League comics are totally different than Batman comics, yet Batman is in both. ” said James.

For fans wondering why Aquaman is not in Justice League: War, the reason that he was replaced by Shazam (I know, I know, Captain Marvel) in this movie is that DC is planning a Justice League movie centered around Aquaman! Aqua-fans rejoice!

Shazam is replacing Aquaman in Justice League: War.

James walked me through some of the process of making these movies. When asked if he used the same animation studios for the Justice League and Batman movies, he revealed that DC has three different animation studios that “we float episodes to. Not one studio can do all the animation.”

When asked how Justice League: War would be different from past Justice League animated projects, such as Justice League: Unlimited, James said, “I worked on Justice League with Bruce and Justice League: Unlimited and I didn’t want to go back and do exactly that.” He elaborated, “When I read the New 52 Justice League, I could see see they were trying to break down the Justice League and make it something where you could not instantly know what to expect. We took that aspect and ran with it and pushed people’s personalities into different areas.” Comparing it to the Bruce Timm Justice League cartoon, James said, “If the fans are expecting a carbon copy of the TV series, they’re not going to get that. It’s going to be a little edgier and definitely more violent. It’s not Superfriends. Even the old Justice League cartoon show was kind of Super Friends, if it’s Friends the TV series with Jennifer Anniston. It was about relationships. This is more like a big movie, and their personalities are more edgy. They’re all new to it. They’re all trying to figure out how to be their own individual heroes. Some of them have codes about not killing. Others don’t. There’s all these areas of conflict we have that we didn’t normally address in the earlier versions of the Justice League.”

Expect Wonder Woman to use the sharp edge of her sword in Justice League: War.

Describing the state of superhero cartoons on TV, James was very blunt. “It’s a different climate for superhero action shows,” he said. The abrupt cancellation of Young Justice was cited. “I don’t think (Young Justice) was a great fit for Cartoon Network. They got caught in a situation where things are changing in the climate on television for animated things. They’re finding action in general is not doing as well on kids networks. A show like that would have been great for Netflix. That might be the next place for a show like that,” James said. Please note that this interview was conducted before Marvel announced their deal with Netflix. James seems very bullish on the Netflix model. He said, “As far as binge viewing, I think a show like Young Justice, Justice League too, will do well and I think that’s the future. I welcome it.” James went on to explain why he liked it so much. “You won’t have the same restrictions. You can do a limited miniseries. You can tell a really controlled story. You don’t have to worry about selling toys. The industry is all wondering what Netflix is going to do next.” With Marvel’s recent deal with Netflix, it will be interesting to see where DC and Warner Bros pursue their streaming model. Maybe Amazon Prime? Or Hulu Plus? We do know that James Tucker is in the driver’s seat at DC Animation and he likes the streaming model, whether it’s Netflix or elsewhere.

Will Netflix be the future home of DC superheroes?

James would like to incorporate lesser used characters into the animated movies. James said, “My goal for all the Justice League and Batman movies is to include at least one character who hasn’t appeared either on television or in the films.” When asked if there were any plans for Batgirl, say maybe Batgirl: Year One, James said that he would definitely like to do a Batgirl-centered story, but it probably wouldn’t be Year One. “The truth is, that’s not going to sell. I hate to say it. For whatever reason, they have a hard time selling that kind of stuff. Granted, that could (work) on Netflix. The thing about Netflix is that it’s open to niche markets. You could do something for a smaller group and not have to worry about selling units.

Justice League: War comes out on February 4, 2014.

November 19, 2013 by Billy Henehan

Andrea Romano Talks Justice League: War

Justice League: War is the next release in Warner Bros Home Video’s line of direct-to-DVD animated movies featuring DC superheroes. The official release date is February 4, 2014. I expect that Best Buy will once again have an exclusive version of the DVD that comes packaged with a mini-action figure. There has been no word yet as to what that figure will be. My guess is on Cyborg, since his origin story makes up a large portion of Justice League: War. If not him, then Darkseid, the main villain of Justice League: War.

At New York Comic Con this year, I had the chance to sit down with casting director Andrea Romano about Justice League: War. Andrea and DC animated projects go back. She’s the woman who originally cast Kevin Conroy as Batman in Batman: The Animated Series. Since then, she’s cast Batman enough times to lose count as to what the actual number is. “I’m looking for someone to tell me how many times I cast Batman. I think it’s somewhere around 17.” said Romano.

Justice League: War is the first of DC’s animated movies set in the New 52 universe. For those unfamiliar with the New 52, in 2011, DC rebooted their entire line of comic books, calling the new universe and continuity the New 52, which was the number of titles DC put out that month. Origins and costumes have been modified and modernized. When asked if she approached casting for Justice League: War differently than how she cast prior movies, Andrea said “(It was) pretty much the same process. We all looked for the best possible voices.”

I asked Andrea if there was a mandate from on high this time about not repeating voices. Andrea said there was, but that it changes every film. Andrea elaborated, “My first question on every job is can I use people I’ve used before? May I use Kevin Conroy? May I use Mark Hamil?” Sometimes the answer is yes, and sometimes they want her to have an all-new cast. According to Andrea, sometimes a change in visual style or the use of a different color palette from a previous project will lead to the decision to work with a new cast of actors.

Bruce Timm handed the reins of the DC animated movies to James Tucker in order for Bruce to focus on other projects. When asked how working with James Tucker compared to working with Bruce Timm, Andrea said, “I love working with both of them. I worked with James on Brave and the Bold and many other projects in the past, so I knew him. Bruce and James have very much the same mindset on the way they think things need to be depicted, and the way they want it to look and sound. It’s kind of a seamless transition. James is great. I love both of them.”

Andrea walked me through the production time line for a project. She explained, “There’s lots of time limits. The script is written. Then I do casting and voice directing. Everything then takes its cue from there, so if I’m late, everyone else is late, and that’s not good. We have to deliver by a certain date. Even though we might deliver this now to Warner Home Video, it may not release for another six months, but we still have to deliver it. And if we don’t deliver it, we’re fined, because they have plans for it. They have to promote it. They have to get footage out there. If I’m late, the next step gets late, then the next step. I’m at the end doing the ADR, so I’m impacting my own schedule, because I have less time. And when I use celebrities, trying to get them in to their ADR, I’m working on Saturdays, I’m working on Sundays, I’m working on holidays just trying to get it done so that I can get it in to the mix, so I that I can deliver on time. Production takes about a year and a half to make, start to finish, and then it may sit another six months before it’s actually released.”

In regards to specific casting, Andrea was very high on casting Shemar Moore, from Criminal Minds, to play the part of Cyborg. “There are always actors I watch on television shows or films that I keep a list of, that I want to find a role for.” said Andrea. Shemar was one of them. Andrea went on to say “It’s his first time ever doing voice animation. You would never know it how good he was. Really good.” She shared a funny anecdote about Shemar’s recording session. “It took a lot of screaming in that particular role, because he’s almost killed. If you watched the Emmys…he was doing a couple of interviews; he had worked for me that day. I was like, “Shemar, I hope I haven’t destroyed your voice for the night.” Because he just did all the ADR for him. I was like, “Oh lord, I hope I didn’t wreck you for the night.” But he was good.”

Andrea also shared a story of voice direction gone bad. “We do so many of these projects simultaneously where we are doing post production on something, casting the next one and recording for one. When I directed this piece, I had forgotten that it’s really the Justice League origin story. When I was directing Alan Tudyk as Superman, I was directing him incorrectly.” How? “I was directing him as playing it kind of the hands on the hips, arms akimbo, secure. But he wasn’t that yet. The character hadn’t grown to that yet. After we animated it and I got the track back, I went, “Oh, I screwed up.” I had to go back in and ADR his first lines of the piece, making him sound more innocent…It was very interesting to make that change because to me, they’ve always existed forever. But it was the origin story. I forgot.”

When asked if she wonders why Warner won’t release DC animated movies on the big screen, Andrea replied, “I wonder that often.” She said she was happy with the way Batman: Mask of the Phantasm turned out. Andrea elaborated, “When you make something intended for the small screen, if there are flaws, no one is ever going to see it. Of course, when we made that (Phantasm), people didn’t have 56″ flat screen TVs to watch. But you put that on a big, huge feature film screen and (you) see all those flaws. That film did really well in that there were no many flaws that showed up.”

Possibly the greatest thing about talking to Andrea is that you get a real sense of her high energy and enthusiasm for every project. I expect her to be casting Batman, and the other heroes of the DC Universe, long into the future.

Justice League: War will be released on February 14, 2014.

Tuesday Night Movies

Movie reviews, Comics & General Geekery

Tag Archives: Justice League: War