INTERVIEW: Kevin Conroy, Greg Rucka, Brian Azarello, and Alan Burnett

INTERVIEW: Kevin Conroy, Greg Rucka, Brian Azarello, and Alan Burnett

Kevin Conroy Discusses Voicing Title Character In DC Universe Animated Original Film "Batman Gotham Knight."

Kevin Conroy had studied for and starred on the stage, advanced his career through soap operas, and was featured in television series like “Dynasty” and “Tour of Duty.” He had no idea that stepping into a sound booth in 1991 to audition for his first cartoon voiceover role would forever cement his place in the annals of animation and help to extend the Batman legacy to untold legions of fans.

Conroy quickly became the Batman voice by which all others are judged – and rarely assessed as an equal. He has cast a loud shadow in voicing the Dark Knight and Bruce Wayne for 17 years, beginning with “Batman: The Animated Series” and continuing through 16 films, video games and animated series (covering more than 220 episodes). He reprises the role in triumphant fashion in “Batman Gotham Knight,” the highly-anticipated third film in the ongoing series of DC Universe animated original PG-13 movies.

"Batman Gotham Knight" will arrive July 8, 2008 on DVD and Blu-Ray disc, and will also be available that day On Demand via digital cable and for download through broadband sites. The film is produced as a collaboration between DC Comics, Warner Premiere, Warner Home Video and Warner Bros. Animation. The film will receive its world premiere at Wizard World Chicago in late June.

From his home in New York City, Conroy spoke at length about the film, his ongoing relationship with the character, and the surprising manner in which he first approached and procured the role of Batman.

Question:
What are your impressions of the film?

Kevin Conroy:
It’s a really rich experience. The artwork in this film is so beautiful, so amazing. I love the adult-themed animated shows like “The Simpsons” and “South Park” and “King of the Hill.” I love the appeal of their writing, the irony, the sense of humor. Those are great animated productions. But you forget just how rich animation artwork can be until you see a film like this. There’s just no comparison. I’ve never seen anything like this in terms of diverse and rich animation in the industry – it’s like getting six movies in one.

The story is very interesting, especially the way it weaves in and out of Bruce Wayne’s history – like the flashback to him training in India, learning to endure pain. It’s very well conceived story and I think it enhances a lot of the Batman mythology.

I don’t think there’s any question the fans will love it, because it’s such a deep animation experience, and it gives such great background into a character they already love. It’s a very positive piece.

Question:
After three years away from the character, what were the challenges of donning the cape once again?

Kevin Conroy:
Getting back into the Batman voice was not hard – after so many years, it’s so familiar to me now that it’s like putting on an old coat. As you live with a character over the years, you fill out the skin. You don’t even realize you’re doing it. Sometimes they ask during a recording session, “What sound would Batman make here?” or “What would he say here” and they trust me to do that. They know I’ve been living with him for so long, I know what he’d say, and how he’d react.

Question:
Batman Gotham Knight has essentially 12 different looks at your characters – nine of Batman and three of Bruce Wayne, varying in design and age range. Were there any challenges to maintaining the consistency of your performance despite voicing to so many different image variations?

Kevin Conroy:
In the past, we’ve always treated the shows like a radio play – we recorded the lines and then the animation took place. This time, the artwork came first, and that made the process interesting. Sometimes the artists put extra mouth flaps in, or they made the cadence different from the way I’d usually deliver a line. So we had to work within those parameters and try to time the acting to fill the space.

Interestingly, they originally they were going to cast another actor to do the younger Bruce Wayne, and Andrea (Romano) convinced them to let me take a stab at it. I had done the younger voice in a number of the “Batman: The Animated Series” flashbacks, so Andrea knew that I could do it. And once I got into the studio and gave them a sample, they were convinced. The challenge is making the distinctions – you have to make concessions for youth and give the character the sound of a younger man, while still believably being the same guy.

Question:
At its core, this film represents several different perspectives of Batman, providing many different layers to the character. Can you discuss that range of emotions the film explores, and to what depths you reach to capture those emotions?

Kevin Conroy:
It’s that delicate balance you get in voices. As an actor, it’s still the same job – it’s acting – except that you only have your voice, and you have to be a little more precise in finding the balance. You have to keep it very minimal and you don’t want to be too cartoony, but at the same time you only have your voice to tell the story – so you have to juice it up a bit. Sometimes the hardest acting is in the non-dialogue aspects of the performance. As an example, there was one long scream when Batman is falling down a series of ladders into a pit. They recorded that over and over and over again, trying to figure out how to do it just right, and not overdue it. I had to give them lots of variations and I’m sure they picked the best one later. Overall, it was a little challenging with the different artistic styles and the different stories, but it was still Batman.

Question:
The legions of Batman animation fans have hailed you as the definitive voice of the character. How did you originally settle on that particular voice?

Kevin Conroy:
To tell the truth, after reading the original script, I really went to audition for the character voices – like Commissioner Gordon and Harvey Bullock. Like most actors, I really love to be challenged, and I thought they’d be more interesting and really push me. And then Bruce (Timm) and Andrea (Romano) said they wanted to hear me do Batman. The only exposure I’d had was the campy Adam West live-action series, and they said that wasn’t what they wanted. So I put myself into a very dark place in my voice, and my voice got deeper and darker and huskier, and it came out very mysterious. I really just took a stab at what I thought the voice would be, and then I saw Bruce and Andrea and Paul (Dini) running around the booth, so I knew I either was very good or very bad. That’s how it started -- just me in a sound booth, them on the other side of the glass describing the character, and then the voice just came out of my imagination. And it worked. So initially I was much more interested in doing the character voices, but luckily they talked me into Batman.

Question:
Do you require a certain mindset to approach the voice of Batman?

Kevin Conroy:
There’s an emotional place I go to – Bruce (Timm) says he see it in me in the booth. It’s much more a psychology than just producing the sound. Batman is very complex. The Bruce Wayne voice is the real put-on. This is a guy who saw his parents murdered in front of him, and nobody would be normal and together after that. He feels like a freak inside. So to do the voice, you have to take on all that drama.

That’s why everyone relates to Batman – because everyone feels like a freak inside. Everyone has ghosts that they don’t want to show anyone else. All of us feel like we have that inside us. For me, that’s one of the most interesting aspects of the character – that a super hero would ultimately be based on that inner-freak that we all feel that we have.

Question:
In your mind, what’s special about playing Batman?

Kevin Conroy:
I think what I didn’t anticipate about voicing Batman was the fact that I was playing an icon – I just didn’t take into account how much Batman meant to so many people. Coming from a very conservative background, and not having extensive exposure to comic books and the character, it just never occurred to me. So in the beginning, I only thought of it as an acting job.

Question:
And now … you’re an icon in the Batman universe?

Kevin Conroy:
I’m always flattered that people actually know who the voices are. It seems to me such an anonymous job. But periodically, somebody recognizes me – it happened in a furniture store recently. To me, that’s truly amazing – first that someone knows who does the voice, and it’s even more amazing that someone would know the face of the voice. I think a lot of the reason that I’m so linked to Batman is because I’ve been doing it for so long. Before “Batman: The Animated Series,” there really hadn’t been a voice aside from Adam West. People knew Batman from the campy live action series, and the fans knew the Dark Knight comic books, but there hadn’t been a voice associated with the character, and certainly not a dramatic voice. I think I just lucked out because I was the one who started with it, and people grew up with that voice.

CELEBRATED NOVELIST GREG RUCKA DISCUSSES WRITING CHAPTER OF “BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHT,” THE THIRD DC UNIVERSE ANIMATED ORIGINAL FILM

Want a nice, frank conversation? Corner Greg Rucka and pick a subject. He is anything but restrained, speaking freely and constantly exuding the kind of creative flashpoint from which arises his fascinating array of benchmark characters.

Raised on California’s Central Coast, and schooled at Vassar College and USC, Rucka brings a street sensibility to his work – which has ranged from nearly a dozen novels and several short stories to a daunting list of comics, non-fiction essays and, now, a segment of the highly-anticipated animated film, “Batman Gotham Knight.”

“Batman Gotham Knight,” the third film in the ongoing series of DC Universe animated original PG-13 movies, will arrive July 8, 2008 on DVD and Blu-Ray disc, and will also be available that day On Demand via digital cable and for download through broadband sites. The film is produced as a collaboration between DC Comics, Warner Premiere, Warner Home Video and Warner Bros. Animation.

Rucka will make the trek from his Portland, Oregon home to Wizard World Chicago this June to attend the world premiere of “Batman Gotham Knight” and participate on the post-premiere panel. With Rucka joining producer Bruce Timm and fellow BGK writers Alan Burnett and Brian Azzarello on the panel (and quite possibly a few yet-to-be-announced special guests), it promises to be an extremely entertaining evening.

Rucka has already built an astonishing career, complete with his share of Eisner Awards for works like “Whiteout: Melt” and “Gotham Central: Half a Life.” His characters, most notably bodyguard Atticus Kodiak and “Queen & Country” series protagonist Tara Chace, have drawn a legion of fans into his literary wake. He’s written for some of DC Comics’ best-known characters, including Superman and Wonder Woman. Inspired by his graphic novel of the same name, “Whiteout” will come to theaters as a major motion picture later this fall with Kate Beckinsale in the lead role.

But Batman is the subject today – and Rucka is happy to share his thoughts. For his segment, entitled “Crossfire,” Rucka brings to animated life the detectives familiar to fans of his “Gotham Central” comics – highlighted by the starring role of Crispus Allen. In the segment, which is the second chapter of the six-part film, the Gotham City police don’t trust the mysterious Dark Knight – until they get a first-hand experience of his power and integrity while both detectives and super hero are under fire.

If you want to read a great Greg Rucka biography, or two, go to his website – www.gregrucka.com. It’s worth the trip. What you won’t read there is the following Q&A and if you like that, there’s even more interesting information, images, shout-outs and a brand new widget at the film’s official website: www.BATMANGOTHAMKNIGHT.com.

Question:
As this is your first time writing for animation, how did you feel about the translation of your words to the screen?

Greg Rucka answers:
It was dynamite, especially the final sequences of my segment. It was almost exactly what I was going for. What was really cool was to hear Kevin Conroy say stuff that I typed. I’ve written some screen stuff before, but I haven’t written Batman for the screen before. That’s cool on one level. But I love those Alan Burnett-Bruce Timm-Paul Dini animated series – I thought it was revolutionary – and Kevin was central to that.

Question:
As this film is produced in an anime-style, does the look of your segment come close to the way you envisioned that world?

Greg Rucka answers:
I try not to set my expectations to high or have any preconceived notions, because everything has to go through so many hands of creation. “Batman Begins” did such a great job of building Gotham that that was the Gotham that I was writing. In that sense, it is the city as I imagined it.

My biggest gripe is the pacing of the dialogue – I think I heard everything a lot crisper in my head. Like during this one conversation between the two main cops, I was trying to achieve the unique relationship between partners, and the familiarity that comes when they spend hours at a time talking in their car. Instead it was very heavy and argumentative.

But the flipside is that I really like the segment, and the film itself is brilliantly done. In a way, this is just like writing a comic in that it’s an entirely collaborative process. But trying to always be open to that collaboration and what it’s going to bring is a hard part of the job.

Question:
Were there any particular visuals that struck you within your segment?

Greg Rucka answers:
The image of Batman coming through flaming wreckage was pretty much exactly as I wanted it. I really was trying to get the psychological impact of seeing this man, who maybe isn’t a man if you don’t know, coming through the flames – literally a walking, talking, burning bush, standing and staring the villain down. If somebody was staring me down from the middle of flames, they could have anything they want. I think the animators executed that really well.

I also really like this moment when you’re in the squad room and you see the Batman silhouette through the dusted glass – because that was an image that I clearly had in my mind when I wrote it. You see what the detectives are seeing – not the Batman, but a shadow of the Batman. That visually goes to the trust issues.

Question:
Was there anything you definitely wanted to incorporate into your segment?

Greg Rucka answers:
I wanted that revolutionary moment for Crispus Allen, that moment of understanding of exactly what Batman is in the context of Gotham. I won’t give away any spoilers, but in that moment, that came across really well, too.

Ultimately, getting to use Cris was just great. And it was especially neat seeing Cris get picked up in some of the other pieces I didn’t write. In my 10 years of working for DC, there aren’t a whole slew of characters that I created that have been given legs and moved into the wider world. So just seeing Cris in three other segments was kind of a hoot.

Question:
How were you approached and what made you say yes?

Greg Rucka answers:
It was pretty much a no-brainer for me. It’s Batman, it’s animated … if you’ve gotten to write Batman before, then you know – it’s a thrill. It’s really, really fun. Plus, I was asked to bring that Gotham Central segment to this film, and that appealed to me on so many levels – particularly to my ego, in the sense that I love that element in that universe.

That approach really gives the everyman element – the view from the street. Most of the time in comics, and even in animation, we’re with the guy in the suit. And you forget what that guy in the suit looks like to everyone else.

Question:
How was the writing process for an animated film different than for comics?

Greg Rucka answers:
When you script comics, you can’t script action – you can only script a moment of action. Writing for film or television or animation or live-action changes that. You can write a sentence that says “running across the road” and they’ll actually run across the road. That’s the most obvious mechanical element. When you write a comic strip, I tend to be very controlling of what the camera is doing. When you’re writing for film, whatever the format, that’s not really your job. That’s the director’s job. So it becomes a task of conveying what information has to be seen – what the viewer must know – and hopefully the director gets it.

Question:
What were you setting out to accomplish in your segment in terms of balancing the theme of trust with all the action?

Greg Rucka answers:
The action element is easier to accomplish because you know there’s going to be a gun battle – I described some specifics, but I’m not going to script out the action beat by beat by beat. That would take 40 pages for 20 seconds of screen time. But the trust issue influences the writing at every level. My overriding thought was this: Gotham has no trust in the people it should trust, and that’s had a tremendous effect on all cops, especially the few good cops who have tried to do right. Crispus Allen is one of the good guys. But what he wonders is that, in a world where the most reprehensibly corrupt group is the cops, how are we going to fix that by turning to a masked guy who doesn’t have to answer to anybody?

Question: You’ve had some notable experience working on Batman – can you compare the differences in working on this Batman tale vs. the Batman, Detective Comics and Gotham Central comics?

Greg Rucka answers:
Almost everything I’ve written for Batman treats him as a fully established entity in that world. He’s known and he’s trusted. Every now and then there’s a story line that tries to shake that up, but we all know how that’ll end. Gotham Knight fits very tightly in the gap of continuity between the two (live-action) movies, right between that moment of introduction in Batman Begins and his first major battle in Dark Knight, so I’m getting to write it fresh – to write characters who are seeing Batman for the first time. Those were rich moments.

Question:
Are there any rules for you in writing for Batman?

Greg Rucka answers:
This is my favorite kind of Batman – when you see him in short bursts. Chris Nolan really made that point in “Batman Begins.” For Batman to work psychologically, you can’t see him coming. That’s the essence of the character. If YOU are watching the movie, and he’s about to leap off a building, sure, do a long sweeping shot of him and eat it up with a spoon. But if your point of view is that of one of the characters, nobody should see him for long. If you’re in Gordon’s POV, then he shouldn’t get a good look at the guy. Batman is always goal oriented – he’s not going to waste time. I think the key to writing Batman is to give him the fewest words possible, because he’s there to get the job done.

Question:
What’s your attraction to Batman?

Greg Rucka answers:
Aside from the cool factor? I love the inherent tragedy of the man. The really good characters in Gotham are filled with pathos. Your heart breaks for them – and especially for Bruce Wayne. When Batman is made properly, and Batman Begins certainly did this, what you’re seeing is a man who is driven by a fundamentally altruistic mission, even if it’s for the most personal reasons. And it’s a mission that he’s doomed to fail at. Still, he doesn’t stop. There was a line that I used in a Batman comic – and I’ve heard it echoed elsewhere – that Batman is on a fool’s errand. Well, it is a fool’s errand, but that doesn’t make him a fool.

Question:
You have extensive experience within comic book arena – what made this your genre of choice?

Greg Rucka answers:
It was purely by accident. I’m a novelist, but I’m also a novelist who has always loved comics. So when the opportunity came, I was going to take it. I had written a couple of novels, and I had an idea of a comic – Whiteout – and as a result I was brought to the attention of Denny O’Neil at DC Comics. He had read my novels, and he asked if I had any interest in doing some Batman stories. I was in New York at the time, and I said “Hell Yeah!” On the flight back, I wrote the whole script for the first story. I typed it up when I got home, sent it off a day later, and they called and said “What do you want to do next?” And all of a sudden, I was in the clutches of DC Comics, from which I’ve never fully escaped.

Question:
Where else would you like to creatively venture?

Greg Rucka answers:
I’ve got an interest in everything – books, comics, live-action, animation. I’ve got two young kids, so I’m trying to come up with a good young kids story. If I’ve got it in me, I’d like to find it. I’d also love to do a project that involved the colonial period of American history – it’s a period of such remarkable courage, and that appeals to me, maybe because of where we are in the journey of this nation right now.

Question:
As a writer, what do you see as the positives and negatives of the extreme passion of the comics fans today?

Greg Rucka answers:
The great thing about comics fandom is that it’s immediate. I write a novel and it’ll be a year before people tell me what they think of it. Comics fans react that day. Comics are in many ways like soap operas in that the fanbase rests mostly in the characters. Consequently, the fans can be prone to hysteria. With the prevalence of the internet, there’s been this movement where everyone wants to be an insider, everyone has an opinion, and everyone wants to spread the information as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, a lot of times, the information is wrong or horribly incomplete. That’s the huge downside. You have people reviewing the first 22 pages of a story arc that is going to span months, and that’s like judging a novel on the first paragraph of the book. You can’t judge the story before you know what it is – that’s what I find most annoying. But at the end of the day, you also have to remember that these things don’t exist without that fanbase – and they are devoted … and vocal.

Question:
As a comic book fan, and a comic book writer, is there a better time to be a “geek”?

Greg Rucka answers:
This is the summer of the geek. Go down the line of movies and look what’s coming up, and it’s going to be insane. It’s truly fantastic and flattering to be a part of it. It’s not often you get to have a role in something that is going to live and endure long after you’re gone, and to have been a part of that legacy in any way, shape or form is an honor.

Question:
There have been so many different takes on Batman – how did you know yours was the right one?

Greg Rucka answers:
I don’t. But it’s the right one for me.

EISNER AWARD-WINNING WRITER BRIAN AZZARELLO DISCUSSES WRITING FOR THE UPCOMING DC UNIVERSE ORIGINAL ANIMATED FILM, “BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHT”

One of the most sought-after writers in comics today, Brian Azzarello is one of the six acclaimed scribes to pen a segment within “Batman Gotham Knight,” the third in the ongoing series of DC Universe animated original PG-13 movies.

Unlike many of his past works, Azzarello’s segment – entitled “Working Though Pain” – takes a decidedly non-violent direction. The segment, which falls chronologically as the fifth of the six segments, explores an early chapter of Bruce Wayne’s training as a mysterious and exotic Indian woman named Cassandra introduces Batman to techniques that would help him to conquer the physical and spiritual consequences of what he does.

Azzarello achieved widespread notoriety – and garnered multiple Eisner Awards – for “100 Bullets,” a collaboration with artist Eduardo Risso which was published by Vertigo for DC Comics. He has continually broken new ground with offerings like Vertigo’s “Jonny Double,” “Hellblazer” and “Loveless” series. Azzarello is no stranger to Batman, having written for the character in “Broken City,” “Batman/Deathblow: After the Fire,” within the “Batman Gotham Knights” series and in “Lex Luthor: Man of Steel.”

A Chicago resident, Azzarello will travel across town to join fellow “Batman Gotham Knight” writers Alan Burnett and Josh Olson, along with producer Bruce Timm, for the film’s world premiere at Wizard World Chicago in late June. "Batman Gotham Knight" will arrive July 8, 2008 on DVD and Blu-Ray disc, and will also be available that day On Demand via digital cable and for download through broadband sites. The film is produced as a collaboration between DC Comics, Warner Premiere, Warner
Home Video and Warner Bros. Animation.

Azzarello took time away from his Mac Power Book to discuss “Batman Gotham Knight,” the character of Batman, the motivations of a writer, and a little cooking, too.

Question: For starters, what was your overall impression of “Batman Gotham Knight,” and were you pleased with your segment?

Brian Azzarello says:
I liked the film – it’s a very interesting take on the Batman character. It holds together cohesively, yet each episode is strikingly different. And I loved (my segment) – it’s great. I really liked the animation. It was fascinating seeing my words moving around. When I write, I see it in print – I don’t see it moving. So it was fun and it was a good experience.

Question: How did you find the translation from your written page to the vision of the Japanese director and artists?

Brian Azzarello says:
I was surprised how seamless the translation was. I definitely got what I wrote. The hospital scene is almost exactly the way I thought of it, while the fight scenes – that’s where the animators really put their “wow” into it. But I expected that. Usually that’s where the animators just go crazy.

Question: Were there any particular visuals that struck you within your segment?

Brian Azzarello says:
Seeing wounded Batman – now that struck me. I enjoy wounded Batman. It humanizes him. It showed a true physical struggle, and that’s something you can relate to. And the character Cassandra was a bit hotter than I thought she’d be … but that’s okay.

Question: When you’re writing for comics – and now for animation – do you put fairly detailed direction between the dialogue, or is it more of a collaborative process for you and the artist/animator?

Brian Azzarello says:
I wrote the script and then I handed it off, and that’s pretty much the same relationship I have in comics. I really trust my collaborators, and I try to leave them plenty of room so they can bring their strengths to the work. I think that happened in this film, and definitely for my segment – the animation is just amazing. Really amazing.

I have more of an affinity for the stage than I do for the screen, so I’m very conscious of the dialogue. And because I’ve always worked with collaborators, I tend to leave the visuals up to them – on purpose. It’s my belief that if I get the dialogue right, and the artist understands what motivates the characters and what they’re saying, then the visuals will come.

Question: You’re fairly particular about the projects you accept. How’d you get involved with this film, and what made you say yes?

Brian Azzarello says:
Gregory Noveck of DC Comics talked to my agent, then I had a conference call to discuss the story. They explained the film to me in broad strokes, and asked me to come up with an idea. I chose to focus more on Bruce Wayne, and they liked my pitch. As always happens, they needed the script yesterday, and I was I was on my way to Europe at the time. All I can tell you is that the hotel room in Barcelona was pretty nice, but I can’t tell you much about the city.

Question: You were quoted in a UGO article as saying “Hollywood is nowhere I aspire to be” … and yet, here you are. What happened?

Brian Azzarello says:
Well, the production may be in Hollywood, but I’m in Chicago – and I’m going to stay here. Is that semantics? I’m not sure. I enjoy doing the work, and I really liked writing for this project – I’d like to do it again. And I know there are people that would kill to work in Hollywood. I’m just not one of those people. I’ll do it, I have done it, but the project has to be right. I’ve been asked to write a lot of things that I’ve declined mainly because the projects didn’t interest me. If I were just writing to pull a paycheck, there’s a lot of other things I could be doing.

Question: What’s your motivation for writing?

Brian Azzarello says:
If I have a story, if I have something to say, that’s my motivation. For this film, I had something to say about Bruce Wayne as a character, what his motivations are. That there’s something dark and wrong about what drives him. Batman is a super hero and he does good. But I think the Bruce Wayne part of the character’s motivation is slightly twisted. Bruce’s motivations don’t come from a good place. He’s angry and, in that revenge is really his goal, he’s a dishonest character. That’s why he has to wear a mask. He’s doing good, but he’s not doing all the right things for all the right reasons.

That plays into this story. It should be a story about non-violence, but that’s the lesson that Bruce doesn’t learn. On the surface, Bruce is on a spiritual journey, but his spirit was corrupted when his parents were killed. And it’s not something that I think he’s even interested in fixing.

Question: How much research was involved in scripting a story set in India that focuses on the mind-over-matter theme of conquering your pain from within?

Brian Azzarello says:
I spent a lot of time surfing (the Internet) – it’s a wonder how we all have libraries at our fingerprints these days. I needed to do research on India, and I gathered a lot of information on pain management. What I learned is that a lot of pain management practitioners are con men.

Question: You’ve had some notable experience working on Batman – can you compare the differences in working on this Batman tale vs. “Batman/Deathblow: After the Fire” and “Broken City” or the “Batman: Gotham Knights” comics?

Brian Azzarello says:
Every time I approach Batman, I like to come from a different angle. In Deathblow, I saw him as a James Bond-type but on an urban level. For Broken City, he was the bitter private eye. On this project, I guess he’s lying to himself. He’s not intentionally conning Cassandra, but he does ultimately con her. He wants to learn what she knows, but he doesn’t want to know it for the reasons she teaches it. She finally figures out that he’s doing it for the wrong reason, but it isn’t until the end – and it’s not until then that even he understands that he’s been lying to himself.

Question: What are you reading these days?

Brian Azzarello says:
I have a stack of books – The Crime Writer by Gregg Hurwitz; one of Jason Starr’s novels; and then I’ve got Mario Batali’s Italian Grill cookbook. I actually read a lot of cookbooks – I grew up around cooking, and cooking really relaxes me. Nine times out of 10, I’m cooking something Italian, but the weather is turning, so my grill has been fired up a lot lately. I love barbeque – it’s great to cook something for 8-10 hours. That’s such an American way of cooking, but I try to bring a lot of Mediterranean influences into that.

Question: So if you could hand-pick your next achievement, what would it be – win another Eisner, write the next Batman, or have your own show on Food Network?

Brian Azzarello says:
Well, having my own cooking show sounds like no work at all. Winning another Eisner would be nice. But I think I’d have to pick writing the next Batman – that would be the biggest challenge for me. As a freelancer, if you’re not challenging yourself, nobody is. Every day I have to paint myself into a corner and then write my way out of it.

AWARD-WINNING WRITER ALAN BURNETT DISCUSSES “BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHT,” THE THIRD DC UNIVERSE ANIMATED ORIGINAL MOVIE

Alan Burnett has spent more consecutive years “in the Batcave” than anyone in animation history.

Not counting his stint on “Super Friends” in 1983, Burnett has constantly helped bring the Batman’s legacy to animation since 1991 – when he began scripting episodes of “Batman: The Animated Series,” the Emmy®-winning production widely considered a pivotal moment in American animation.

This summer, the latest animated venture into the Dark Knight’s mythos takes an altogether different approach than anything produced during Burnett’s 17-year association with the character. Burnett served as movie story editor and the writer of the anchoring segment of “Batman Gotham Knight,” the third in the ongoing series of DC Universe animated original PG-13 movies.

“Batman Gotham Knight” is a fresh and exciting new film weaving six interlocking stories that reveal Bruce Wayne’s journey to The Dark Knight, each with stylish art from some of the world’s most revered Japanese animation visionaries. The film features stories written by several of the most talented scribes of film, comic books and animation, including Burnett, Academy Award®-nominated screenwriter Josh Olson (“A History of Violence”), David S. Goyer (“Batman Begins:), Jordan Goldberg (Associate Producer, “The Dark Knight”), and award-winning comics writers Greg Rucka and Brian Azzarello.

Burnett, Azzarello and Josh Olson, along with producer Bruce Timm, have already confirmed their participation on the panel following the world premiere of “Batman Gotham Knight” at Wizard World Chicago in late June. “Batman Gotham Knight” will arrive July 8, 2008 on DVD and Blu-Ray disc, and will also be available that day On Demand via digital cable and for download through broadband sites. The film is produced as a collaboration between DC Comics, Warner Premiere, Warner Home Video and Warner Bros. Animation.

An anime fan, Burnett said he was very intrigued and inspired by the idea of allowing Japanese directors to have relatively free reign on the animated look of Batman.

“From a visual point of view, this is the most stylized Batman that’s come out of Warner Bros. -- what they’ve done is really eye-catching, and it truly expands his world,” Burnett said. “Their visualization of Gotham City is stunning, and it’s very interesting to see how they’ve envisioned Batman, his environment and his action and movements.”

Burnett’s stellar talents have merited four Emmy Awards, three Annie Awards and two Humanitas Prizes. His work within the Batman realm includes as a series producer on “Batman and Superman” and “Batman Beyond,” and most recently as supervising producer and story editor for Warner Bros. Animation’s four-time Emmy Award-winning series “The Batman.” In the direct-to-DVD arena, Burnett co-produced and co-wrote the animated feature film “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm,” was supervising producer and writer for “Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman,” and served as producer on the feature-length “Batman Beyond: Return of The Joker.”

For “Batman Gotham Knight,” Burnett served as story editor for the entire film, and writer of the sixth and final segment, “Deadshot.” The segment ties together threads from all the film’s chapters as Batman must thwart an unerring assassin whose love of guns and disregard for human life lets him cross lines that even a Dark Knight shies away from.

Burnett said having the opportunity to finally bring the villainous Deadshot to the screen was instant motivation to pen the script. First, “Batman Gotham Knight” provided the perfect vehicle for a villain associated solely with guns – an attitude that flies in direct opposition to Batman’s anti-gun approach to heroism. The anti-gun theme is prevalent throughout the film. Moreover, because television standards do not allow the use of “real” bullets in children’s programming, Deadshot has been kept out of Batman’s animated legacy. For Burnett, this was the first opportunity to portray Deadshot as he is known in comics.

“I’ve always liked Deadshot as a villain, and I really like stories with assassins,” Burnett explained. “The fact that they’re killers, and what they do has impact, automatically heightens the energy of the story.”

In addition to writing the script “Deadshot,” Burnett also story-edited the film, ensuring all six scripts – from six different, widely-acclaimed writers – worked fluidly together to interconnect into one story. The ever-modest Burnett said his job entailed little more than a few alterations for flow and continuity while he attempted to maintain each writer’s individualism.

“I thought it was important to keep the integrity of each writer’s words,” Burnett said. “The writers all pretty much had the same voice for Batman, so I had to change very little dialogue – just small fixes to tie up loose ends, and reinforce transitions and connections between the stories. But I did as little editing as I could because I respected what the writers wrote, and I thought it was important that their voice was heard. Just as the artists made their segments their own, so should the writers.”

Overall, Burnett is pleased with the final product, and excited to see the fans’ reactions to the film – particularly the use of shorter segments to tell great Batman stories.

“For my segment, I think the first Deadshot murder is quite good – there’s a lot of eye candy within the cityscape. The artists added fireworks and balloons and a lot of interesting elements to what ultimately is a cold-blooded murder,” Burnett said. “I like the short-form for Batman, because it feels almost like a 22-page comic book story. In short form, the stakes are elevated from the beginning, and it gives you a chance to really heighten the action quickly – so you can make your points hard and fast and get out.

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