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.