(I originally wrote a version of this for Modern Myth Media.)
TV Guide has exclusively revealed the identity of the man who’ll voice the Joker in the two-part animated adaptation of THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS.
Michael Emerson (IMDb), who stars as mild-mannered, big-brained Machine mastermind Mr. Finch in the hit CBS series PERSON OF INTEREST (which is a huge hit in my household and has its first season available on Blu-ray today), will bring the Crown Prince of Crime to undoubtedly creepy and charismatic life with his distinctive vocal gifts.
Perhaps not entirely coincidentally, PERSON OF INTEREST was created by Jonathan Nolan (IMDb), who helped his big brother deliver us a certain superhero franchise that just clocked its second billion-dollar-earning entry. If you need a weekly dose of the trademark Nolan mix of action and morality offered by the Batman films, be sure to tune in for the premiere of the second season on September 27!
What a weirdly perfect choice. I’ve been kinda critical of some of the casting choices (among other things) in a lot of these recent DC Original DTV movies, but man… between Peter Weller as Batman, Wade Williams as Two-Face, Michael McKean as Dr. Wolper and now Michael Emerson as The Joker, Andrea Romano has proven she’s still the best vocal casting director in the business.
(And damn, September 27th can’t get here fast enough!)
“Weirdly perfect” is a perfect way to put it, Alex! Do you watch Person of Interest? I highly recommend it.
The voice casting on this IS pretty phenomenal, and I do agree with you that some of the casting choices (among other things) in DC’s animated films have been a little shaky lately. (Batman in Batman: Year One in particular.)
The connection that some of you may be missing is that John (from POI) “whispers” a lot, just like Batman. Can we call it the “Nolan Brothers Whisper”?
Oh yeah, I love “Person of Interest”. It’s great sci-fi (and it’s optimistic sci-fi, which we desperately need!) but it’s almost like a superhero show without costumes… and between Elias and Root they’re even starting to build a recurring rogues gallery of pseudo-supervillains.
The concept reminds me a lot of the early Chuck Dixon “Birds of Prey” stuff when it was just Babs (Finch) and Dinah (Reese), but with more focus on the machine as a life-form this season it’s starting to go a really interesting direction.