Batman Year One The Animated Movie

Anyone know what context the "f-bomb" is dropped in this movie?

Interesting to hear they did it.

-R
 
One of the reviews mentioned it.
 
I really hope it's in a Superman-Batman opinions exchange.
 
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The review I read on IMDB wasn't too high on the movie it seemed. I'll probably still see it anyway
 
Most of the reviews are positive.

Comic-Con: Batman: Year One Review

One of the best DC original animated movies yet.

by Cindy White

You can always count on DC Universe titles to be entertaining, especially for fans of the original comics and characters. Though they've already done several Batman stories, they've never done one quite like this before. Fans of the original comic by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli should be pleased with this adaptation, which stays true to the source material and maintains its gritty, realistic tone.

Batman: Year One is as much about Lt. Jim Gordon (Breaking Bad's always terrific Bryan Cranston) as it is about Bruce Wayne (Southland's Ben McKenzie). The story takes place over the course of a year, beginning as Jim and Bruce arrive in Gotham at the same time. While Jim is looking to start a new life, Bruce tries to fit back into his old one. Their stories parallel each other as they each try to clean up the city in their own way. They're two different instruments of justice, and neither of them really has any idea what they're doing most of the time.

Bruce returns to Wayne Manor from his long absence knowing that something must be done about the disintegrating quality of life in Gotham City. He just doesn't know what. He trains and builds up his strength with no clear direction until he asks for a sign, and gets one in the form of a bat perched on a bust of his father. It's an iconic moment, handled with the appropriate reverence. Meanwhile, as the only honest cop in a department full of corruption, Jim faces conflict on both sides of the law. With a baby on the way, his priority is keeping his family safe, but between his crooked colleagues, organized crime bosses and a new vigilante going around at night dressed up as a bat, it's no small task.

Fortunately, it turns out that Jim Gordon is kind of a badass. You can't help but root for him, even when he steps out of line. He's not perfect, but then no one in this story is. The characters in Batman: Year One are all deeply flawed, which makes them all the more human.

The third origin story we get in Year One is Catwoman's, voiced by Eliza Dushku. Because of the strong focus on the twin paths of Lt. Gordon and Bruce Wayne, her story is condensed to a few limited but effective scenes. It's really little more than a setup for the DC Showcase short based on her that will be included on the DVD, although she does provide some of the humor in the movie. Of which there is plenty, by the way; it's not all just darkness and despair. There's one particular moment with Bruce in a bathrobe reminiscent of Basic Instinct that had the crowd roaring in the screening. This version of Jim Gordon also has a dry wit that makes for some amusing moments as well. Those lighthearted moments help make for a totally engaging, well-rounded viewing experience.

It helps that the voices are so well cast. Cranston brings all the sides of Gordon to life, his frustration, anguish, integrity and humanity. McKenzie gives us a different side of Bruce Wayne, as he finds his confidence and tries to figure out who Batman is. In another bit of brilliant casting, Katee Sackhoff plays Det. Sarah Essen, whose relationship with Lt. Gordon turns into something neither of them intends. Dushku doesn't get much of a chance to shine as Selena Kyle, though. We'll have to wait for the short to fully appreciate her take on the character.

Wisely, the directors stick closely to Miller's original ideas, pulling panels and even direct lines from the pages of the comic. The tone is much darker than the previous animated films, with mature themes. Like the comic did before it, this film helps to push the boundaries of what can be done in animation way past the old kiddie cartoons of old. This is real, serious adult entertainment that should satisfy longtime fans and newcomers as well.
http://movies.ign.com/articles/118/1183831p1.html

Comic-Con 2011: Batman: Year One Coverage and Panel

We take a side trip to Gotham for the world premiere of Batman: Year One at Comic-Con 2011. And it was awesome.

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By Jordan Hoffman

Batman: Year One premiered for 4500 eager fans at the San Diego Comic-Con and I believe every single one of them came away with their expectations met or exceeded. My only beef is that it really should be called Gordon: Year One. But that's something I should discuss with Frank Miller, not the team of Bruce Timm, Sam Liu, Lauren Montgomery and Andrea Romano - a group of filmmakers who are absolutely unstoppable right now.

Superhero cartoons are for kids? Nonsense. This tale of how Batman's first days change Gotham City, essentially an essay on social reform, is as dark as anything produced by Christopher Nolan. Marital infidelity, child prostitution and civic corruption are bluntly (although tastefully) displayed - it just so happens that there's also a guy zipping around town in a bat suit.

Unlike Nolan's Batman Begins, Batman: Year One leaves the mechanics of Bruce Wayne's transformation into the Dark Knight Detective off screen, focusing primarily on Gotham City's other great defender of righteousness: Jim Gordon.

We meet him as he first makes his transfer to the City of Crime, admitting in voice over that he has misgivings about his wife's pregnancy. Man's inhumanity to man has hollowed him out. "I hate the job, hate the gun, but I keep practicing" he incants on the firing range. When Batman arrives on the scene he recognizes in him a true partner.

As in Miller's original, there's the origin of Selena Kyle and Catwoman. She's portrayed sympathetically; a "working girl" inspired by Batman's vigilantism, but uses the technique for her own "getting by." There's a great three-way showdown when she and Batman both target the local crime boss Falcone - he for collecting evidence, she for collecting loot.

Visually, Batman: Year One is masterful and iconic. Set in the 1980s (a VHS and Beta store makes that clear) there are occasional new wave flourishes, though this is still Gotham we're talking about. The most striking images involve light playing off Gordon's glasses (watch for the Straw Dogs reference) or Bruce Wayne alone in his mansion. Chase sequences are somewhat stylized with blurring techniques and the roly-poly faces of the baddie politicos pull no punches.

Much like the recent Batman: Under the Red Hood, this is a REAL movie. We in the US are a little late in accepting animation as a medium for adults - and using characters that are often Slurpee cup tie-ins don't help - but I think the pacing, art and voice performance from Bryan Cranston as Jim Gordon might really change some opinions.

Batman: Year One will be out on DVD and Blu-ray in October. In a parallel world it's playing in theaters.
http://www.ugo.com/movies/comic-con-...rage-and-panel

COMIC-CON REVIEW: Batman: Year One

by: Jason Adams

REVIEW: Though Frank Miller has received some critical backlash for his more recent explorations of the Caped Crusader with “All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder” and “The Dark Knight Strikes Again,” his 1986-1987 arc “Batman: Year One” remains the seminal telling of Batman’s origin story. And what better way to pay tribute to one of the best comic books ever than by being incredibly faithful to it?

That’s exactly what Warner Animation Studios has done with their cinematic adaptation BATMAN: YEAR ONE. The movie is literally the comic come to life, nearly verbatim. I can’t really remember anything that’s been changed or omitted from Miller’s original story. The major plot points and emotional elements are there, the characters are completely intact, and David Mazzucchelli’s straightforward, loosely stylized artwork is preserved in impressive fluid motion.

Pretty much the only variable thus left to chance were the voice actors who were tasked with the tough job of convincingly reciting Miller’s heavy prose. While “Breaking Bad” star Bryan Cranston is brilliant casting as the voice of young James Gordon, Ben McKenzie (“The O.C.”) had me worried as Bruce Wayne. (Especially as a Kevin Conroy purist.) It took a little getting used to, but after a while it clicked for me, especially as this Bruce Wayne/Batman is a much different character than we’re used to seeing in most other animated forms. And McKenzie’s gruff Dark Knight voice works as well, perhaps even a little less silly than Christian Bale’s. Also successfully behind the mic are “Battlestar Galactica’s” Katee Sackhoff as Gordon’s partner Essen and fanboy fave Eliza Dushku as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, whose character I still find a little extraneous to this story.

On one hand it’s great to see Miller’s work done justice and the movie is both exciting and entertaining because of it. But if you’ve read the original series, then there’s not too much in the way of surprises as you’ll know exactly what’s is going to happen. As a film on its own, BATMAN: YEAR ONE walks a fine line for notoriously picky fanboys, somewhere between “Too faithful!” and “How dare you change a word of my favorite comic!” I can’t really suggest an easy fix to that problem, or if it’s really even an issue, but it was definitely something that crossed my mind as I was watching it.

Another aspect worth mentioning is that this is really a movie as much about James Gordon as it is about Bruce Wayne and his title persona, which is definitely reflective of the source material, but might be surprising to casual fans. Thankfully, Gordon is a gripping character in this movie. In fact, I think his scenes cleaning up the dirty Gotham cops, by cunning and by force, are probably more interesting and got a bigger reaction than most of the Batman stuff. That could be from Miller’s treatment of the character as well as the fact that Gordon is typically unexplored compared to the Caped Crusader.

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BATMAN: YEAR ONE is also fairly violent and hardcore for an animated film like this. The fights are dirty, with plenty of blood, broken bones and characters stripped naked—definitely earning its PG-13 rating. All 5,000 fans that turned out for the Comic-Con screening were clearly engrossed, with every big moment or gruesome injury getting an audible reaction. When Gordon has that one moment of poor judgment (you know what I’m talking about if you’ve read the graphic novel) it sounded like people were losing their minds in the crowd.

One last interesting thing gleaned from watching the movie was just how much Christopher Nolan mined it for BATMAN BEGINS. It’s been probably at least a decade since I read “Batman: Year One” and I had forgotten a lot of the little moments and character shadings that clearly influenced the MEMENTO director’s successful reboot. A lot of that film series’ success is clearly built upon the foundation of Miller and his original story, so it’s hard not to recommend this faithful adaptation for any Batman fan.
http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/con-...tman-year-one-

SDCC: Batman Year One Preview

by Bryce Marrero

I was privileged enough to get a chance to see a screening of the new Batman animated film, Batman: Year One, based on the famous Frank Miller graphic novel of the same name. I haven't read the graphic novel myself, but I thought I had a good grasp on what the film would be about. Boy loses his parents, finds the means to fight injustice, and conquers all of his first-time jitters to become the Batman we all know and love. There is no way to sum up this great addition to the Batman lore in such a simplified way. Batman: Year One is a humanizing portrait of a city plagued with crime, and a hero tired of waiting for salvation.

The story mostly follows Jim Gordon as he begins to work for the Gotham city police. He finds himself being the only true good cop in a police force so corrupt they are basically hired guns. Gordon seeks to rid Gotham of it's corrupt police, while trying to keep the peace within the city. He is unknowingly going to have help from Bruce Wayne, who is learning who he needs to become in order to be the protector he wants to be for the city. Eventually, these two noble people come clashing into each others life, as it's Gordon's duty to arrest the Batman, and Bruce's duty to keep himself close to the organized crime lords so that he can prevent innocent citizens from being harmed.

Frank Miller's portrayal of Gotham City's characters could be considered poetic. The inner monologues of these characters give the audience a chance to dive deep into the psyche of what would otherwise be interpretation of characters we have seen before. You understand Gordon's drive to help a city that is pretty much burning in it's own criminal gunk, as well as his determination to give his unborn baby a chance to grow up in a good city. Every aspect, personality, and trait is enhanced by the fact that we can hear his inner thoughts. His confidence is amplified when we know he isn't just displaying it for displaying sake, but when we actually hear his inner intentions for his confidence it paints a character that is much more dynamic and layered than we are use to seeing.

Frank Miller is also able to show a more humanistic side of Batman. Everyone these days seem to be more focused on trying to make Batman real in the sense of someone being able to successfully have all of the tools needed to become a vigilante powerhouse, but Frank Miller manages to show a Batman that is real in the sense of someone putting on a simple costume, and going out into the most dangerous city of the country, trying to do what a horde of police could not achieve. He shows Batman with flaws, and more vulnerable than we are use to seeing. One who is as human as me or you, and still has to take baby steps in order to reach his desired goals.

The inner monologues themselves are often anything but straight forward. Frank Miller's voice overs are the closest thing to a poem you'll ever get in a Batman film. I love the scene where Batman has been shot, and he uses the bell that calls Alfred as a metaphor for whether he should kill himself or not. When a bat bursts into the home, and rests on his father's portrait, he simply replies, “I ring the bell.” and the audience already knows exactly what he means by his intentions. Miller's lyrical writing is the true gem of the film.

In terms of a narrative structure, the poetic voice-over execution is good at setting up the film as a noir story, much in the same way as Miller's writing had made Sin City a noir film. Usually, voice-overs within the narrative can often be repetitive and redundant, with characters pointing out aspects that the audience could have figured out themselves. However, Miller's writing is more focused on the character's state of mind, as well as what's at stake, instead of focusing on revelations. It helps keep the audience engaged without spoiling surprises.

My only nitpick about the narrative is how it can never settle on one character. Despite the title, this film is Jim Gordon's story. He is the one that arcs into trusting Batman and learning why he is necessary for Gotham to have. I'm not sure how much the graphic novel focused on Batman, but for this film Jim Gordon is the main character. With that in mind, it seems like the story will occasionally stop to address where Batman is at in his journey, and while Gordon's storyline is aiming towards a climax, Batman's is one of discovery, and completely different tonally than Gordon's. Gordon gets more screen time as well. I wish that they would have either added more material with Batman so that the two characters had an even amount of time within the film's narrative, a la The Godfather Part 2, or that Batman's presence would have been substantially lessened to make him seem more mysterious, and not bog down Gordon's story with Bruce Wayne's non-related journey. To add insult to injury, Catwoman's presence felt completely tacked on. It went from a nice cameo, to having a side story that didn't really add anything substantial to the narrative. I think the story would have felt more concise if they would have cut her story out, and added more scenes with Batman.

The voice acting felt new, but it didn't take long to get use to the voices. I'm so use to Kevin Conroy as Batman that anyone else is just going to feel awkward, but Ben McKenzie did an admirable job as Bruce Wayne/Batman; able to capture the unsureness of his actions that a young Batman would show, but still have the fearlessness that has become a signature for the character.

Bryan Cranston as Jim Gordon didn't take long to get use to. It felt like he stepped in the role and immediately understood the character completely. He was able to portray the calm, nobleness, and confident demeanor that we have seen in many of Jim Gordon's portrayals, but was able to add a layer of indecisiveness to the character that was a nice change of pace. This was the noir version of Jim Gordon, who isn't afraid to kick a few teeth in when he needs to set the record straight. By the end of the movie, you wish Bryan Cranston would play the character in a live action film.

The curse of watching something great months before it has been launched is that you can't watch it again until it's released. After watching the film I was begging for more. No matter how dark the Batman films get, Frank Miller knows how to make a grimly humanistic and real Batman story, that, as I said many times within the review, feels like Batman poetry.

After the screening there was a Q & A with Bryan Cranston, Ben McKenzie, Katee Sackhoff, executive producer Bruce Timm, directors Lauren Montgomery and Sam Liu, and casting/dialogue director Andrea Romano.

You may have wondered why I kept referencing Frank Miller as the genius behind this piece, instead of the film's producer, Bruce Timm. Timm admitted at the start of the panel that they pretty much used the graphic novel as the basis for the entire film, and made sure to be completely one-hundred percent faithful to the graphic novel. Therefore, Frank Miller was still behind everything that made the film great. The only aspect of the film they changed was enhancing moments for cinematic purposes, such as Gordon's fight scene. In the book, he just punches the corrupt cop, and walks away. In the film, he literally pummels the cop into a coma. It was a wise decision as a simple punch would have been anti-climatic, but it is still Frank Miller's words that make this film great.
http://un-wiredtv.com/index.php/movies/view/sdcc_batman_year_one_preview_and_panel/
 
Under the red hood was fabulous as are most of the DC animated films.


Worked with the panel at the Con and Year one was unbelievable. Gordon crushed the piece. The only problem as mentioned was Batman. At times the voice a little leaner with youth in it worked and at times it was powerless and out of place. But they put the books on screen. The segmentation, the atmosphere, and Millers crazy dialogue, all of it.
 
The Official Press Release for Batman: Year One:

THE LEGENDARY TALE COMES TO ANIMATED LIFE.

FRANK MILLER’S ORIGIN STORY OF THE DARK KNIGHT IN AN ALL-NEW ANIMATED MOVIE.

BATMAN: YEAR ONE IS COMING OCTOBER 18, 2011 FROM WARNER HOME VIDEO.

Three-time Emmy® Award winning Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston and Southland star Ben McKenzie are joined by Eliza Dushku, Katee Sackhoff, Jon Polito, Alex Rocco, Grey DeLisle among the stellar voice cast.

Available as a Two-Disc Special Edition DVD set, Single-Disc DVD and Blu-ray™ Combo Pack (Blu-Ray, Single-Disc DVD and Digital Copy).

Release also includes DC Showcase short Catwoman written by Paul Dini and Directed by Lauren Montgomery.

Comics legend Frank Miller’s classic telling of Batman’s gritty, formative days makes it's animated film debut in Batman: Year One. Produced by Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation, the all-new, PG-13 rated film arrives October 18, 2011 from Warner Home Video with a Two-Disc Special Edition DVD ($24.98), Single-Disc DVD ($19.98) and Blu-ray™ Combo Pack ($24.98), also available On Demand and for Download.

Batman: Year One is faithfully based on the landmark graphic novel written by 12-time Eisner Award winner Frank Miller and illustrated by David Mazzucchelli. The film depicts young Bruce Wayne’s return to Gotham City in his first attempts to fight crime as a vigilante. The billionaire chooses the frightening guise of a gigantic bat to help him combat criminals, he eventually creates a bond with Lieutenant James Gordon (who is also battling corruption inside the Gotham City Police Department), inadvertently plays a role in the origin of Catwoman, and helps to bring down a corrupt political system that infests Gotham City.

Three-time Emmy® Award winner Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) is the voice of Lieutenant James Gordon, while Ben McKenzie (Southland) gives voice to young Bruce Wayne/Batman. Jon Polito (Miller's Crossing) is the voice of corrupt Police Commissioner Gill Loeb. Alex Rocco (The Godfather) is the voice of crime lord the Roman. Eliza Dushku (Tru Calling) provides the voice of Selina Kyle/Catwoman. Katee Sackhoff (CSI) is the voice of Detective Sarah Essen. Grey DeLisle (The Flintstones: On the Rocks) is the voice of James Gordon's wife Barbara Gordon.

Animation master Bruce Timm (Batman: The Animated Series) is executive producer of Batman: Year One. The co-directors are Lauren Montgomery (Green Lantern: Emerald Knights) and Sam Liu (Godzilla: The Series). The extremely faithful screenplay was penned by Academy Award® nominee Tab Murphy (Gorillas in the Mist).

“Batman: Year One offers fans and newcomers alike an animated perspective on one of the true benchmark works in Batman comics history,” said Hersin Magante, Warner Home Video Marketing Manager, Family &, Animation. “Bruce Timm and the Warner Bros. Animation team have gone to great lengths to realize Frank Miller’s ground-breaking, influential vision. Batman: Year One stands tall as the next DC Universe Animated Original Movie.”

The Batman: Year One Two-Disc Special Edition DVD set includes:

• The Batman: Year One feature film.

• DC Showcase Animated Original Short – Catwoman.
This all-new animated short features the first first solo animated tale centered around Catwoman. The felonious feline’s adventure takes her through the seedy streets of Gotham City. Catwoman is voiced by Eliza Dushku.

• Featurette – Heart of Vengeance: Returning Batman to His Roots.
Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns provided the denouement of Batman's life. Frank Miller's next seminal work would provide his near-mythic origin in Batman: Year One. This documentary uncovers the contemporary genius of Frank Miller and the audience that was poised to appreciate the depths of his work.

• Two episodes from Batman: The Animated Series, handpicked by Bruce Timm - "Catwalk" (1995) and "Cult of the Cat" (1998), both written by Paul Dini.

• Preview of Justice League: Doom, the next DC Universe Animated Original Movie.

• Previews of the recent DC Universe Animated Original Movies Green Lantern: Emerald Knights and All-Star Superman.

The Batman: Year One Single-Disc DVD includes:

• The Batman: Year One feature film.

• DC Showcase Animated Original Short – Catwoman.

• Preview of Justice League: Doom, the next DC Universe Animated Original Movie.

• Previews of the recent DC Universe Animated Original Movies Green Lantern: Emerald Knights and All-Star Superman.

The Batman: Year One Blu-ray™ includes:

• The Batman: Year One feature film.

• Audio Commentary with co-producer Alan Burnett, co-director Sam Liu, voice director Andrea Romano and former DC group editor Mike Carlin.

• DC Showcase Animated Original Short – Catwoman.

• Featurette – Heart of Vengeance: Returning Batman to His Roots.

• Featurette – Conversations with DC Comics.
The Batman creative team at DC Entertainment discusses the personal influence of Batman: Year One on their careers. Executive producer Michael Uslan leads the chat amongst well-known writers, editors and artists of Batman lore, focusing their dialogue on the darker, realistic interpretation of Batman’s origins by Frank Miller.

• Batman: Year One, Chapter 1 Digital Comic Book.

• Two episodes from Batman: The Animated Series, handpicked by Bruce Timm - "Catwalk" (1995) and "Cult of the Cat" (1998), both written by Paul Dini.

• Preview of Justice League: Doom, the next DC Universe Animated Original Movie.

• Previews of the recent DC Universe Animated Original Movies Green Lantern: Emerald Knights and All-Star Superman.

• A Digital Copy on disc of the Batman: Year One feature film compatible with iTunes and Windows is included in the Batman: Year One Blu-ray™ Combo Pack.

BASICS
Street Date: October 18, 2011
Languages: English and Spanish
Audio: Dolby Surround Stereo
Color / Closed Captioned
MPAA Rating: PG-13

Front cover of the Batman: Year One Two-Disc Special Edition DVD set:
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Back cover of the Batman: Year One Two-Disc Special Edition DVD set:
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Front cover of the Batman: Year One Single-Disc DVD:
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Back cover of the Batman: Year One Single-Disc DVD:
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Front cover of the Blu-Ray Combo Pack (Blu-Ray, Single-Disc DVD and Digital Copy):
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Back cover of the Blu-Ray Combo Pack (Blu-Ray, Single-Disc DVD and Digital Copy):
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The official Batman: Year One website:
http://warnervideo.com/batmanyearonemovie/

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Producer Bruce Timm interviews:
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Director Lauren Montgomery interview:
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Co-Director Sam Liu interview:
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Voice Director Andrea Romano interview:
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Ben McKenzie (young Bruce Wayne/Batman) interviews:
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Katee Sackhoff (Detective Sarah Essen) interviews:
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Eliza Dushku (Selina Kyle/Catwoman) interviews:
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Fans, Eliza Dushku, Bruce Timm, Lauren Montgomery and Andrea Romano:
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Bryan Cranston said about Batman: Year One: "It was a lot of fun. You know, the reason I took that was—well, at first, I turned it down with the comment, 'Thank you, but I’m not interested in that.' And I told my agency why, and I guess the studio asked me why I would turn it down, so they told them. And they said, 'No, no, no, please, it’s not anything like the TV show' (referencing Adam West's light kiddie fare Batman). Because that’s what I thought. I was like, 'I don't want to do the 'Bang! Zoom! Kapow!' thing, saying things like, 'Get to the Batcave!' But they said, 'No, no, this is completely different,' and I said, 'Well, all right, I'll read the script.' So they sent me the script. My edict is, 'Everything I do really has to be well-written,' and it’s really served me well. And I read that, and I went, 'You know what? This is really well-written, and it’s complex.' Even the Commissioner Gordon role is complex, because he’s conflicted. Basically good, but he has some major character flaws. And it was, like, 'God, this is really interesting! This isn’t like a kid’s cartoon series. This is really in-depth!'"

Will Harris: "And dark."

Bryan Cranston: "It is. It really is. And moody."

http://www.avclub.com/articles/bryan-cranston,58817/


INTERVIEW WITH (SARAH ESSEN) KATEE SACKHOFF


TOONZONE NEWS: In this story you are Sarah Essen who is a cop, but also Jim Gordon’s mistress. How did you like that?

KATEE SACKHOFF: Yeah, well, it's fun, you know. It’s like your introduction to Batman and all of the sudden, you’re a home wrecker. It’s fantastic. I did a lot of studying for this role...um, kidding, totally kidding. Could you imagine if I was like, “Are you married? Do you want to sleep together?” “Yeah,” “Can we bring on your wife in on this, just talk about it, how she feels purely just for research?” It would’ve been awesome. Yeah, so it’s great. I grew up stealing my brother’s comic books and so I’ve always been obsessed with the Batman world and didn’t quite get to be a villain, but she sleeps with a married man, so I guess she kind of is.

INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR LAUREN MONTGOMERY

TOONZONE NEWS: Is Batman: Year One the best film you’ve worked on?

LAUREN MONTGOMERY: I personally really enjoy it. It’s a departure from the visual style that we see very often from Warner Brothers. They’ll try and do variations on it, but it never strays too much. This one has such a different color palette, it actually looks fairly different from the other ones. I think just because of that, it’s so refreshing. It’s also a much more realistic interpretation of the superhero, I really enjoy it. The fact that we got to do something different because we’ve been doing superhero stuff so often. Any time we get to kind of experiment with something with any sort of change is fun. It’s challenging.

TOONZONE NEWS: Did you look at the Batman: Year One graphic novel for reference at all?

LAUREN MONTGOMERY: Yes.

TOONZONE NEWS: The artwork has this really interesting and unique art style. The graphic novel also has this great dark color palette and these sorts of muted colors. Is that incorporated into the animation at all?

LAUREN MONTGOMERY: Yeah, we actually tried to follow it as closely as we could from the colors to the characters, and just tried to make Gotham as dirty and ugly as we possibly could. That’s just a harder thing to do than you realize, just getting the overseas artists to really put that extra detail in the backgrounds with just like cracks and trash. We kept getting these perfectly clean cities back and have to make notes, “It needs to be dirty. Put graffiti, put crap in there.” So yeah, it’s hard to make – you don’t realize how difficult it is to get a realistic looking alley way because when they’re painting it digitally, a lot of things tend to look pretty clean and pretty pristine. So just to go in and add that extra detail like things being crooked is that much more work. But we tried to get as much as that in there as we could so that the city really felt real.

TOONZONE NEWS: So is this the dirtiest, grungiest animated movie you’ve ever worked on?

LAUREN MONTGOMERY: I think so because a lot of our other ones – we’ve never really had a Gotham that has looked as dirty as this. It really needed to feel just miserable because so much of the comic is about Gordon being surrounded by corruption and just being miserable in Gotham, and Bruce realizing what Gotham is and wanting to make it better. So the city had to be a character in the movie itself. So we wanted to just make it feel like the dirty, sad Gotham that it needed to be.

TOONZONE NEWS: I think Bruce Timm mentioned the graphic novel almost being too short and having to expand on it a little bit. Can you comment on that at all?

LAUREN MONTGOMERY: It is too short or it was too short for our usual requirements which are in the seventy minute mark. I think Year One actually hits somewhere between sixty and seventy minutes. Because of that we really didn’t want to just make up new scenes. We wanted it to just be a faithful adaptation of the comic. This film was not actually slated to have a short featured with it, but we happened to have a Catwoman script [by Paul Dini] that was going to be for the next batch of Showcase shorts, and so they just said, “We have this script. We’re going to do it. And we’re going to just put it on this DVD and kind of supplement that kind of extra amount of time that we don’t have in the movie.” So the movie is actually quite short, but we also have the Catwoman Showcase short featured on it.

INTERVIEW WITH CO-DIRECTOR SAM LIU

 TOONZONE NEWS: How did you like getting to work with translating the unique color scheme from Batman: Year One in the animation?

SAM LIU: We definitely tried to match it as close as possible. One of the defining things about David Mazucchelli’s work is the thick line – which is very difficult for them to animate. I remember bringing up something; we never actually tried it with actually drawing smaller so that the line just becomes thicker. It made it more difficult. So it’s going to have a thinner line, but as far as the design-wise, we tried to match it as spot on as possible. It took us a while to sort of get the style down to where Bruce [Timm] liked it. And the Batman character itself, Bruce did it because he was unhappy with all the incarnations that was coming in. Bruce is very, very picky about trying to get it as close as possible as we could. And even the way it was colored, we did a couple experimentation's on how you it flatter and more minimal, but there’s elements in animation that you kind of need. Even though in the comic you might have a flat sky, it looks horrible in animation because if you shoot it with like Batman jumping in the air and you have that sky but you don’t have anything else around it, it looks horrible. So stuff like that helps because it gives us something. But again, all the way from color to design style and the backgrounds, we tried to make it as close to the comics as possible. No fifty foot tall buildings. They are all four stories at the tallest type of stuff. It’s like a '70s, old Chicago kind of feeling/type of city.

TOONZONE NEWS: Design wise, who is your favorite looking character in this piece?

SAM LIU: I don’t know...that’s a tough one actually because I was such a fan of the comic it’s almost like I expected them to look a certain way and they look like it. So I feel like Gordon looks how Gordon should look. I feel like Bruce looks like how he should look. Even Batman looks like how he should. I don’t know if I have a favorite per se, but I think they’re all kind of done the way they are supposed to be.

INTERVIEW WITH VOICE DIRECTOR ANDREA ROMANO

TOONZONE NEWS: For Batman: Year One, with Ben McKenzie being new to voice acting, did you kind of have to guide him along?

ANDREA ROMANO: Yeah, absolutely, and he was putty in my hands in a good way. He was just like, “tell me what to do,” and I’m like, “OK. That’s what I do. It’s my pleasure to tell you.” And he sent me a hand written snail mail thank you note. And I thought, He’s hugely busy. What a nice, thoughtful [gesture]; Isn’t it? I was so impressed. I was like, “Thank you for that. Nobody sends a thank you card anymore.” You get an e-mail. It was lovely. I really wish we could’ve had more time with him, but his schedule was so nasty because I think he could do this stuff regularly if he wanted to. I called up Regina [King] when I wanted to use him, “What’s it like to work with Ben? Is he a good guy? Is he going to come play?” And she said, “Absolutely, he’s going to be wonderful.” And he was. I think he’s terrific. I think he’s a swell actor.

TOONZONE NEWS: How did Katee Sackhoff like playing Sarah Essen, the other woman in Jim Gordon’s life?

ANDREA ROMANO: She was so cool to watch her work. She got up to the microphone, she wanted to stand. And she was just so present and so there. She was terrific. She’s a really, really good actress and she did a good job.

http://www.toonzone.net/news/article...ble-interviews


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Jim Gordon stealing the show...makes sense, since he did the same in the book. Plus, having Bryan Cranston only seals the deal.

Batman, nor Bruce, seemed like the focal point of Year One. Jimbo was the more interesting study. Plus, he did some ****ed up stuff..

I'll probably pre-order this, and pick it up at the same time as Arkham City. They come out on the same day.
 
In the comic he says, "From this moment on, none of you are safe."
131343944145f7af7412228.jpg

On the back cover of the DVD it says, "From this moment on, none of you is safe."
1313435966630a10f845aa4.jpg

That's a very, very minor difference which few would even notice.
 
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mmm... Funny this has been mentioned, I've been thinking about this and does "None of you is safe" just sound sorta wrong to anybody else? Like broken english or something?
 
Actually, that's just a grammatical error.
 
So they must've deliberately changed a perfectly fine (and might I add, bad ass!) pre-existing line in the book to a grammatically incorrect line that's very similar? Why bother? Hehe!
 
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