“We can’t find our Batman”: Kevin Conroy’s Dark Knight Casting Was Almost Accidental After Bruce Timm Had Given Up on Finding the Perfect Actor
While many people might believe voice acting is as easy as it gets, the reality couldn’t be far from it. It takes a skilled actor to modulate their voice as per the animated expressions on screen. Every emotion needs to shine through the voice, from burning rage to soft love. This is also why some voice actors are instantly recognizable and beloved for their iconic roles.
The genius behind the DC animated universe, Bruce Timm, understood the nuances of making an animated show come to life. With adequate attention to all facets including voice acting and sketching the character to perfection, he ensured fans loved the shows and could resonate with the characters.
Bruce Timm’s Quest to Find Batman’s Voice Actor
The same perfection that makes fans love Bruce Timm’s work can sometimes be a roadblock in his path. Timm and the casting director for Batman: The Animated Show went through 500 different profiles and voice clips to find their perfect Caped Crusader. Out of them, they had to narrow it down to only 5 and eventually the one actor that would take the character forward.
However, as much as they kept replaying the tapes, both Timm and Andrea Romano couldn’t be quite convinced of their choice. The quest was so hard that Timm had almost given up on finding an actor who could bring his vision of Batman alive. The situation was so dire that Timm asked almost anyone to read for the part and surprise him. In a Vulture interview, he said,
“We got to the point where we were so desperate that anybody who would walk through the door, even if it was for a different part, we would say, ‘Oh, by the way, would you be interested in playing Batman as well? Because we can’t find our Batman.’”
It was through Romano’s roommate that they got to know about Kevin Conroy, an up-and-coming actor at the time. As soon as Conroy came in and enthralled the set with his dreamy personality, he could bewitch Timm with his voice modulation at the same time. The actor proved he was more than just looks and could lend a suitable voice to both Bruce Wayne and the superhero Batman.
Partial credit for his brilliant performance goes to Timm for explaining the character so well. As a director and storyteller, he was able to engrain the Batman philosophy into Conroy’s mind which eventually played out well on screen. As soon as Conroy was done with the audition scene, the crew knew they had found the one they had been looking for.
How Did Kevin Conroy Get the Role of Batman?
Romano spread her search outside the confines of the show and asked her roommate if she knew of any actor good for the role. On his suggestion, Conroy was invited to audition for the role. Albeit he did not have any clue about the character or what it had the potential to become. Nonetheless, Conroy was excited about the challenge and tried to emulate Timm’s direction for the character the best he could. According to Vulture, he claimed, while recalling the time he learned of the audition,
“[My agent] just called me one day and said, ‘Warner Bros. is looking for voices for a new show they want to do, and they’re not looking at the traditional voice-over people. They want to look beyond that. They’re looking at theater actors and film actors, because this is gonna be very dramatic. Would you wanna go in?’ I said, ‘Sure, sounds like fun.’ So, amazingly, Batman was the first animated audition I ever had.”
As they say, the rest is history. Rather than shaping his Batman on the legends of the past like Michael Keaton and Adam West, Conroy decided to shape his own path as the format of animation was different from live-action projects. After Timm explained the depths of the character to Conroy, he searched for a darker place in his heart where all the rage was hidden and he let his imagination run wild. What we got as a result was one of the best Batman portrayals in the history of DC projects.
