Animation veteran Bruce Timm recently talked to MTV News about DC's latest animated feature and it's ties to the Justice League Unlimited cartoon.
"In a weird kind of way, this is a return to my favorite show 'Justice League Unlimited.' The original script [by Dwayne McDuffie] was intended to be the bridge story between 'Justice League' and 'Justice League Unlimited' to explain how we went from seven heroes to more than 50 super heroes. We loved the story and the script, and it floated around here for years while we tried to figure out what to do with it — it was considered for a comic, but fortunately that got shot down. Then we took a look at it and, with just a few slight tweaks, we jumped at the chance to make it a DC Universe movie."
According to Timm, the film and the TV series share another connection:
"There's an interesting side note in that Vanessa Marshall, who plays Wonder Woman, came this close to playing the role in Justice League. We were down to the final two choices, and they were neck and neck. The thing about Vanessa is that she sounded perfect for Wonder Woman — exactly what she should sound like. But Susan Eisenberg had this vulnerability. We thought it would be interesting to not play her to type, which ultimately played really well. When it came to casting for this movie, we thought, 'What if we go down the road not taken?' So we opted for Vanessa in a full-length movie and she is great."
Timm even confessed that two of his favorite characters in the film are newly introduced villains Owlman and Superwoman:
"[Owlman's] a fascinating character himself. But the dynamic with Superwoman is so messed up as a couple, and yet really appealing in a weird kind of way. It's a little similar to 'JLU's' relationship between The Question and Huntress. Superwoman is this badass hot chick, and he's the quiet, brainy, nerd guy. They're an interesting, odd couple. Plus I loved both James' [Woods] and Gina's [Torres] performances — they were spot-on. The amazing thing is we like to get all the actors to record as an ensemble, but in this case it wasn't feasible, So they never met or performed together, but they totally mesh. It's such an interesting chemistry considering they've never even met."
The interview ended with Tim sharing his thoughts on the 10-minute animated short The Spectre; which is included with Crisis on Two Earths:
"'The Spectre' was one of my favorite characters back in the '70s, related Timm. "Even by today's standards, those comics are pretty hard core, and they were written in 1974, I don't know how they got some of that stuff past the comic code. It was so different from any other comic on the stands. It's really dark, really nasty. The character is pretty easy to understand - he's the dark avenger of the night, even more so than Batman. He punishes bad guys in horrible, horrible ways. He's like the benign Freddie Krueger. I've wanted to use 'The Spectre" for a long, long time and we never had a opportunity to do it," added Timm. "And this was our chance to go hog wild with him."
Justice League Crisis on Two Earths will be available in stores everywhere on Tuesday, February 23.
Interview and images courtesy of MTV
Click here to check out my REVIEW of the film; which you can read with or without spoilers!