EXCLUSIVE: Superman/Batman: Apocalypse Interview with Casting Director Andrea Romano

EXCLUSIVE: Superman/Batman: Apocalypse Interview with Casting Director Andrea Romano

CBM's own Brent Sprecher interviews casting and dialogue director Andrea Romano at the world premiere of Superman/Batman: Apocalypse from The Paley Center!

By bsprecher - Sep 23, 2010 06:09 AM EST
Filed Under: Superman (Animated)


I was fortunate enough to be invited to the world premiere of DC Entertainment's latest animated feature, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, at The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills on Tuesday and had an hour to work the red carpet before the screening. In my first interview, I spoke with legendary casting and dialogue director Andrea Romano.

Andrea's work in animation stretches back to The Snorks in 1984 and she has worked on nearly every animated series and feature produced by DC Entertainment since that time, including Batman: The Animated Series, Superman, Teen Titans, Justice League, Batman: Gotham Knight, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern: First Flight, and more. She is currently at work on Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, which will be an anthology feature along the lines of Batman: Gotham Knight, and Batman: Year One, which will adapt the classic Batman story by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli.

BRENT SPRECHER: Hi, Andrea, Brent Sprecher from ComicBookMovie.com.

ANDREA ROMANO: Pleasure.

BS: This will actually be my first time seeing an animated movie outside of a home movie experience that is not an anime movie and I'm wondering if that is a change—having it here at The Paley Center, having a premiere—that you've seen since working on The Snorks...

AR: [Laughs] I love that you know that.

BS: …Is it the medium that's maturing or the audience that's becoming more interested in animated movies?

AR: The movies are getting more sophisticated. It's no longer just—you know, animation is not just for kids anymore. I don't know that it ever really was. … But, the technology that's developed over the years makes animation able to do many more things than we were ever could before. There are some things that we look at, in this piece too, that almost looks like a live-action. And, that's so great to watch on a big screen with a great sound system. Everybody doesn't have that at home, so when you get to come to these screenings at a beautiful facility like The Paley Center you get that surround-system, remarkable sound and it's really nice to see. The fault about it sometimes is any mistake, any little thing that doesn't look great, is magnified 20 times. What I like about seeing our projects on the big screen is every once in a while someone says, 'That really could have been released as a feature. That's good enough to have been a feature.' The last one that released was Under the Red Hood…that I thought should have been released as a feature.

BS: Why do you think it wasn't? [Is DC] trying to create this as a secondary market that's separate from the movies to not confuse fans or is there not a large enough audience?

AR: I think there's both of those things. There may not be a large enough audience to exhibit—and I think a limited release might have satisfied that issue—but it's that same thing too of things being blown up on a big screen, with a critical audience seeing it night after night, they might notice all of the little problems. But, I hadn't seen the whole piece put together until I saw a screening of it and I was blown away. I mean, astounded at how sophisticated the animation was—I thought the story was remarkable—and the voice acting was excellent. You know, I work a lot, I'm very lucky, and so I tend to forget—you know, I'm already on to the third project, fourth project, tenth project since that one was made—and then it comes back around and I see it and go, 'That was good!'


BS: So, you do watch them? I know some people don't like to see their work.

AR: Always. Always. Oh, I love to see them. Especially because, when I finish the project, there's no sound effects, there's no music, some of the editing's not done, the ADR hasn't been put in, so all of the 'oofs' and 'ughs' and fight walls aren't in there yet, and so when I see this tonight, with you guys, I'll see it for the first time in total.

BS: A lot of your work has been in the DC Universe. Did that come out of your background, were you more familiar with it? Did it just happen to be that way? Do you like it more?

AR: I am not as familiar with the other comic book universes. Not because I don't have a desire to, it's just that when I first started working in the DC world it was for Batman: The Animated Series, back in, like, '91 I think we started. Then I got into that—you know, Bruce Timm and I worked together really well on that and then we did the Superman series and then we did Justice League, and then Justice League Unlimited and then all of these home videos, so that tended to be my focus. And, you know, there is always the battle between Marvel and DC and they may not want me because I am so affiliated with the DC world and that's fine. There's still so many [DC] characters that I don't know. There'll be some new character that shows up in, whether it's Batman: The Brave & The Bold that I direct, or they'll bring in some obscure villain from something, and I'm like, 'Now I need to learn about this guy. Now tell me what's his story? Where did he come from?' Because all of the animation directors and all of the writers and stuff, they've been reading the comic books since they were five; I've come into this world as a 35-year-old, so I had to learn [everything] in the last 20 years.

BS: How important is it for you that it be faithful to the comic books? Where do you find the balance between keeping the fans of the comic books happy and making it your own, that will fit into the universe that you helped to create?

AR: I think that if the acting is honest and the performances are genuine that a lot of that falls away. I don't have to worry so much about the history, but I like to know. Because if there's some joke or some reference to something that has to do with the history of the character I want to be in on it so that I can direct it so that it will play to the inside fans who know, 'Oh, that's a callback to Silver Age Blue Beetle,' or whatever…and you know, I've got Bruce Timm who's such a genius at knowing all this stuff that I can go, 'Bruce, I don't really understand that line.' 'Oh, Andrea, that means…' And so, I get my research sometimes on the spot. Sometimes, if it's a character that's showing up as a major character and I need some back story on it, they'll tell me. … I think if we're not learning all of the time, we're not stimulated and we get stagnant.

BS: In all of your research, talking to Bruce, talking to other creators, and reading the books, was there a character that popped up somewhere where you were like, 'I would like to maybe explore that?'

AR: A character that really, really stimulated my interest that I knew very little about is Nightwing. I really didn't know his whole story and in one of the—I guess it was in Under the Red Hood, Neil Patrick Harris played him—I love the character design, first of all—and he did a beautiful job performing him. And, as I learned a bit about the history of him, about how he and Batman split ways, and he became his own superhero, but then he comes back and works with him, that's a really cool kind of—it talks about the family a bit. … And so, Nightwing, I think, is a really fascinating character and we've not done anything that really focused on him. I would like to see—I would personally like to work on something.


What do you think, CBMers? Are you interested in seeing Nightwing get his own animated feature? Sound off below!







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bsprecher
bsprecher - 9/23/2010, 6:59 AM
Great movie! Tons of really good action and Batman even cracks a joke!
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 9/23/2010, 7:10 AM
Great stuff Brent, really good interview and she seems like a cool lady. Did you think the film was better than Red Hood?

As for Nightwing, sure I'd watch a solo movie but I was never a huge fan really. Grayson just bugs me a bit!
MatchesMalone
MatchesMalone - 9/23/2010, 7:20 AM
Nice exclusive, Brent! Andrea has always seems like such a cool lady whenever I see her in interviews. I'm glad she takes the time to research the characters. She always brings out the best in the voice actors that WB hires. It would be really cool to see her take on some Marvel characters. And a big hell yes to a Nightwing animated feature!
Minato
Minato - 9/23/2010, 7:25 AM
Nightwing is my third favorite in the Batman family (Tim n Bruce 1 n 2). If the follow nightwing year one itll be a good movie and flesh out his background well.
bsprecher
bsprecher - 9/23/2010, 7:26 AM
@Ror: Thanks, mate! I don't know if it was better, but I really enjoyed the action in Apocalypse. There were some really imaginative fight sequences that had a slightly anime fluidity that I really dug. I also like the way the art team managed to "cartoonize" Turner's art from the original comic book. Good music and effects sounds, as well. As for Dick, I was never sold on him until he got his own series. Those first 20 or so issues, where he's in Bludhaven, are pretty great. Excellent artwork by Scott McDaniel!

@Matches: Thanks, yeah, Andrea was definitely a class act. Take a look at her IMDB page and you'll be blown away by how much DC work she's done.
JoshWilding
JoshWilding - 9/23/2010, 7:38 AM
Fantastic work Brent - really interesting interview! I'm a big NPH fan from his work on How I Met Your Mother and he made for great Spider-Man in both the MTV series and recent videogames...I didnt really enjoy Batman: Under the Red Hood but NPH was a highlight as Nightwing. Personally, I'd like to see a Dick Grayson animated movie featuring him and Damian Wayne as Batman and Robin like in Grant Morrison's recent series! :)
MatchesMalone
MatchesMalone - 9/23/2010, 7:54 AM
@Gusto- The problem with DC and WB is, if it doesn't have a bat symbol or an "S" shield on it, they're too afraid to take a chance. Hopefully that'll all change with Green Lantern.
Minato
Minato - 9/23/2010, 8:12 AM
There are a lot of great charictor in the DCU that need movies. I really wish they will stop making movies out of lesser know comics (RED, Losers) and come with the heat they got benched. I wanna see...

1.Wonder Woman- Easily the best female they got
2.Flash- Just under the trinity in popularity
3.Power Girl- I just love breast for a full feature
MatchesMalone
MatchesMalone - 9/23/2010, 8:27 AM
I realize certain characters will never be mainstream enough for DC to consider doing live action movies of them, but as much as they used characters like the Question and Doctor Fate in the JLU animated series, you'd think that there would be enough of a fanbase to warrant animated movies of these characters. I guess that's what they must be trying to do with these animated shorts they're putting on the full length features: gauge fan reaction to see what characters other than Supes and Bats they can use for movies. Which doesn't really explain Jonah Hex, considering they released the cartoon short and live action full length at pretty much the same time, completely bypassing the full length animated level altogether. That was a BIG mistake on their part. Logically, you'd think the trajectory for lesser known C and D list characters would be: 1) introduce them in a cartoon series, 2) give them a short on a full length, 3) Give them their own full length animated, and 4) If the fans wanted it and the studio could find a sensible budget, give them a live action feature. The very least WB could do is start mining more characters for cartoons other than the big five. Plastic Man, Booster Gold and Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), the Creeper, Red Tornado, etc., are all characters who are ready for some animated movie goodness.
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 9/23/2010, 8:58 AM
Cool stuff @ Brent!!!

DC/WB are the kings or animated movies!

P.S. Would love to see a NIGHTWING animated movie!!!

Hell a live-action NIGHTWING TV series too!
HelaGood
HelaGood - 9/24/2010, 3:01 PM
i confirm LEEEEEEEEE's comment!!!

and i worked with Ms. Romano a few times while at WB and she is the bomb!
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