Lauren Montgomery is one of DC Entertainment's greatest secret weapons. If you've seen any of DC's recent animated home video releases, chances are you've seen one that was either storyboarded by Montgomery, directed by her, or both. Montgomery began as a storyboard artist on the
Justice League cartoon in 2004 and took on directing for the first time in 2006, helming four episodes of the
Legion of Super Heroes series.
Lauren continues to work in both fields, providing storyboards for such popular releases as
Justice League: The New Frontier and
Batman: Under the Red Hood, and directing features such as
Superman/Doomsday,
Green Lantern: First Flight,
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, and
Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, which she also produced. She even pulled double-duty on the
Wonder Woman feature, both storyboarding and directing. Next she will be co-directing
Batman: Year One, the animated adaptation of the classic Batman story by
Frank Miller and
David Mazzucchelli.
BRENT SPRECHER: Hi, Brent Sprecher from ComicBookMovie.com.
LAUREN MONTGOMERY: Hi.
BS: A lot of the new movies from DC have—the styles have looked different, whereas for years and years it was very much the Bruce Timm version of the DC Universe. Do you still feel beholden to maintain that style? Do you guys have meetings where they say, 'This is going to be a Bruce Timm-looking movie?' What kind of flexibility is there?
LM: Well, whenever we're doing something that's based specifically off of a comic arc, we try somewhat to emulate the design of that artist. So, in this case, we tried to emulate the style of
Mike Turner. And with
Sam Liu's drawings—his style is already kind of like long slender people—so it kind of fit well with the Mike Turner style. We don't make a specific, I guess, decision to go the Bruce Timm route or avoid it. We try to change it up a little bit with each of these. I think Bruce feels like, you know, he already kind of made his impact with his show—with
Batman, Justice League, Superman--and I'm sure he'll use his style again in future projects. But, for these movies, we try to, I guess, do things a little different or change it up slightly every time. We can't move
too far out of the box because, of course, DC still wants it to look like a comic book character. So we can't make 'em super cartoony or super dopey lookin'. But, we do try to change it up a little and just keep it kind of fresh.
BS: Are you surprised by the popularity of these animated movies? Ten years ago, they were talking about the collapse of the comic book industry and now there are comic book movies everywhere and these movies are more successful than ever, with more and more coming out. Is that surprising to you?
LM: I guess a little bit. 'Cause, you know, working in animation you're always kind of told that, like, 'In America, animation is just for kids.' Like, they don't try to market for adults, it's just for kids. And it's all about making toys. Whereas, in Japan, the market is the adults. And so, for us, to be able to market these movies specifically for adults and have them be successful is definitely surprising. And, it's a good thing for me because I prefer working on things that are a little more mature in content…
BS: Where do you think the acceptance among a more mature audience comes from? Is it solely based on the popularity of comic book movies now, is it influenced by the success of animated movies in Japan or is it solely based on these [animated features]?
LM: I think it's all of those things, honestly. I think it's slowly becoming a fact that being a geek is cool now, it's okay. All of the comic book movies make it like, it's okay to like
Iron Man. You're not a
nerd if you like it. The same thing with anime. Anime came in and now there's a whole new generation of kids that just love anime. And, I think, it's also partially a generational thing. You know, all of the people who were young when
G.I. Joe was on and
Jem and loved all of that stuff—now they're grown up and they want to see that stuff done for them in their age now. … I think our generation grew up from watching all of those shows and now we want to see that. And now we want to see these cool animated characters in a way that we think is cool. And, so, I think that aspect, along with all of the influx of anime and, you know, comic book movies being everywhere now, has all helped to allow us to do what we want to do with these movies.
BS: I come from a comic book background. I'm just a huge fan of comic books. I've drawn comic book. There's always in the comic book community a division between Marvel and DC. Marvel vs. DC. And, you're starting to see it in the movies now, too, the way they market them against each other. Do you find that in the animation industry, since you worked for both, you've worked on the Hulk movies and now you're at DC? Is that something that is cultivated on purpose? Where does that come from do you think?
LM: You know, there's a little bit of it. Um, I think, at least with the guys I work with, there's a lot of them that really do like Marvel characters, but they're working on DC things. And, they don't necessarily hate DC, but maybe they like Marvel more or something. For me, I'm more familiar with DC…but I also like Marvel characters, too. I think there are people who can go both ways and they just respect a cool character. And then there are some people who are hardcore Marvel or hardcore DC. I don't really know if it's fostered.
BS: Do you think [the rivalry] is helpful or does it hinder the development of the industry?
LM: I honestly don't know. I guess it could be helpful in, like, if DC is making good movies, Marvel is going to want to up their ante and make good movies and want to improve. I think that could be helpful. But, I would hate to see someone really good, like, never work on a Marvel movie because they like DC. If they're good, you want to see them work on both and make them both good.
BS: Any personal favorite characters that you would like to direct or maybe design moving forward?
LM: Yeah, I've always wanted to work on a
Batgirl: Year One adaptation, just because I really like the art style in that book. And I just really like the story, as well. And, then, I would really like, if I ever got a chance, to do an
Aquaman movie. Just because I like Aquaman.
BS: He's so underrated.
LM: That's what I always say! They don't listen to me.
BS: Thank you very much.
LM: Thank you.
What do you think, CBMers? Should Lauren push for a Batgirl: Year One adaptation next? Or, would you rather see the King of the Seven Seas, Aquaman, in his own animated home video feature? Sound off below!
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