Bruce Timm Had A Constant Reminder For Kevin Conroy During Batman: The Animated Series
Many saw Kevin Conroy as the definitive Batman. Before sadly passing in 2022, his gruff rasp as the Dark Knight came to represent the character for a whole generation of '90s kids. His work on "Batman: The Animated Series" was so widely loved that Conroy voiced the character in multiple other projects. Appearing as Batman in the "Arkham" and "Injustice" video games, the actor even showed up as live-action Bruce Wayne in "Crisis On Infinite Earths."
There's no doubt the man left behind a truly enviable legacy, but prior to his career-defining role as the Caped Crusader, he appeared in numerous stage shows, Shakespeare productions, and various soap operas. The Juilliard grad had, in fact, never tried voice acting prior to his audition for "Batman: TAS." Back in the early '90s, show co-creator Bruce Timm and voice director Andrea Romano were struggling to find their Batman, prompting Romano to ask her casting director roommate if he knew of anyone that might be good for the part. He suggested Conroy and the actor was hurriedly brought in to audition.
Almost immediately, Conroy nailed his audition for "Batman: The Animated Series" by trying to embody what he called a "dark, gritty, filthy New York street." In retrospect, it seems strange to think that Timm and his team were ever considering anyone else. Conroy so deftly embodied both Bruce Wayne and Batman over the course of his career that he seemed born to play the part. But as it turns out, even this seemingly perfect voice needed some guidance from time to time.
Bruce Timm had just one note
Bruce Timm and Kevin Conroy appeared on the Popcorn and Shield show in 2021 to discuss the lasting impact of "Batman: TAS," during which Timm recalled Conroy's audition, saying "He kind of nailed it, the minute he started speaking in the Batman voice everybody in the control room just kind of [said] 'Ooh I think we got it.' It was instant."
But that didn't mean the actor was always perfect. Timm said he always appreciated Conroy's ability to, "take direction," and revealed the, "one note" he had for Conroy after 30 years of him voicing the character:
"My one note is: less. It's because actors want to act, and Batman we typically play him pretty stoic and pretty even-keeled. And so a lot of the lines are — you know, and he has some really great lines and you kind of want to play them, but it's just like, 'Nah, less is more.' Just, like, less. You know, flat."
Conroy seemed receptive to the feedback, which he'd no doubt heard numerous times over the course of his tenure as Batman:
"No he's right, your impulse as an actor is always to kind of push it a little bit, showboat it a little bit [...] The difficult thing about doing the Batman voice is you're very constrained, it's a very limited range that you have to work in. How do you show joy in that voice, you know? So it's all very confined [...] I would think I'd have to do more to make it read because it's all so confined, and Bruce would always say, 'No, no. You don't have to do more. Just a little tiny bit here and there, that's fine.'"
The originality of Batman: The Animated Series
"Batman: TAS" managed to transcend its Saturday morning cartoon framework and become a cultural touchstone, precisely because of its mature storytelling and subtlety. The show was celebrated for not talking down to kids while still managing to create a compelling cartoon that appealed both to them and to older viewers. With that in mind, it makes sense that Timm and his team said no to the actors who auditioned with what he called a "very Dudley Do-Right" tone and played Batman as an upstanding, clean-cut cartoonish figure. The show demanded something more nuanced, and Conroy's best Batman moments prove that he was up to the task.
It's also a testament to Timm and co-creator Eric Radomski's confident vision for the show, that they had such a clear idea of what they wanted for the voice of Batman/Bruce Wayne from the outset. The pair set out to build on the work Tim Burton had done with his Batman movies to redefine the character and bring him back to his roots as a dark and brooding figure. But even then, they knew they needed something different from the Burton movies. As Timm told Popcorn and Shield, during the audition process he also saw a lot of actors, "trying way too hard to do what Michael Keaton had done in the Tim Burton movie," and adopting, "really Clint Eastwood-y kind of voices." It would have been all too easy to try to capitalize on the popularity of Keaton's Batman by casting an actor with a similar tone. But Timm was clearly trying to create something that took inspiration from other sources — especially when it came to the look of "Batman: TAS" — while creating something wholly original. Thankfully, he found a true original in Kevin Conroy.