Some 27 years after he first brought the character to life so memorably in Batman: The Animated Series, legendary Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy is set to make his live-action debut as Bruce Wayne this month in The CW’s Arrowverse crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Conroy will guest star in the Batwoman episode of the crossover event, and the actor has been speaking to Entertainment Weekly about his role, and how his experience differed from his wealth of animated Batman work.
“There’s a real loyalty among the [Batman: The Animated Series] fanbase and an interest in seeing me do it on-camera as well,” said Conroy. “So I think they thought this was an opportunity to take advantage of that interest.”
“It threw me at first,” he continued. “I never approached this character from that physicalized aspect. I always just inhabited him with my voice. When you do that in a recording studio, it’s a very intimate experience and you’re sort of living in your own imagination. You do it with your eyes clothes and you’re in this other world, and you have Mark Hamill feeding you all the energy you [need], and the other actors (because we always recorded together in the booths). To actually be on the set, in the physical world, and to be walking as the character and inhabiting the character in three dimensions, it was a real transition for me. It did take a while to get used to, I have to admit. I was surprised because I know the character so well.”
Conroy also went on to credit his co-stars Ruby Rose (Batwoman) and Melissa Benoist (Supergirl) for helping him to successfully make the transition, adding: “Everybody was so generous to work with. I can’t emphasize how enough how welcoming everyone was, especially Ruby. She is so open and giving. I just fell into her eyes at one point and we just connected on camera. It was wonderful. I felt like I was working with old friends I’d known for years. There was just such trust there that I could open up to them on camera.”
Crisis on Infinite Earths airs across five nights, beginning with Supergirl on Sunday, December 8th and taking in Batwoman on Monday, December 9th and The Flash on Tuesday, December 10th, before concluding with Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow on Tuesday, January 14th 2020.