Comicon.com has interviewed voice actor Jeff Bennett on his role as the voice of The Joker and The Red Hood on Cartoon Network’s The Brave and The Bold. Bennett discusses the previous takes on performing Joker (by Mark Hamill, Kevin Michael Richardson, and Heath Ledger), the history of the character, and why his performance ended up sounding like Christopher Walken.
Here’s an excerpt:
If you make [Joker] too over the top and maniacal all the time, it just gets boring. I liked finding that kind of withheld madness and seeing it play across the mic. It’s a challenge for me to keep it contained and then let it pop out every once in a while.”
“You can’t do the Joker without being a little crazy. I love what Anthony Hopkins did in Hannibal Lector because it was so contained, yet you knew he could rip your head off if he got a hold of you. I wanted to give this guy that flavor, but keep him ‘old New York sophisticated.’ There are different ways to interpret the Joker. If you had twenty different guys doing the voice, you’d have twenty different styles and all of them would be right. It’s fun to go too far and be pulled back and it’s fun to keep it subtle and have them say we need a little bit more.
I did a different take that was a little more Christopher Walken-ish that came out vocally, because I like doing that particular voice. People might take that as a little too comical as opposed to being like a comic book character. It was kind of fun. My Joker has a little of the Christopher Walken in him as well.
Click here to read the complete interview.
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