Kevin Conroy might be best known for playing tough guy Batman in various DC animated projects including the groundbreaking ‘Batman: The Animated Series’, but he’s actually a lovely and very professional guy. Even so, fans managed to get him to say something not-so-nice about another Batman actor– Christian Bale. It’s extremely rare for an actor playing a role that many others have played to compare themselves or critique another’s interpretation, but Conroy is a voice actor so he knows a thing or two about voices and he admits that he found Bale’s take “weird.”
While fielding fan questions at CMC London Comic Con, he reluctantly stated:
“It sounded weird! What can I say? It sounded like he had laryngitis. But he does Bruce Wayne, my god, he nails Bruce Wayne. He’s a terrific actor. Did you see American Psycho? I mean, he’s a wonderful actor. But his voice was weird as Batman.”
Though the Christopher Nolan ‘Dark Knight’ movies were a big departure from what fans had seen before, they proved to be massive hits and Bale, for the most part, was praised for his performance. BUT, if there is anything to criticize it IS that voice. Conroy’s not wrong!
He was also asked for his take on the beleaguered Ben Affleck and he was similarly generous.
“Well, the one thing I will say about that, and I’m not going to get into commenting on actor’s performances. I don’t know if you’re aware, you probably are, in the Twitterverse and on the Internet, there was a lot of criticism when he got cast. Saying ‘Oh my god! He’s going to be terrible!’ And I was telling people ‘Wait a minute! Give this guy a chance! He’s a good actor. Let’s see what he does with it, you know?’
“And I think he surprised a lot of people. He really pulled it off. I thought he was really good. So I’m more in his court than a lot of people are, I guess. I think people gave him a hard time before they even saw what he would do with it. There’s a lot of pre-judging.”
In a separate, earlier interview, he diplomatically stated:
“I love seeing all the different takes. I think some of them get Bruce Wayne more than they get Batman, and some of them get Batman more than they get Bruce Wayne. I think Ben Affleck has probably gotten the best balance of the two. He’s a really good Bruce Wayne and a really good Batman.”
What do you think? Did you like Bale’s Batman voice? Which live action Batman is your favorite?
Source: Cinema Blend
