Hamish Linklater (Midnight Mass) had never voiced an animated character in a series until he signed on to voice the titular character in Prime Video’s Batman: Caped Crusader. A fan of Batman: The Animated Series (1992-1995), Linklater understood the shoes he was stepping into as the voice of Batman/Bruce Wayne. Kevin Conroy’s voice was in his head in the recording booth, and he hopes he did Conroy justice.
Linklater joined co-stars Minnie Driver (a gender-swapped Penguin) and Jamie Chung (Harley Quinn) at the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con to promote the animated series. In addition to a panel with Batman fans, the cast took part in roundtable interviews to delve further into Batman: Caped Crusader. Here’s what Linklater had to say about taking on the iconic comic book character.
Hamish Linklater Batman: Caped Crusader Interview
How did you go about finding the voice for Batman?
Hamish Linklater: “Well, you know, I think definitely Kevin Conroy’s voice was deeply in my head and when I got the audition material, it was just a weird thing, you know. I had never gotten a job doing voiceover before or really commercial anything. I mean, I got one doing a dental implant commercial when I was like 19, but since then, it’s been a cold streak.
But I love Batman and I loved that series so much, and just hearing what it was going to be like and have the same creators behind it… I really just did an obsessive thing. Usually, as a self-taper or an auditioner, I’ll do one and then I like hate myself so much I’m like, ‘I’ll just that send out,’ you know? Or maybe two or something like that. Often my partner will be like, ‘You really need to do a third take. You’re not even remotely close.’ And for this one, I did 30 takes.
I just sat in the car and I would do it and play it back, I would do it and play it back. And I was like, ‘Just get over your self-loathing and how far away you sound from what it is in your head.’ And so, I just drilled down until I gave myself the satisfaction of hearing the sound that I thought I wanted to hear in my head. And that was the tape that I sent in.
And I think, I hope, it honors Kevin’s legacy. But I mean, I wasn’t studying his tapes before making my tape. But certainly, it was there. Then I went back afterward – this is the longest answer you’re going to get – I was like, ‘I couldn’t have … I was like 15, 16 when the show came out. Did I really watch it much?’ And I put in some episodes to see did I sound like [that] and I was like, ‘Oh shit, I’ve seen every one of these episodes.’ I remember every one of these things. But it had moved into that part of my subconscious, which is actually the most useful place for information to be for an actor.”
What’s it like voicing a Batman who’s described as being in the early stages of his career?
Hamish Linklater: “Yeah, I think because I’m new to the role too, that’s totally useful. I don’t have to pretend to be a hardened crime fighter vigilante. This really is my first, I mean, this is my first couple weeks on the job. So, hopefully, that’s useful.”
How’d you find the voice of Bruce Wayne? How is Bruce Wayne in this different than other incarnations?
Hamish Linklater: “Well, I mean, Bruce Timm had the thing that they said in the panel of like, that that’s the mask; Bruce Wayne is the mask, and that was really helpful to me. And they were like, ‘How do you think a cold-blooded vigilante would imagine a happy-go-lucky millionaire Lothario would sound in the 1940s?’ And so that’s sort of like the character that we tried to land on.
I think it was definitely more elusive. Also, because it was that period, like finding that sort of, is it Cary Grant? Is it Humphrey Bogart? I mean, what would have been the influences that Batman knew from movies that he would be like, ‘Oh, that’s what the public expects a millionaire to sound like.’”
Do you believe the series will feel like déjà vu or like an old friend to audiences? How do you think the audience will receive this new story?
Hamish Linklater: “I think that’s really apt. I think, hopefully, it will feel like a dream to them, that it’s half déjà vu, half like, who just walked into the room? The totally unexpected thing that your subconscious wanted to see in this nostalgic trip you forgot you’ve always wanted to take.”
Since you said you’ve seen every episode of the other animated series, is there a villain that you really want to see?
Hamish Linklater: “You know what was so crazy was that I had forgotten the Clayface character and then we have Clayface in the first season. It’s like, ‘Oh my god, this is my story – a bitter character actor who turns to murder and mayhem.’ I was so surprised when I read our version of it. I said, ‘This feels really close to my bone.’ But yeah, that’s cool.
I mean, no, I totally love Catwoman. She’s so confusing. And Christina Ricci and I, for some reason, work together a lot but never see each other. We sort of weirdly cross paths. So, she’s cool. I mean, the Rogues Gallery is great. They’re all technicolor awesome. And just to be able to say Onomatopoeia. I feel like that was like some f*cking guy drawing pictures being like, ‘F*ck those f*cking voice actors. I’m going to call him Onomatopoeia.’”
Bruce Timm said he didn’t care if the character is likable. He wanted a brooding Batman. How did you approach that?
Hamish Linklater: “You know, I didn’t hear that. I mean, fortunately, unfortunately. Or maybe he said it and I just blocked it out. ‘That’s not helpful.’ I think he’s just trying to do good, man. He’s just trying to get crime off the streets, that’s all. [Laughing] If that seems like a weird and creepy thing to have, put on your own utility belt. Do it better.”
Since this is your first voice acting, how did you approach this once you finally got behind the microphone? You’ve always been in front of the camera, so I have to imagine your performance this time is a little bit more exaggerated or over the top.
Hamish Linklater: “Yeah, it was a great relief because I think it’s another reason why people really love Batman so much is they can bring so much of themselves. There’s so much held in reserve. I had no idea what it was going to be like when I stepped into the booth, but it was just there’s Bruce Tien and he’s like, ‘All right, why don’t you try saying that line three times.’ And then he was like, ‘Yeah, I like the first one and the third one. Let’s go to the next line.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, great.’
It was surprisingly [easy] But, you know, they had to have heard a lot of tapes, so I was just like trying to give them what they hired me to offer.”
Without spoiling anything, do you have a favorite scene?
Hamish Linklater: “Yeah, there’s a great scene with Alfred later on in the first season. That’s just nice. You see a little bit of a crack. I don’t want to say more than that. And I did love doing the Bruce therapy scenes. They were really fun because I don’t want to go. They come off really well. The direction is really withheld in a nice way. And then animation does so much for you. You don’t want to put a hat on a hat. You just want one hat.”
Did you grow up dreaming of playing Batman?
Hamish Linklater: “No. No, that’s like not, no. When I was a kid, I grew up in this theatre company that my mom co-founded called Shakespeare & Company, and so I grew up wanting to be Romeo, and that was the end of my ambitions for my life. When I was 19, I got to play Romeo and I was like, ‘Oh, my career is over. That was really fun.’ Everything since then has been totally unexpected gravy.
I mean, what kind of freaking narcissist teenager grows up thinking, ‘Yeah, you know what? Someday I’ll be Batman.’ I mean, what kind of parenting did that kid have? That’s astonishing. I want those parents too. I’d never, you know, leave the floaty in the pool.”
Batman: Caped Crusader premieres on August 1, 2024 on Prime Video.
(Additional reporting by Kevin Finnerty.)
