ComingSoon Senior Editor Spencer Legacy spoke with Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham star David Giuntoli about playing the Dark Knight and finding his own Batman voice.
“Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham is a 1920s-based tale that finds explorer Bruce Wayne accidentally unleashing an ancient evil, expediting his return to Gotham City after a two-decade hiatus,” reads the film’s synopsis. “The logic/science-driven Batman must battle Lovecraftian supernatural forces threatening the sheer existence of Gotham, along the way being aided and confronted by reimagined versions of his well-known allies and enemies, including Green Arrow, Ra’s al Ghul, Mr. Freeze, Killer Croc, Two-Face, James Gordon, and Bruce’s beloved wards. Prepare for a mystical, often terrifying Batman adventure unlike any other.”
Spencer Legacy: You got to voice Batman in Soul of the Dragon. What did it mean for you to get to play Bruce Wayne again here?
David Giuntoli: It’s so nice to have a second crack at it. I am used to being an onscreen actor and getting to watch Soul of the Dragon, I’m like, “Oh, wow.” The world that is created allows me to be much bigger and bolder with my choices than I was in Soul of the Dragon, so I got to take a second crack at it and I was so grateful for that.
This is such an interesting version of Batman since, at the start, he’s not really Gotham’s defender. He’s been traveling, he finds his Robins abroad. So what was most interesting to you about this version of Batman?
I mean, pretty much what you said — it was just so cool. I think for people who are really acquainted with Batman, this is a story that they understand and know, but the general broader audience … this is not what people are used to. They don’t know him during this time. We meet Batman as he has just come back from traveling the globe, acquiring the skills that he needs for when he ultimately assumes the guise of Batman, and he does that for the first time in this movie. It is so fun to get to be there for that moment and be him for that moment. Again, it’s just kind of a different, less explored time in this narrative.
So many people have played Batman and there are so many versions. What was the process like of finding your specific Batman voice?
Well in voice acting, you’re not around other people. You’re not around the other actors. In film and TV, the sets are created, you’re working in a room with other actors and you all are sort of creating a world together. It’s like this collective understanding and you’re right there with each other.
In voiceover, you are in a small room and they dim the lights, and it’s like entering a movie. There is a light on your script and the directors are in your ear. So you’re creating it in that environment, and that’s what it is. It’s a bit more of a trust fall in that way. But luckily for me, I’ve worked with two directors who both were there in different capacities for each movie — Wes Gleason and Sam Liu. To me they’re legendary and they are the guys. You want to be trust falling into their arms.
There are also so many cool Lovecraftian elements in this movie. What did you like more about this mix of monsters and magic and the unknown into the DC superhero world?
I was on a show called Grimm for a while. That was exactly what Grimm dealt with. The monsters, the unknown, a steady hero in that world of the supernatural. I think something very fun is that Bruce Wayne, ultimately, is probably a logical guy. Scientific, not prone to giving over to this kind of world. We meet him in this world and he has to eventually accept that there are indeed hobgoblins out there. He otherwise would not want to accept that [Laugh]. That’s a cool thing, to get to see this guy come up against this universe that he otherwise doesn’t understand or believe in.
Because of all that stuff that he doesn’t completely understand, this version of Batman is a bit less in total control of his surroundings. There are scenes where he’s mumbling to himself and he’s totally out of it. Was it difficult to balance that formidable Batman voice with that more vulnerable tone too?
I think that the most difficult thing with the voice was that Bruce Wayne and Batman are two different voices. My voice has the level of depth that it has, so you have to find two gears for Batman and Bruce Wayne. But then in this movie, there’s this third gear that was even … it was Batman, but when he’s, for lack of a better term, under a the spell. He’s given over to another realm. Just technically and physically from my voice, it was difficult to get there, and it was not 100% natural. The things I had to do with my vocal chords and the way they sounded afterwards … I came home and my wife was like, “Hey, are you going to murder someone today? Because your voice sounds terrifying.” [Laugh]. Like, “Yeah, yeah, that happens, and no, I don’t think so.” [Laugh]
Another thing you were really great in is the “Zombie Extra” sketch of Key and Peele. How was working on that show?
That was so fun. My life, I’ve just dumb lucked myself into everything. I was offered the Batman role and I couldn’t believe it. Then I was offered that role. So I guess I have been in this lane of “straight man in extraordinary world,” and maybe that’s what Warner Bros. and DC Comics saw in me. It’s what I was in Grimm, and it’s kind of what I was in Key & Peele. Those guys are incredible. They’re so cool and they deserve all of the success they’re getting.
You’ve mentioned Grimm a couple times. Now that you’ve had some years away from that project, what are you most proud about of your work on that show?
I think on a personal level with Grimm, the work was almost always at night in a rainy forest. All work is hard work but this was particularly tough mentally … just never sleeping and working at night until seven in the morning. I was just kind of proud that we all were so hap like we all were decent people throughout the entire thing. You know, in Grimm, my character could see people turn into monsters. I think that I could have turned into a monster because it was so much pressure. I was just proud that I didn’t, to be honest, and that’s on a more personal level.
But narratively, I think it’s really cool that we created a world and the world had rules and we adhered to those fantastical rules and lived within it. I think that it was a success because of the universal themes that are explored in supernatural shows. That exists also in Batman and you can take it anywhere because these themes exist in every culture, no matter how you were raised, no matter where, no matter what. So there’s good and bad and fighting within yourself to achieve some level of good.
