Warner Home Video has sent over another couple of interviews to promote their upcoming direct-to-video release, Green Lantern: First Flight (on Blu-ray July 28) I wouldn’t normally go in for the idea of just posting promo material outside of release news but I actually feel quite strongly about these animated DC Comics films. I think everyone involved is pushing themselves and their budgets to the limit to bring us the most compelling animated representations of DCs vast library of characters and stories. The Burnett interview in particular is of interest to comics fans and anyone curious about the process of adapting other mediums to the big (or small) screen.
BUFFY, ANGEL STAR JULIET LANDAU GOES SULTRY ALIEN IN GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT, THE NEXT DC UNIVERSE ANIMATED ORIGINAL FILM COMING TO DVD JULY 28, 2009
Actress Juliet Landau (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel) conjures a Cajun sultriness to her voice for the character of Labella in Green Lantern: First Flight. The all-new DC Universe animated original movie will be distributed July 28, 2009 by Warner Home Video.
Actress Juliet Landau, a fanboy favorite from her devious appearances
on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, easily glides into the voice of
sultry alien Labella in Green Lantern: First Flight, the next DC
Universe animated original PG-13 movie coming to DVD on July 28, 2009.
Warner Premiere, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation are set to
release the all-new Green Lantern: First Flight in a Blu-Ray™ Hi-Def
edition, a special edition 2-disc DVD, and a single disc DVD. Warner
Home Video will distribute the action-packed movie, which will also be
available OnDemand and Pay-Per-View as well as available for download
day and date, July 28, 2009.
Landau is best known for her portrayal of vampire Drusilla in Buffy
the Vampire Slayer and Angel. She initially turned heads with standout
performances in Tim Burton’s Ed Wood and opposite Whoopi Goldberg in
Theodore Rex; she has done oodles of voiceover work, including
recurring roles on Justice League Unlimited and Ben 10: Alien Force;
and she has three upcoming films in various stages of production.
Turning her attention behind the camera, Landau has received notable
praise for her initial pair of directing gigs. She helmed Take Flight,
a documentary centering on the creative process of actor/director Gary
Oldman, which drew rave reviews at a recent advance screening. Her
co-direction of the Godhead music video, Hero, is garnering widespread
Internet acclaim. She also has been busy at the keyboard, co-writing
the Drusilla story line for the Angel comic books as well as scripting
It’s Raining Cats and Cats, a short film in which she intends to play
seven different roles.
Christopher Meloni provides the voice of Hal Jordan, the alter ego of
the title character in Green Lantern: First Flight. The cast includes
Victor Garber, Tricia Helfer and Michael Madsen. Landau offers a
Cajun-style vocal performance for Labella, a mistress of the seedier
side of the universe in which the Green Lantern Corps patrol.
Landau and Meloni have worked closely together in the past, starring
as brother and sister in the 1999 award-winning independent film
Carlo’s Wake. Landau is also another member of the growing legion of
Whedonverse actors to figure prominently in a DC Universe film. Among
Whedon/DCU alums are Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, James Marsters and
David Boreanaz, with a few more on the DCU horizon.
Fortunately for the masses, Landau carved a few minutes out of her
busy schedule to chat about voiceover work, the development of her
Green Lantern: First Flight character, and the ability to grow and
create in the entertainment business. So sit back and enjoy an
intriguing Q&A with Juliet Landau …
Labella (left) attempts to dissuade Sinestro from pursuing additional, potentially harmful interrogation during Green Lantern: First Flight, an all-new DC Universe animated original movie set for distribution July 28, 2009 by Warner Home Video. Actress Juliet Landau (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel) performs the voice of Labella.
-
QUESTION:
What is the enticement of voiceover for animation?
JULIET LANDAU:
It is so much fun! You get to sit with a bunch of actors and play.
Really play! There’s no hair and make-up, no primping – just absolute,
uninhibited creativity. That’s the real joy of acting. And it doesn’t
get any better than working with Bruce Timm and Andrea Romano.
QUESTION:
Do you have a preference for the type of characters you play?
JULIET LANDAU:
I like playing all different kinds of characters. Each one is it’s own
little puzzle. Aliens are fun because you have a lot of freedom. The
voice of Labella just came to me when I read the pages in a kind of
organic in a way. I immediately felt like she had to sound the way I
played her. When I came in for looping (pick up sound work) Andrea
Romano described my Labella sound as “honey-voiced.” I think that
really captures it.
QUESTION:
Tell us about Labella?
JULIET LANDAU:
There was a lot of room for invention in this character, especially
with the device they use with her. I don’t want to give it away, but
she does go through a bit of torture and it causes a rift between
Sinestro and Hal. I really liked the sexuality and the flirtatiousness
of the character. She’s very different from any of the characters I’ve
voiced on Justice League Unlimited or Ben 10: Alien Force – she’s a
completely unique character.
QUESTION: You spent some time acting alongside Christopher Meloni as
brother and sister in Carlo’s Wake. Do you have any good tales to tell
about our Hal Jordan?
JULIET LANDAU:
Carlo’s Wake revolved around a big Italian family gathering together
at the patriarch’s funeral. The immediate “Torello” family rehearsed
at my house prior to shooting. I remember working on this funny scene
where (Chris Meloni’s character) Benny tells me about his existential
crisis while out on the fishing boats catching tuna. With despondency,
he asks something like, “What is it all for?” And my character Anna,
who was not the sharpest tool in the shed, says something akin to .”I
thought it was so’s we could have tuna salad sandwiches …”
Chris was flown to New York while we were shooting to meet with Garry
Marshall about Runaway Bride. Upon returning, he came into the make-up
room and told us about the meeting and we were all saying, “It sounds
like you’re gonna get this!” And indeed, he did.
QUESTION:
When did you start comics writing, and what’s the attraction of the
written word?
JULIET LANDAU:
My first foray into comics is a two-issue arc about Drusilla for
Angel: After the Fall.
I am co-writing with Brian Lynch and enjoying it immensely. The first
issue will be out in July, the second in August. I have been working
with 3 different artists on some of the imagery and cover art as well.
I also wrote a short film called, It’s Raining Cats and Cats, which I
will co-direct. Exploring these different facets of creativity has
been truly inspiring. As an actor, you’re a component; but when you’re
writing and directing, it is your vision of the whole project, which
is very appealing. Take Flight has been an amazing experience. Gary
Oldman directed a music video shot entirely on Nokia cell phones.
Initially he asked me to direct the “Making Of.” But what started out
solely as a behind-the-scenes “Making Of,” bloomed into a short
documentary film about Gary’s creative process. He loves the movie
because it shows him in a light he’s never been seen.
EMMY AWARD WINNER ALAN BURNETT OFFERS INSIGHT TO THE WORDS BEHIND GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT, THE NEXT DC UNIVERSE ANIMATED ORIGINAL FILM COMING TO DVD JULY 28, 2009
Four-time Emmy Award winner Alan Burnett has crafted an action-packed screenplay for Green Lantern: First Flight, an all-new DC Universe animated original movie set for distribution July 28, 2009 by Warner Home Video.
Four-time Emmy Award winner Alan Burnett departs from a 17-year stint
in the Batcave to establish intergalactic justice as the screenwriter
for Green Lantern: First Flight, the next DC Universe animated
original PG-13 movie coming to DVD on July 28, 2009.
Burnett, who began his animation career at Hanna-Barbera Studios with
Super Friends in 1981, has been the single most consistent active
figure in bringing the Batman’s legacy to animation since 1991 – when
he began scripting episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, the
Emmy®-winning production widely considered a pivotal moment in
American animation.
Burnett’s stellar talents have merited four Emmy Awards, three Annie
Awards and two Humanitas Prizes. His work within the Batman realm
includes as a series producer on Batman and Superman and Batman
Beyond, and most recently as supervising producer and story editor for
Warner Bros. Animation’s award-winning series The Batman. He has
remained active in crafting the words behind numerous DC Comics
projects, both animated and in comic book form. In the direct-to-DVD
arena, Burnett co-produced and co-wrote the animated feature film
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, was supervising producer and writer for
Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman, and served as producer on the
feature-length Batman Beyond: Return of The Joker. He also served as
movie story editor and the writer of the anchoring segment of the DC
Universe animated original movie, Batman Gotham Knight.
Warner Premiere, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation are set to
release the all-new Green Lantern: First Flight in a Blu-Ray™ Hi-Def
edition, a special edition 2-disc DVD, and a single disc DVD. Warner
Home Video will distribute the action-packed movie, which will also be
available OnDemand and Pay-Per-View as well as available for download
day and date, July 28, 2009.
Burnett, the primary story editor for Warner Bros. Animation, took a
little time to offer his views on his humbling beginnings in comics,
the influences of Alfred Hitchcock and Woody Allen, and the simple
one-line pitch behind the screenplay for the first-ever feature length
Green Lantern film. Without further ado, here’s a Q&A with Alan
Burnett
Hal Jordan gets his first illuminating taste of the power of the lantern in Green Lantern: First Flight, an all-new DC Universe animated original movie set for distribution July 28, 2009 by Warner Home Video.
-
QUESTION:
What made Alan Burnett the perfect choice to write Green Lantern: First Flight?
ALAN BURNETT:
They had been going through some ideas for Green Lantern stories and
none of them were quite working out and I came up with this notion
that I thought would be interesting. So, I just pitched it to them in
one line. “Have you ever done Green Lantern as Training Day?” with the
idea of the Denzel Washington role being Sinestro. They said, “That
sounds pretty good – start writing.” And that’s how it began.
QUESTION:
So this is a police story?
ALAN BURNETT:
We’re treating all the sectors of the universe as precincts and
there’s, I believe, about 3,600 Green Lanterns – one for every
precinct. Hal Jordan covers our section. The story is essentially Hal
Jordan’s first day on the beat as a cop and he’s partnered with
Sinestro. He’s seeing the universe for the first time, and we get to
look at the universe through his eyes. It’s a bizarre place, but it’s
also pretty recognizable.
QUESTION:
Is there a message within this film?
ALAN BURNETT:
Well, one of the messages is that I like lots of fights (he laughs). I
suppose it’s the old “Don’t judge a book” thing. Appearances are
deceiving. Those who you think might be your greatest friend can be
your greatest enemy, and those you might think are of no use to you
could be the most important person in your life.
QUESTION:
Did the origin story development of Hal Jordan in Justice League: The
New Frontier influence your approach to this first Green Lantern film?
ALAN BURNETT:
I’d originally treated the origin story by going back to the very
first Hal Jordan/Green Lantern comic book. But ultimately, my script
was about 20 minutes longer than it should’ve been. Bruce Timm came up
with the idea of getting the origin done as quickly as possible, so
that’s where some cuts were made. Now we get the origin story done
before the opening credits, and we leap right into the adventure from
there.
QUESTION:
Was there much research involved in writing this script?
ALAN BURNETT:
I’ve been keeping up with the comics, so I didn’t have all that much
research to do. There has been a lot written on Green Lantern. I
actually think he’s very complicated. Hal Jordan has gone through
changes in the comic books in the last 35 years or so that are just
shocking. But I didn’t have to deal with his recent history because I
was going back to a story from his beginning. However, I am dealing
with Green Lantern characters who didn’t exist when I started reading
the book, so there was a little bit of research on that. I’ve written
Green Lantern in the comic books on a few occasions, so I had some
notion of most of the characters I was dealing with in this film.
QUESTION;
What makes Green Lantern a great super hero?
ALAN BURNETT:
Green Lantern is sort of a unique super hero. When you’re writing his
powers, they do seem a bit odd – at times, they’re very sci-fi and at
other times very magical. It’s like that old saying about the
technology being so advanced that it looks like magic. He has a ring
that allows him to construct anything he can imagine. One of the
tricks to writing about those powers is that, when you come up with
something he does with the ring, the audience is expecting to be
amazed, but also – and this is odd to say about a comics/science
fiction story – they need it to be in context, and it needs to be
believable.
Hal is also a very colorful character and he’s in the middle of this
big soap opera in space. It’s a very involving backdrop that opens the
door to telling a million stories with him. He also has one of the
great costumes – that great Silver Age suit from the 1950s. He was one
of the few, and maybe he was the first flying character, who didn’t
have a cape. So he has this sleek outfit and it’s very striking.
QUESTION:
What makes Sinestro a great villain?
ALAN BURNETT:
We play Sinestro as sort of the bad half of Hal Jordan. As I was
writing them, I figured they were pretty close. They both have
distaste for authority. But Sinestro is the dark side of the Green
Lanterns – he wants absolute control, while Hal Jordan is more about
serving the people. The other thing about Sinestro is that he doesn’t
think of himself as a villain. He has a plan which he thinks is going
to benefit everyone, but unfortunately what this plan does is give him
absolute power. And, of course, absolute power corrupts absolutely –
and you can see that it’s corrupting him even as he tries to wield it.
The Guardians begin to understand Sinestro’s nefarious plans to overthrow their reign in Green Lantern: First Flight, an all-new DC Universe animated original movie set for distribution July 28, 2009 by Warner Home Video.
-
QUESTION:
When did you first fall in love with comic books?
ALAN BURNETT:
I had read comic books like “Little Lulu” when I was young, but when I
was nine years old we took a vacation – and I always saved up comic
books for the vacation because it was a long trip from Ohio to
Florida. Into my stack that year I got the super hero comics and I
particularly remember bringing Batman. Somewhere around Kentucky, I
started reading my first super hero comic and it was like I lost my
virginity. It was just the most amazing thing. I was suddenly in an
adult world that I sort of understood and it was sort of made for me.
And I was hooked. I’ve been hooked ever since.
QUESTION:
As you exited Kentucky during that eye-opening trip, did you ever
imagine you’d be writing those comics and cartoons as an adult?
ALAN BURNETT:
When I was a kid reading this stuff, I never thought that I’d be
writing it. But you know, it’s because I did read this stuff then that
I write it now. When I started working at Hanna Barbara in 1981, they
were looking for someone to take over the Super Friends show and they
knew that I was a big comic book fan. Before that, I don’t think the
story editors or the writers cared about super heroes. So I have two
degrees from college, and they don’t mean as much to my career as
those four or five really intense comic book reading years between the
ages of 9 and 14.
QUESTION:
Who are your greatest writing influences?
ALAN BURNETT:
I have two major influences and it’s kind of strange to say them
together, but those would be Alfred Hitchcock and Woody Allen.
Hitchcock wasn’t a writer, of course, but in a way he was because he
sat down with his writers and worked his way through the script with
them. I think there’s a lot of Hitchcock influence in some of the
action-adventure things I’ve done. It’s just little things, certain
scenes or actions, that remind me of something he would’ve put in a
film. I think Woody Allen has influenced the way I interject comedy
into the action adventure. That’s my favorite genre: action-adventure
comedy. Like North By Northwest. That’s just a beautiful, beautiful
movie, and it’s as funny as it is thrilling. That’s my favorite type
of entertainment.
GREEN LANTERN © Warner Bros. Ent Inc. “GREEN LANTERN” and all
related characters and elements are trademarks of and © DC Comics. ©
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Discussion
No comments for “More Interviews for upcoming Green Lantern Animated Blu-ray: Juliet Landau and Alan Burnett”