EISNER AWARD-WINNING WRITER BRIAN AZZARELLO
DISCUSSES WRITING FOR THE UPCOMING DC UNIVERSE
ORIGINAL ANIMATED FILM, “BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHT”
One
of the most sought-after writers in comics today, Brian Azzarello is one
of the six acclaimed scribes to pen a segment within “Batman Gotham
Knight,” the third in the ongoing series of DC Universe animated
original PG-13 movies.
Unlike many of his past works, Azzarello’s segment – entitled “Working
Though Pain” – takes a decidedly non-violent direction. The segment,
which falls chronologically as the fifth of the six segments, explores
an early chapter of Bruce Wayne’s training as a mysterious and exotic
Indian woman named Cassandra introduces Batman to techniques that would
help him to conquer the physical and spiritual consequences of what he
does.
Azzarello achieved widespread notoriety – and garnered multiple Eisner
Awards – for “100 Bullets,” a collaboration with artist Eduardo Risso
which was published by Vertigo for DC Comics. He has continually broken
new ground with offerings like Vertigo’s “Jonny Double,” “Hellblazer”
and “Loveless” series. Azzarello is no stranger to Batman, having
written for the character in “Broken City,” “Batman/Deathblow: After the
Fire,” within the “Batman Gotham Knights” series and in “Lex Luthor: Man
of Steel.”
A Chicago resident, Azzarello will travel across town to join fellow
“Batman Gotham Knight” writers Alan Burnett and Josh Olson, along with
producer Bruce Timm, for the film’s world premiere at Wizard World
Chicago in late June. "Batman Gotham Knight" will arrive July 8, 2008 on
DVD and Blu-Ray disc, and will also be available that day On Demand via
digital cable and for download through broadband sites. The film is
produced as a collaboration between DC Comics, Warner Premiere, Warner
Home Video and Warner Bros. Animation.
Azzarello took time away from his Mac Power Book to discuss “Batman
Gotham Knight,” the character of Batman, the motivations of a writer,
and a little cooking, too.
Question: For starters, what was your overall impression of “Batman
Gotham Knight,” and were you pleased with your segment?
Brian
Azzarello says:
I liked the film – it’s a very interesting take on the Batman character.
It holds together cohesively, yet each episode is strikingly different.
And I loved (my segment) – it’s great. I really liked the animation. It
was fascinating seeing my words moving around. When I write, I see it in
print – I don’t see it moving. So it was fun and it was a good
experience.
Question: How did you find the translation from your written page to the
vision of the Japanese director and artists?
Brian Azzarello says:
I was surprised how seamless the translation was. I definitely got what
I wrote. The hospital scene is almost exactly the way I thought of it,
while the fight scenes – that’s where the animators really put their
“wow” into it. But I expected that. Usually that’s where the animators
just go crazy.
Question: Were there any particular visuals that struck you within your
segment?
Brian Azzarello says:
Seeing wounded Batman – now that struck me. I enjoy wounded Batman. It
humanizes him. It showed a true physical struggle, and that’s something
you can relate to. And the character Cassandra was a bit hotter than I
thought she’d be … but that’s okay.
Question: When you’re writing for comics – and now for animation – do
you put fairly detailed direction between the dialogue, or is it more of
a collaborative process for you and the artist/animator?
Brian Azzarello says:
I wrote the script and then I handed it off, and that’s pretty much the
same relationship I have in comics. I really trust my collaborators, and
I try to leave them plenty of room so they can bring their strengths to
the work. I think that happened in this film, and definitely for my
segment – the animation is just amazing. Really amazing.
I have more of an affinity for the stage than I do for the screen, so
I’m very conscious of the dialogue. And because I’ve always worked with
collaborators, I tend to leave the visuals up to them – on purpose. It’s
my belief that if I get the dialogue right, and the artist understands
what motivates the characters and what they’re saying, then the visuals
will come.
Question: You’re fairly particular about the projects you accept. How’d
you get involved with this film, and what made you say yes?
Brian Azzarello says:
Gregory Noveck of DC Comics talked to my agent, then I had a conference
call to discuss the story. They explained the film to me in broad
strokes, and asked me to come up with an idea. I chose to focus more on
Bruce Wayne, and they liked my pitch. As always happens, they needed the
script yesterday, and I was I was on my way to Europe at the time. All I
can tell you is that the hotel room in Barcelona was pretty nice, but I
can’t tell you much about the city.
Question: You were quoted in a UGO article as saying “Hollywood is
nowhere I aspire to be” … and yet, here you are. What happened?
Brian Azzarello says:
Well, the production may be in Hollywood, but I’m in Chicago – and I’m
going to stay here. Is that semantics? I’m not sure. I enjoy doing the
work, and I really liked writing for this project – I’d like to do it
again. And I know there are people that would kill to work in Hollywood.
I’m just not one of those people. I’ll do it, I have done it, but the
project has to be right. I’ve been asked to write a lot of things that
I’ve declined mainly because the projects didn’t interest me. If I were
just writing to pull a paycheck, there’s a lot of other things I could
be doing.
Question: What’s your motivation for writing?
Brian Azzarello says:
If I have a story, if I have something to say, that’s my motivation. For
this film, I had something to say about Bruce Wayne as a character, what
his motivations are. That there’s something dark and wrong about what
drives him. Batman is a super hero and he does good. But I think the
Bruce Wayne part of the character’s motivation is slightly twisted.
Bruce’s motivations don’t come from a good place. He’s angry and, in
that revenge is really his goal, he’s a dishonest character. That’s why
he has to wear a mask. He’s doing good, but he’s not doing all the right
things for all the right reasons.
That plays into this story. It should be a story about non-violence, but
that’s the lesson that Bruce doesn’t learn. On the surface, Bruce is on
a spiritual journey, but his spirit was corrupted when his parents were
killed. And it’s not something that I think he’s even interested in
fixing.
Question: How much research was involved in scripting a story set in
India that focuses on the mind-over-matter theme of conquering your pain
from within?
Brian Azzarello says:
I spent a lot of time surfing (the Internet) – it’s a wonder how we all
have libraries at our fingerprints these days. I needed to do research
on India, and I gathered a lot of information on pain management. What I
learned is that a lot of pain management practitioners are con men.
Question: You’ve had some notable experience working on Batman – can you
compare the differences in working on this Batman tale vs.
“Batman/Deathblow: After the Fire” and “Broken City” or the “Batman:
Gotham Knights” comics?
Brian Azzarello says:
Every time I approach Batman, I like to come from a different angle. In
Deathblow, I saw him as a James Bond-type but on an urban level. For
Broken City, he was the bitter private eye. On this project, I guess
he’s lying to himself. He’s not intentionally conning Cassandra, but he
does ultimately con her. He wants to learn what she knows, but he
doesn’t want to know it for the reasons she teaches it. She finally
figures out that he’s doing it for the wrong reason, but it isn’t until
the end – and it’s not until then that even he understands that he’s
been lying to himself.
Question: What are you reading these days?
Brian Azzarello says:
I have a stack of books – The Crime Writer by Gregg Hurwitz; one of
Jason Starr’s novels; and then I’ve got Mario Batali’s Italian Grill
cookbook. I actually read a lot of cookbooks – I grew up around cooking,
and cooking really relaxes me. Nine times out of 10, I’m cooking
something Italian, but the weather is turning, so my grill has been
fired up a lot lately. I love barbeque – it’s great to cook something
for 8-10 hours. That’s such an American way of cooking, but I try to
bring a lot of Mediterranean influences into that.
Question: So if you could hand-pick your next achievement, what would it
be – win another Eisner, write the next Batman, or have your own show on
Food Network?
Brian Azzarello says:
Well, having my own cooking show sounds like no work at all. Winning
another Eisner would be nice. But I think I’d have to pick writing the
next Batman – that would be the biggest challenge for me. As a
freelancer, if you’re not challenging yourself, nobody is. Every day I
have to paint myself into a corner and then write my way out of it.
Interview and images provided by Warner Bros. Animation.
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