“The essence of a penguin is the essence of a penguin.”
That was Minnie Driver's response when asked to address her concerns about potential backlash from critical fans after the cast of “Batman: Caped Crusader's” announced their decision to swap the gender of villain Penguin.
“The problem is that if it’s not beautifully imagined or reimagined, and if it’s just kind of put in there to kind of tick the box of, ‘Oh, we should have fluidity around the characters now,’ then it’s not the case. The essence of the Penguin is the essence of the Penguin,” Driver said. “She’s really evil. She does some really terrible things, and I hope she’s accepted as the villain she always was.”
“The core of this show is Batman par excellence,” she concluded. “Make no mistake, the fact that the Penguin is a truly terrifying woman speaks volumes about Bruce’s imagination. [Timm] “And the whole team.”
The driver is joined by cast members Hamish Linklater (Batman/Bruce Wayne) and Jamie Chung (Harley Quinn) in Varieties Comic-Con Studio, presented by Google TV, will host the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con convention to talk about Prime Video's upcoming Batman series, which will air on the streaming platform on August 1.
Linklater was asked about the pressure he felt to portray the legendary hero following the recent death of voice actor Kevin Conroy. Conroy was the voice behind Batman in the original animated series that inspired the “Caped Crusader” movie and numerous other projects that touched on nearly every corner of the Dark Knight’s canon, including films, shows and video games.
“When I finally heard the results, [his Batman voice]“It was very close to him, and I hope it doesn’t shock the viewer,” he said. “There are great portrayals of a lot of the characters in this series, but I hope that… I don’t know. I’m just desperate to honor the amazing legacy that Kevin left behind.”
Watch the full interview above to find out which Batman villain is each cast member's favorite and what's at the top of their “must-see” list.
