BATMAN: YEAR ONE Gets an Awesome Voice Cast, and will Premiere at Comic-Con
It looks like Warner Bros. animation's Batman: Year One is shaping up to be a pretty awesome animated film. Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Ben McKenzie (Southland), Eliza Dushku (Dollhouse) and Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) have all been cast to provide voices for the characters in the film which is based off of Frank Miller's comic book classic.
McKenzie surprisingly will take on the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman, Cranston will play Gordon, Dushku was perfectly cast Catwoman, and Sackhoff will play Detective Sarah Essen, a Gordon love interest. Alex Rocco was also hired to play crime lord Carmine Falcone in the story.
The film is being directed by Lauren Montgomery and Sam Liu who have already worked on several of the other animated comic book film adaptations at the WB. Here is a little synopsis for you to read for those of you who for some reason haven't heard of Batman: Year One.
A young Bruce Wayne has spent his adolescence and early adulthood, traveling the world so he could hone his body and mind into the perfect fighting and investigative machine. But now as he returns to Gotham City, he must find a way to focus his passion and bring justice to his city. Retracing Batman’s first attempts to fight injustice as a costumed vigilante, we watch as he chooses a guise of a giant bat, creates an early bond with a young Lieutenant James Gordon, inadvertently plays a role in the birth of Catwoman, and helps to bring down a corrupt political system that infests Gotham.
I'll admit, I'm was little worried that the story will get butchered in the adaptation process, but Warner Bros. Animation veteran Bruce Timm has come out and said that there is very little in the movie that isn't in the comic.
The source material is surprisingly cinematic; it's a pretty straight forward literal retelling. Mazzucchelli's artwork is beautifully composed and we were able to refer to the comic for about 80 percent of the camera setups.
That's pretty awesome. Batman: Year One could possibly end up being their best straight to DVD animated film to date. It was also recently revealed that The Dark Knight Returns is also going to get a animated adaptation as well, from the same team developing this one.
Batman: Year One, which will be rated PG-13, amd is scheduled to be released on DVD and Blu-ray in the fall but it's world premiere will take place in July at San Diego Comic-Con.
So are you excited for this?