The Batman Performance Kevin Conroy Was Most Proud Was in BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM
Kevin Conroy once talked about the best scene that he was ever involved with when voicing Bruce Wayne/Batman. The scene was in the animated film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, and it was a flashback sequence in which a lovesick and conflicted Bruce Wayne goes to his parents’ grave and tells them he’s considering giving up on his mission of vengeance because he “didn’t count on being happy.”
It was quite a moving scene, and when talking about the recording session, it had members of the creative team in tears. Conroy said in a previous interview with Vulture:
“That scene at the grave was probably one of the best. That was the time I realized fully that you can’t fake Batman. You can’t just make a deep, husky sound with your voice. You have to base it in the pain of his childhood each time or it doesn’t sound right. When I finished recording it, there was just a lot of silence in the studio.”
Voice director Andrea Romano shared her own experience after Conroy’s performance in the studio, saying:
“When Kevin recorded that scene, we had to take a two-minute break afterward because I was almost inconsolable. I was crying so hard. I was absolutely devastated, in a good way, by his performance there. I’ve always said that I will never ask an actor to do something I’m not willing to do myself. So actors trust me to take the ride with them and Kevin knew that he could open up during that scene and, in doing so, I was right there with him, but I literally could not speak to continue on. I just hit the talk-back and said, ‘I need two minutes.’ And I just lost it.”
Conroy then went on to share that this was an acting experience that he was really proud of:
“Andrea came into the room and she said, ‘That was beautiful, what you just did. That was perfect. Are you okay?’ Because she could see I really, really went emotionally to the place that he goes to. Boy, I was proud of it and I loved it and I think that’s the day I realized, This is realy going to be an acting experience that I’m going to be really proud of.”
It really is a powerful and emotional scene and I included a clip below for you to watch so that you can be reminded of how it plays out.
The story was set in the 1940s, “the troubled yet heroic Batman (Conroy) is pitted against a mysterious figure who is rubbing out Gotham City's most dangerous criminals, and who many believe is the caped crusader himself. Batman's alter ego, millionaire Bruce Wayne, is about to get married to the lovely Andrea Beaumont, who helps him recover from his need to avenge his parents' murder -- meaning that his crime-fighting days may be numbered.”
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is one of the best Batman movies that’s been made. To read the story behind how it got made, click here. What is your favorite Conroy performance as Batman?