Post by Timothy on Feb 28, 2007 20:04:02 GMT -5
DC has recently interviewed 1970's Batman writer Steve Englehart, and the results (as always at DC 
) were informative and whimsical at the same time.
Here's the transcript of the interview, with my/ DC's users questions in bold and his emphasis within the quotes in italics.
_____________________________________________________________
From Dr. Crane...
"Mr. Englehart, I read in a recent Batman-On-Film interview that you found there to be "too many substitutions" into the back story provided for the character in Batman Begins. Some Batman-On-Film posters were puzzled, but I believe I understood what you were talking about, particularly in the first hour of the movie.
I was wondering, though, if you liked the scene in which Officer Jim Gordon comforts young Bruce Wayne after the murders.
I'm asking this because it seemed to be from one of your own ideas! I read one of the pages of your treatment for the 1989 Batman film on your website in which Inspector Gordon goes to the Wayne funeral and tells Bruce and Alfred about the police search for the killer.
Steve Englehart:
Sure. My problem with the film is, there are a number of things that are established in the Batstory. Variations on them, segments of them recombined, segments of them reimagined - all that's fine by me (whether or not I thought them up. :-) ) It's the wholesale insertion of new events that bothers me. I simply do not see Bruce Wayne in a Chinese prison; it doesn't connect to anything we "know." And we do "know" that he's obsessed with Gotham City, so it seems much more likely that he toughened himself up on the Gotham streets. Just as it seems likely that a crime victim and a cop would meet and possibly establish a friendship.
(Dr. Crane; cont'd)
I also would like to ask if this (young Gordon meeting young Bruce Wayne after the deaths of Bruce's parents) was an idea of your own or if it dates back to a comic I'm unaware of?
Personally I like the idea and I was wondering who I would accredit it to."
Steve Englehart:
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's mine - meaning, twenty years later, I can't swear that somebody else didn't do it first, but I don't think they did.
_____________________________________________________________
From ArkhamInmate
"Tim Burton's Batman (plot wise) was based on Dark Detective. What's your opinion on the changes in story & characters. & the way the basic plot translated to film?"
Steve Englehart:
I liked the whole thing a lot. I wish they hadn't changed Silver's and Thorne's names, but I thought they captured them, and Bat/Bruce and the Joker, very well. The thing that did it for me was Bruce saying at one point that he wasn't crazy, which of course is my view, and not that of many others.
_____________________________________________________________
From Me
"What aspect do you enjoy the most when it comes to writing Batman?"
Steve Englehart:
I used to enjoy two things: the atmosphere around being the Bat, and Bruce's interaction with Silver, because it was so different from anything that had happened before. Since I started, however, the Bat side was turned into simple sociopathy for many years, and even though I don't do that, the cluelessness of it bothers me whenever I write it now - what I want to be terse and tense sounds lame to me unless I go out of my way to establish exactly what I'm trying to do - which sort of defeats the idea of "terse and tense." So I'm left with Silver as my favorite part; I do enjoy her as a strong character in her own right.
"What do you believe is the Joker's weakness or tragic flaw?"
Steve Englehart:
He lives almost entirely in his own reality. It often encompasses real reality, so he's highly functional in real reality, but he prefers the reality others don't share, and that leads him to misunderestimate (as George Bush once said) what's actually going on. Even then, he's so dangerous he can make up for most mistakes - but in the end, that's his tragic flaw.
In short; great guy, great interview... Here's to more DC Interviews like this in the future!
) were informative and whimsical at the same time. Here's the transcript of the interview, with my/ DC's users questions in bold and his emphasis within the quotes in italics.
_____________________________________________________________
From Dr. Crane...
"Mr. Englehart, I read in a recent Batman-On-Film interview that you found there to be "too many substitutions" into the back story provided for the character in Batman Begins. Some Batman-On-Film posters were puzzled, but I believe I understood what you were talking about, particularly in the first hour of the movie.
I was wondering, though, if you liked the scene in which Officer Jim Gordon comforts young Bruce Wayne after the murders.
I'm asking this because it seemed to be from one of your own ideas! I read one of the pages of your treatment for the 1989 Batman film on your website in which Inspector Gordon goes to the Wayne funeral and tells Bruce and Alfred about the police search for the killer.
Steve Englehart:
Sure. My problem with the film is, there are a number of things that are established in the Batstory. Variations on them, segments of them recombined, segments of them reimagined - all that's fine by me (whether or not I thought them up. :-) ) It's the wholesale insertion of new events that bothers me. I simply do not see Bruce Wayne in a Chinese prison; it doesn't connect to anything we "know." And we do "know" that he's obsessed with Gotham City, so it seems much more likely that he toughened himself up on the Gotham streets. Just as it seems likely that a crime victim and a cop would meet and possibly establish a friendship.
(Dr. Crane; cont'd)
I also would like to ask if this (young Gordon meeting young Bruce Wayne after the deaths of Bruce's parents) was an idea of your own or if it dates back to a comic I'm unaware of?
Personally I like the idea and I was wondering who I would accredit it to."
Steve Englehart:
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's mine - meaning, twenty years later, I can't swear that somebody else didn't do it first, but I don't think they did.
_____________________________________________________________
From ArkhamInmate
"Tim Burton's Batman (plot wise) was based on Dark Detective. What's your opinion on the changes in story & characters. & the way the basic plot translated to film?"
Steve Englehart:
I liked the whole thing a lot. I wish they hadn't changed Silver's and Thorne's names, but I thought they captured them, and Bat/Bruce and the Joker, very well. The thing that did it for me was Bruce saying at one point that he wasn't crazy, which of course is my view, and not that of many others.
_____________________________________________________________
From Me
"What aspect do you enjoy the most when it comes to writing Batman?"
Steve Englehart:
I used to enjoy two things: the atmosphere around being the Bat, and Bruce's interaction with Silver, because it was so different from anything that had happened before. Since I started, however, the Bat side was turned into simple sociopathy for many years, and even though I don't do that, the cluelessness of it bothers me whenever I write it now - what I want to be terse and tense sounds lame to me unless I go out of my way to establish exactly what I'm trying to do - which sort of defeats the idea of "terse and tense." So I'm left with Silver as my favorite part; I do enjoy her as a strong character in her own right.
"What do you believe is the Joker's weakness or tragic flaw?"
Steve Englehart:
He lives almost entirely in his own reality. It often encompasses real reality, so he's highly functional in real reality, but he prefers the reality others don't share, and that leads him to misunderestimate (as George Bush once said) what's actually going on. Even then, he's so dangerous he can make up for most mistakes - but in the end, that's his tragic flaw.
In short; great guy, great interview... Here's to more DC Interviews like this in the future!
