The good news about an animated film of Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns is that there is an animated feature of the ground breaking graphic novel forthcoming. The bad news is that it’s being split up into two parts. But even more good news is that the second part of the film will be the one that heavily features the Joker and we’ve got the first look at the character for you from TV Guide, who have also revealed that “LOST’ veteran Michael Emerson will be playing the character in the second part.
“He’s one of those great villains that an actor like me likes to play because he has layers he has a face for the world and a face for himself,” Emerson said. “He is, in a way, a villain who is a natural actor. All of that is that is delightful and confounding at the same time. It’s freeing because of the largeness of it. When he laughs, there’s nothing subdued about it. When he screams in rage, there’s nothing controlled about it. The amp is turned to 11 at all times.”
In the film, the Joker has been declared legally sane by Dr. Wolper and is released from his cell at Arkham Asylum, only to return to his old ways due to the return of the Batman.
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 will be released on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital platforms on September 25th with the second part expected to land in February of 2013. The first part is described as follows:
“Its been a decade since Bruce Wayne hung up his cape, following most of the other superheroes who had been forced into retirement. Facing the downside of middle age, a restless Bruce Wayne pacifies his frustration with race cars and liquor but the bat still beckons as he watches his city fall prey to gangs of barbaric criminals known as The Mutants.”
Peter Weller provided the voice of Batman/Bruce Wayne and is joined by David Selby as Commissioner Gordon, Ariel Winter as Robin, Wade Williams as Two-Face and Michael McKean as Dr. Bartholomew Wolper. The film is directed by Jay Oliva, written by Bob Goodman and executive produced by Sam Register and Bruce Timm. You can check out the previously-released trailer below.
