ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Merry Little Batman star Luke Wilson about the DC animated holiday special. The actor discussed playing a more paternal Batman and his thoughts on the character of Damian Wayne. Merry Little Batman will be available to stream on Prime Video on Friday, December 8.
“This Christmas, Damian Wayne wants to be a superhero like his dad — the one and only Batman,” reads the special‘s synopsis. “When Damian is left home alone while Batman takes on Gotham’s worst supervillains on Christmas Eve, he stumbles upon a villainous plot to steal Christmas and leaps at the chance to save the day.”
Tyler Treese: This is such an interesting take on Bruce Wayne because we get to see his personal life, and he’s this caring, very neurotic father. What did you like most about this very different look at the character?
Luke Wilson: Just what you mentioned. We’ve all seen the gravelly voiced, dark, dystopian take on Bruce Wayne, which is really fun and cool to watch. So, you know, just as soon as I saw that the title of this was Merry Little Batman and I read the script — which was so funny — I got an idea of who the target audience was. Younger kids, families, parents. Knowing that informed my take on it.
You also get to voice Bat Dad — the little computer on Damian’s suit — which is so fun. Was that mostly digitally altered? Did you do like a bit of a robot voice?
As I remember, I tried to alter my voice. When I did my normal voice for Bruce Wayne, I was trying to have it be like a dad’s voice trying keep his child entertained and have a sense of fun. So when we did the computer voice, I tried to change my voice a little. And I believe they put some little effect on it.
Damian is established in the comics, but we don’t see him a ton in different mediums. How familiar were you with the fact that Batman had a son? Because a lot of people don’t know him.
I did not know. I was shocked that Batman had a son named Damian. I’m sure it’s one of those things with a whole backstory. It’s very interesting how the writers and artists in the comics add all kinds of new changes and twists. They introduce different takes on it. I don’t know where Damian was introduced, but I’m sure it would’ve been in the hard copy of the comic at some point.
Bottle Rocket is one of my favorite movies, and it’s incredible to see all the careers that it launched. How do you look back at that?
Well, it’s funny you mentioned that. I had to go to an event a couple of nights ago, and I looked across the room and there was James L. Brooks. That’s the guy who produced Bottle Rocket and gave us our story. But it kind of threw me off, seeing him, you know? Here I am, almost 30 years later, and there was the guy that gave us our start. I went over and said hello to him.
It’s pretty unbelievable how that all kind of came together. From my perspective, you can’t believe it ever got made. It was such an odd movie, and then to get made by Columbia Pictures. It was definitely a life changing experience for me and other people.