December 7th, 2023 
Jackson Murphy 
The Caped Crusader’s eight year old son Damian is on a Christmas Eve mission to save Gotham City in the heartwarming and hilarious new animated comedy feature Merry Little Batman. It debuts this Friday December 8th on Prime Video. Writers Morgan Evans and Jase Ricci describe the fa-la-la-la-fun of crafting an entertaining and exciting story in this Animation Scoop Q&A. (Interviews were combined and edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: I loved watching Damian lead the way with this movie. He’s a joyful eight year old.
Morgan Evans: Originally we were going back and forth. For a while it was maybe a little Bruce. We were thinking, “What would be the most interesting thing to see? What would the fans love? And what kind of movie would I have loved to see at that age?” I was a kid who wore a Batman cape and cowboy boots for like eight years. Way too long, honestly. And we eventually landed on Damian who’s such a rich character with deep lore. I’m such a fan of the Neal Adams books. As soon as it clicked that it was gonna be Damian, a lot of things fell into place. He’s such a great character, and it was so fun to tell a new origin story of Damian, in a way.
JM: And then you have Bruce Wayne, who is this very thoughtful, caring dad. The emotion that Luke Wilson puts into his voice performance, and the dialogue that this Batman has about being a father, is really sweet.
ME: Thank you so much. It was really important to me, in thinking about what kind of father Bruce would be, having lost his own parents. Obviously the most important thing for him is to protect Damian’s childhood — a thing he never had. That would make him a helicopter parent — or a Bat-copter parent. Let’s put it that way. (laughs)
JM: What went into making sure the holiday aspects were nice and special?
Jase Ricci: We have a Santa scene, which a certain supervillain is involved with. It touches on all the hallmarks of a holiday, especially a big city holiday — a parade, big Christmas trees, a Santa at the mall. At no point do they overtake the story. It’s still about a boy trying to prove himself to his dad — trying to become a hero. For some reason, there’s a strange relationship between Batman and Christmas. They kind of go together, and I’ve never seen them put together this way, which was really exciting.
JM: The belt is a gift Damian gets, he uses it, and then it’s taken from him.
JR: I came into the project after a lot of the story had been hammered out, but the belt was something that came on when I was on. For me, it was very important. As a kid, you want to prove to your mom or your dad… in my case my dad… that you’re a grown up. You’re ready. That rite of passage. That’s what that belt indicates. It’s like having a driver’s license or being able to ride your bike. It’s something you can show that you can prove to the adult that you’re a grown up. You’re one of them. At the end of the day, you learn that’s just a belt. You’re a grown up when you’re a grown up inside. Damian has to realize he’s not quite an adult yet. He’s ready for the belt but has a lot to grow. The utility belt really draws together the idea of coming of age.
JM: Over the course of the movie, Damian faces-off against some iconic villains. They’re surprises, along with their entrances. Without spoiling too much, how did you decide who you wanted Damian to face-off against, as he’s protecting Gotham City, and how you wanted to incorporate them?
ME: A few of them just seemed obvious to me. What goes hand in hand with the holidays more than Poison Ivy — trees and wreaths everywhere. And penguins and snow. We knew that in addition to these new bumbling burglar characters, we were gonna wanna break out of Wayne Manor, go into Gotham, really let Damian shine and see what he could do out in the big world. And what’s a Batman story without The Joker?
JM: It’s been since Damian’s birth that there’s been crime in Gotham City. When it returns, Damian is happy. He wants to see his father in action. Do you honestly think Batman thrives on crime existing?
ME: (laughs) I think that’s a plot point in a lot of my favorite Batman stories. Is what Batman’s doing altruistic or is it revenge? Is it about cleaning up Gotham or satisfying Batman’s own personal thing? Damian having a scary backstory — his mom is a big supervillain — we really wanted to play with that Luke Skywalker-esque “Is he gonna go to the light side or the dark side?” Bruce has cleaned up Gotham, which is great for everybody in Gotham, but for a kid who wants to be a superhero, that’s the worst thing in the world. All you’d want to do is fight crime, but if there’s no crime to fight, you’re not thinking about the huge importance. You’re just thinking, “I wanna fight bad guys.” That’s where Damian comes from.
JM: There are a lot of sweet scenes. One of them is Damian discovering this new suit his father has left him… and the communication Bruce has with him as he goes on this epic journey. Were there challenges as far as making that dynamic work really well?
ME: It was important to get Bruce / Batman out of the house so Damian could do his own thing and shine. But we also wanted this to be a Batman movie in the true sense of the word. It felt like a waste to get him out of the house and strand him in Nova Scotia. So we came up with this way of having him threaded throughout the film in the form of Bat Dad. For Damian, it’s a source of comfort. And you got Luke Wilson… you want Luke Wilson in the whole movie. He does such a great job.
JM: Yonas Kibreab, who voices Damian, has done a lot of voice acting on shows lately. He’s also going to be Elio in Pixar’s “Elio” movie, coming in 2025. What a talent.
JR: He’s phenomenal. It’s really unique that you have such a young actor being able to deliver *that* level of performance. It’s really inspiring.
JM: How about the first time when you heard James Cromwell deliver some of his Alfred dialogue? How did it make you feel?
JR: (laughs) I’ve been a fan of his work for a long time, going way, way back to the ’80s… “Revenge of the Nerds”. I worked on this before I knew who exactly was doing the cast. When I heard the voices, I was like, “Oh my God. This is amazing.” When you see somebody you grew-up with, and you get to hear their voice and you get to actually write words for them.
JM: According to the movie, in order to be a hero, it takes focus, responsibility and sacrifice. How would you apply those three things to writing and working on “Merry Little Batman”?
ME: Focus is really important. When you’re tasked with exploring this deep lore, it’s really important to take a look at the history — your favorite Batman comic books and movies and go from there. Think about what you would want to see as a fan. I’m sorry, what’s the second one? (laughs)
JM: Responsibility. You have a responsibility to the fans, clearly, after you do all that research, to get it right!
ME: Exactly right! And you’re also responsible to the characters. You’re responsible to make sure that they feel true. And for sacrifice, I think writing a screenplay is not the final product. The screenplay is the jumping off point for hundreds of talented artists to put their mark on this thing. Sacrificing is putting that ego aside and saying, “Here’s this Batman story I came up with. Now run with it and do your thing.” It’s art by committee.
JM: Jase, what kind of Caped Crusader research did you do, to please the Batman fans of all ages?
JR: I’ll be honest with you, Jackson. I’ve been a Batman fan since I was four [years old], so I am familiar with who Batman fans of all ages are, because I’ve been there, and so are my children. This was not my first Batman project. This was the fourth version of Batman I worked with in that year.
JM: Wow.
JR: It’s an honor and a privilege. And that’s the beauty of the character. No two Batmans… are the same… but they’re ALL the same. Adam West is Batman, and so is Michael Keaton, and so is Kevin Conroy, and so is Christian Bale, and so on and so on. They’re all Batman. They’re just different iterations. Luke Wilson is Batman. It was a dream job — so much fun putting in homages… to [Joel] Schumaker, Tim Burton and West.
JM: What do you think, after working on these projects, is the secret to the longevity of the impact of Batman?
JR: That’s a great question, and I wish I had this really cool answer primed for you.
JM: (laughs)
JR: He is enduring, like Dracula and Sherlock Holmes. There’s all these different iterations, but you can take him in all different directions. Maybe that’s part of what the allure is. There’s the duality in the character that’s identifiable. There’s iconography. Before Michael Keaton and Tim Burton, it was the comic books you convinced your mom and dad to buy for you. And when Batman was on TV, you had to catch it after school. That’s where it started for me. There was something about falling in love with that lighter, sillier Batman that made you then appreciate the darker Batman — “The Dark Knight” is awesome and grittier. As you get older, you realize and appreciate the slapstick too. Just being a Bat fan this long, I’ve been able to appreciate both of the main approaches to the main character.
JM: One of the wonderful messages in this is kids having the opportunity to amaze adults — to blow them away with their skills in whatever they love doing.
ME: As a kid, all I ever wanted was to grow up. When thinking about what Damian would want, it’s that too, which is of course the opposite of what Bruce wants — to have his baby boy for as long as he possibly can.
JM: How are you spending the holidays?
JR: My son has a summer birthday. There was a special studio family screening for the crew to see it, so my son actually got to see it on his 11th birthday, and he loved it. I’m sure we’re all planning to watch it [this week]. My family is excited. I saw a very early animatic of it. I’ve worked with [director] Mike Roth. I’ve known him for a while. He told me about the project and I was like, “Oh yeah. Damian Wayne. Okay. Christmas. That project sounds okay.” I trust Mike. And then he invited me to a screening, and even though it was a rough thing… immediately after I said, “Mike, this is gonna be a classic. How can I be a part of it?” He was generous enough to ask me to help out.
- INTERVIEW: Honoring “A Bear Named Wojtek” - November 22, 2024
- INTERVIEW: Prepare To Be “Spellbound” - November 21, 2024
- INTERVIEW: Go With The “Flow” - November 20, 2024
Posted in 
Tags: 
