Taking SUPERMAN-BATMAN From Comics to Screen:"Fairly Easy"

When it came to doing the screenplay for ‘Superman/Batman: Public Enemies,’ long time DCAU veteran Stan Berkowitz admits it wasn’t too difficult a job.

“Compared to other writers, I think Jeph Loeb intended this to be like a movie,” says Berkowitz. “It was fairly easy to adapt in a screenplay. The big difference is the original comic was a six-parter. That meant there were five cliffhangers. That structure had to be changed a little bit because you don’t have four cliffhangers in a screenplay form. You have a three-act structure. So I had to change that a little bit. Otherwise, it was pretty easy to deal with.”

It also didn’t hurt that Berkowitz has been working with the DCAU’s leading lights, Bruce Timm, Alan Burnett and Andrea Romano for over a decade.

“I’ve been writing for those two characters since 1996-7,” he said. “I got to know them pretty well. Also, a lot of the dialogue comes from the comic book. You can tell. It was like someone started the tune and I just had to pick it up, like good jazz. We were just inspired by what was already there and just took it further, when necessary.

“Don’t forget, with these movies, they are trying to be faithful to the comic books, not just in story, but also in images. I think (director) Sam Liu and the entire art crew, from Bruce Timm on down, wanted to be respectful to the work Ed McGuiness did. I do know that we have some of the best animators in the world working here.

“It’s just been a dream for me; all these years, from 1996 on, to work with those people. Not just from the image quality or the actual animation. There’s such a good story sense. Now I talk to people who work for other companies. They tell me how they write a script and the animators didn’t understand it and screwed it up. That doesn’t happen at Warners.”

When it comes to the story elements, Berkowitz gives Alan Burnett a lot of credit.

“There’s a paternal quality to him. He’s helped a lot of people,” says Berkowitz. “Bob Goodman, who is now a writer on ‘Warehouse 13,’ started off as an assistant to Alan back in like 1995. Bob told Alan that he’d like to write and Alan mentored him. Pretty soon, Bob is on the staff of ‘Superman.’ He’s helped other people like that, and there doesn’t seem to be a trace of ego in him.

“Alan’s skill and success derive from his personality, and most people aren’t able to learn personality. I mean I see why he’s successful. I just can’t duplicate it. He’s very patient and there’s no ego involved. That’s more than me.”

Released this week, the direct-to-DVD set is one truly action-packed thrill ride. Even though it only clocks in at 66 minutes, Berkowitz and Liu have managed to make it feel like a truly complete film. Yes, the internal monologue of the two heroes isn’t present, but it isn’t necessary either. Instead, it manages to convey the personalities of DC Comics’ two franchise characters with a minimum of words and a lot of solid personality animation.

“Absolutely,” Berkowitz concurs. “It was a very action-oriented comic. That’s what everybody at Warners wanted. That’s what they wanted at Warner Premiere. It was supposed to be a lot of action with the two big heroes, Superman and Batman. Lo and behold! They wind up with a movie where Luthor is the main character.

“Don’t look at me,” Berkowitz adds about the length of the film. “When I turned in the script I was told it was a little bit too long. Alan Burnett cut it. I don’t know why it is so short. I do know there were a couple of small scenes that were removed, but nothing major. I have a feeling the reason the running time is low is because the directors, Sam Liu and his people, just wanted to make this thing run real fast. It’s appropriate. It’s an action movie. It doesn’t feel short to me either.”

As for the casting, Berkowitz couldn’t be more pleased.

“I felt brilliant,” Berkowitz admits. “I really only have two emotions; fear and relief. When I was writing the screenplay, I was afraid they weren’t going to use the guys. Then when they hired them, I was relieved that they were. That was because when I was writing the dialogue, I could hear their voices, particularly Clancy. So that was great.

“When you sit down to write a speech for any of the characters, you do hear a voice in your head. Usually you can’t control it, but that voice is now usually Tim, Kevin or Clancy’s. It’s such a pleasure to work with them.

“Kevin Conroy is another one of those people who you don’t notice what good work he does until he leaves the room,” says Berkowitz. “When he’s in there, you take him for granted. Yet I remember there was one episode of ‘Batman Beyond’ when he wasn’t there. That’s when I realized that all the actors took their cues from him in terms of what the tone of the show should be. When he’s not there, they are just all over the board. When he is there, they just follow his lead.”

Still, a room with Clancy, Conroy and Daly means there’s three lead dogs in the house. That leads to the question of who will be the leader of the pack.

“Everyone’s seen movies where there are 2-3 strong leading men in the film. They somehow all figure out how to work together. I’m sure Kevin would say that it’s a cooperative effort. He might also say it was Clancy. He had more lines.”

At the same time, one gets the feeling the person driving that team was the ever-incredible Andrea Romano.

“You know, the voice sessions really brought back to me the pleasure of being in the business,” Berkowitz said. “Andrea Romano, in a certain way, reminds me of Alan. In a sense, you don’t get the sense that she’s doing a lot. Yet when she’s not there, it’s just terrible. That’s when you realize how important she is. A large majority of the stuff I’ve worked on has been conducted by Andrea. I’ve gotten kind of spoiled. Normally she works very quietly, very subtly. She doesn’t call a lot of attention to herself but she does great work.”

In the meantime, Berkowitz is now hard at work on his next project, the adaptation of the Indian comic book The 99 into an animated series.

“It’s being done for a company in England called Endemol,” Berkowitz plugs. “It is based on a comic book created by a man named Naif Al-Matawa. The origin story is available, for free, on the ‘net at www.the99.org.

“It’s a group of international kids from a number of countries. I think by the end of episode #26, we will have 16 of them. Eventually it will be 99 kids. Each of them has a different superpower. It’s animated. They don’t have distribution in the U.S. yet.

“I’ve been really happy working on it. Alan Burnett is one of the writers. Henry Gilroy and Steve Melching from ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ have also written scripts. Charlotte Fullerton, Marty Isenberg, Randy Rogel, who wrote some of the earliest Batman scripts, all are working on this. There are others I haven’t named and I apologize for that. It’s working with good people all around. I think the scripts have turned out very well. The animation is looking pretty good, too. It’s being done over in England. Dave Osborne and Peter Griffiths are working on that. Naif is the executive producer.”

From the looks of things, it won't be surprising if this turns into Berkowitz’s next hit project, either.