Kevin Pollack Reveals How He Made Joker His Own In Injustice After Years of Great Voice Actors [EXCLUSIVE]
Kevin Pollack is no stranger to memorable characters, as he’s played a multitude of them over the course of his career. He’s now added yet another mysterious character to his resume in Time of Death’s Warden Beau LaRue, but you might also remember that he brought The Joker to life in DC’s animated adaptation of Injustice. ComicBook had the chance to speak to Pollack about his take on the Joker, and he revealed how he found a way to put his spin on such an iconic character.
Pollack revealed the secret to capturing something distinct in his Joker portrayal was to not watch other Joker performances, as he didn’t want any of those portrayals to accidentally seep in. “Talk about a big swing. The key was to not watch or listen to any of the others. So if I sounded like anyone else who did it, that was coincidence… I had to find the sort of musical rhythm of his craziness. And it was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done because I really had no restraints and just go all the way to the highs of insanity,” Pollack said.
“There’s something about the name that suggests intense laughter, which then keys the whole speaking pattern, because whatever you’re saying is going to lead to laughing uncontrollably. So that thought of laughter and joy of villainy is in your temporal lobe and vocal range while you’re doing it,” Pollack said. “And that’s something I hadn’t done before. So I just found sheer joy in doing it and easily the most exhaustive thing I’ve ever done.”
Joker And Warden LaRue Are Both Haunting, But In Different Ways
Pollack is playing another haunting character in Time of Death, which takes place in a decaying prison. After a prisoner vanishes inside the prison, Detective Frank Morley (Michael Kelly) is sent out to investigate, and he soon learns something is considerably off. In charge of this prison is Warden LaRue, and despite all of the characters Pollack’s played, this was a character he’s never had a chance to play.
“It was a character I felt I had not played before. First of all, you don’t think of me often as the southern character to begin with, whether it’s a warden or whatever,” Pollack said. “So there was a haunting nature to (it)….I like to joke, I’ve made a career out of doing nothing. But when it came to this warden, it was time to start with less is more so that I could build to the undoing of madness. “
After Morley arrives, it doesn’t take long to see that something’s not right here, and things only continue to escalate from there. It’s a different style of haunting than the Joker, but both characters are menacing in their own way, and you get the feeling that LaRue is capable of much more than he lets on.
As for what’s next for the Joker, the character has popped up in animated form once more in Prime Video’s Batman: Caped Crusader season 2. As for live-action, we’ll have to wait and see if we get an official appearance in either The Batman universe or the DCU.
Time of Death is now available on Apple TV.
