Latest / Linen Suit & Plastic Tie / Seriously, Why So Serious? ft. a Batman Exec Producer (Michael Uslan)

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Seriously, Why So Serious? ft. a Batman Exec Producer (Michael Uslan) · Linen Suit & Plastic Tie

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Truly legendary story. We are so glad to be able to
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Yes, I'm in Gotham everybody. Hmm.
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Reporting live from Gotham City. Welcome.
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Welcome back to season two of the linen suit and Placid tie
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podcast. This is the podcast where we
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dissect and analyze the amazing the suspenders.
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The spectacular power of Story Time and learn how to harness
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that power to supercharge our everyday.
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De lys, I'm going and I'm Kevin. You said that like an MPR and
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I'm shitting and this is my mindfulness time of.
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Can I just point out we are back from my break way too long.
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Break with spine, we filming again.
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I'm so excited and I did that intro line in one take ladies
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and gentlemen, I think this is the first time I've ever done it
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in one and it's right off the bat for a little more contacts
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or tried another recording session about four hours.
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Go he tried to open top hat. 10 times and failed.
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Yeah, but that's been compact. This is the intro is suppose.
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I got the intro in one take. So you know what?
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It's fine. And yes.
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We've been a little bit on a break but Kevin Kevin.
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The second half of season 2. The people we have coming to
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help. Teach us storytelling.
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I'm so damn excited. It's unbelievable.
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We can't tell you who they are yet.
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You will see them, but we can't tell you yet.
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As is hard for us, really? But is it going to be exciting?
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We can't tell you about this week's guest and we'll get that
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in second. But you know, cap over the
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break. We did some cool stuff.
1:52
We went to San Diego, we saw a couple comedy shows and you
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know, we learn something about me.
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And you before seen shows, we approach the pre-show fans.
2:03
I'd let a little differently. We saw one of my favorite
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comments Taylor Tomlinson and then before Taylor Tomlinson,
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I'm like we watching Chip her specials watching a bunch of
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clips. And I before, Taylor Thomas and
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I tried to get you to watch some of these specials and cuts.
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And what did you say to me? You were going to watch her
2:22
show. You don't have to do homework
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for a show, you are watching. You're going to be the audience
2:29
there. It's, I'm not disagreeing with
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you here, I assure you, I had a deeper experience with Taylor
2:38
Tomlinson story, then you did because I knew her style of
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Comedy. I knew her past jokes.
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Now if it was the same hour, if she was doing the same stand-up
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routine. Fine but now I knew her past I
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knew her journey. I had a deeper understanding of
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her story because of all that and it allowed me to appreciate
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that. Our more.
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My thing is not gonna change. The fact that you're going to
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Her show. Because if you re like the
3:03
content, you know, you still be going regardless.
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And if it didn't like it, I thought that point, you know, it
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was too late to cancel the tickets anyway, which she didn't
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suck. She was amazing.
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Now, if we were to have her on the show, that would be a
3:15
different story. But, well, Taylor if you're
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listening, okay, this is up Pitch.
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Someone send us to edit amundsen.
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Anyways, she is not a guest. We have both but we can tell you
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about today's guest Kev. Who are we?
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Speaking to today. Well, if you've ever heard of
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Batman, which you have, I know that, You'll be excited for this
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one. Michael uslan has been the
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executive producer of every Batman film TV animation
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feature. You've probably ever heard of
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From 1989, Tim Burton's Batman movie to The Dark Knight trilogy
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to the 2022. The Batman film starring, Robert
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Pattinson. He has been the executive
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producer of all these films, and he was wait, wait, wait, wait,
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wait, wait, wait! Yes.
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Back all Batman films like, even even pains were Batman's kind of
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related. What about the Joker?
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He wasn't involved. Yes, he was graph.
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Yes, he was Even the Joker, too. Wait, even the new one, even the
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new token, a new Batman coming out soon, pun not intended.
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But that is also true. And the autonomy for 33 years,
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this man has been the executive producer of one of the most
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iconic American stories of all time.
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Yeah, it's shocking for me to that.
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We have someone like this on the show and we get to talk to him
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but that is true. He's been in everything Batman.
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And this was the person who brought forth the idea of darken
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seriousness and to Batman's cinematic adaptations, brilliant
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storytelling mind with a legendary story.
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So let's get started. We're so, so glad to be joined
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by mr. Michael uslan, who has an
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amazing story that will get into.
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I would love to tell you his story but I should leave it unto
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himself to tell his own story, so my gold to start us off.
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Can it tell us a bit about yourself?
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What is your story yet about myself?
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I am the poster boy for fanboys. I grew up loving loving comic
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books and superheroes but all comic books.
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My mother said, I learned to read before I was 4 years old
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from comic books. By the time I graduated high
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school, I had over 30,000 comic books, dating back to 1936,
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which filled my dad's garage and never got his car into the
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garage. Even once I was at the first
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comic cons ever held on the Planet Earth back in the
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mid-60s, in New York City. I was the kid who pestered his
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folks. On any Tuesday, we had off from
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school to drive us to New York so me and my friends could go on
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a DC Comics afternoon tour. I was one of the early members
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of comic book fandom as it was being organized and started
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writing for fanzines when I was 13 years old.
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So I am the ultimate Comic book geek, and by the time I got to
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high school, it was interesting because if girls heard that, I
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was 15, 16 17, and still reading and collecting comic books, it
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was considered about the most uncool thing you could do back
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then, and my status was date challenged and that was that
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period of time, you know, the idea of a comic book movie being
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a date movie. Was as absurd concept as you
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could ever imagine at that point in time.
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But my life took a dramatic turn at Indiana University in my
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junior year and that is a story in and of itself and I know
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you've had one of the most intimate and important
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relationships with Batman. So can you tell us a little bit
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about your journey to the Batman movie franchise?
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Why Batman and deal Pack Batman has had on your life and vice
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versa. All right, so let me take you
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back to when I was 13, 14 years old.
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I live in New Jersey, an hour, south of New York City.
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I found out early on that, mostly all the comic book
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companies at that time were based in New York City.
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And as a result, the editors, the writers, the artists, the
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people who had been creating comic books since the late 30s,
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all lived in either New Jersey, Manhattan, or Long Island.
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So I was writing for fanzines and I would reach And make
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contact we had this thing called a phone book back then, which
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that's a whole other explanation.
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But I was able to track down where they lived and sent them
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letters, handwritten letters, and they agreed to let me come
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to their homes, to interview them plus the comic book
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companies. Agreed to let me come into New
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York and interview the editors at all the different comic book
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companies. So, I was able to get the
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history of comics DC, and Marvel and how the superheroes were
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created. Literally straight from the
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horse's mouth and my first Mentor in the business was a
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wonderful man. Lived in Englewood, New Jersey
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named Otto Bender. Otto was the primary writer of
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Captain Marvel during the 1940s and 50s.
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He created Mary Marvel Captain, Marvel jr.
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And Black. Adam for example, co-created I
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would say with CC Beck. He opened my eyes to how the
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comic book industry was born, how DC and Marvel were born, how
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the heroes were created, how comic books were created, and he
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introduced me to CC Beck, the co-creator of Captain Marvel in
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the Marvel family, and so many other people connected to the
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golden and silver age of comics. And his background is important,
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and I'll explain why the first comic con, the first big Comic
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Con was New York City. 1964 was a small addition, 1965, was a
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bigger addition, because there were some 200 people that showed
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up for my parents, took me and my friend Bobby, and it was
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about 9:30 in the morning and we see sitting in the bar Auto
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bender and another guy in his daughter.
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Mary And we quickly started on auto auto.
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He goes. Hi, Mike!
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Hi Bobby. Come on in and we're sitting
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there and we start talking and I do says, boys, how would you
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like to meet the creator of Batman and our Jaws dropped?
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And we said yeah, he said Michael Bobby meet, Bill Finger
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I think we are two of maybe three or four people left on the
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planet Earth. That actually do met and talked
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with Bill fingers, and it was Bill Finger directly who told us
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the story of the creation of Batman.
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And we were puzzled go. Wait a minute, Bob Kane created
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Batman. He's got that little box on
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every comic book. He's the creator of that man
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who's this guy, and he explained the whole story and that was
11:08
incredible. And that was probably the moment
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that I became obsessed with Batman.
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And I, since I was seven years old, I love this character
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because he was human and I identified with the more When I
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did with Superman or later the Hulk or Spider-Man, he had the
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greatest super villains in history and as Stanley always
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used to tell me he said Michael the greatest and most
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long-lasting superheroes are the ones with the greatest super
11:38
villains because ultimately it is the super villains who Define
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the superhero and he was right back and that man had the
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greatest rogue's gallery of supervillains and in arguably
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the greatest super villain ever created.
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And if anyone listening here has no idea who I'm talking about,
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you shouldn't be listening. And then, of course, he had the
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car, the incredible car and the other magical element to it was
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his origin story. Batman's origin story is Primal.
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It is emotional. It is jarring.
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It is shocking and to a 78 year old boy who never once thought
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that one day, his parents would be dead.
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Had such an impact, I can't even begin to describe it.
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And it's that origin story that ultimately transcends not only
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borders around the world, but cultures, and these are the
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elements that make Batman so successful, so important and add
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up to the reasons why I became the boy who loved that.
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That was the beginning of my journey.
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Yeah, it's amazing. I think stories are one of those
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things that can transcend cultures and things.
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I Batman's origin story is so Primal.
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It's so it certainly we can all relate to.
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It's a little bit harder to relate to a hero that falls into
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that, right? Or a heel that gets bit by
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something. But a hero that has that kind of
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loss. Even if we have an experience
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that had lost, we can understand the impact of it.
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And that's why I think Batman is one of the most influential
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Heroes. We had a psychologist on a show
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Dr. Andreea later Mandy she does a lot of interesting work on
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complex psychology and she talked about how these darker
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stories, these darker movies, how important they are to combat
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Mythos and how important they are to fans to experience kind
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of these darker elements in a psychological Safeway which
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allowed them to build these relationships and develop
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resiliency, because they can experience kind of these darker
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more real more intense. Oceans in a safer, kind of Dome.
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So I think some of these like movies, I think they're so
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important. I know Kevin, I both love the
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Joker, both love the Batman, and looking even on the Marvel side,
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movies that Logan. I mean, these movies are so
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important because it allows us to develop and understand these
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more real aspects of the superhero.
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Dynamic, there's another part of this when I was growing up in
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the 50s and 60s Reading comic books, was the most isolated
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isolating hobby. You could possibly have and only
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one editor, Julie Schwartz was public started, publishing full
14:25
of dresses. So all of a sudden we could
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actually write a letter to a fellow fan and then fanzines
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started which were fan magazines published by fans for fans and
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that began the interconnectivity.
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Then we had the first comic cons which was New York City follow
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closely Detroit and then other places, ultimately San Diego.
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So what's important here to stress is that initially we were
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all loners, we were all Outsiders and what the comic
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books are doing and now with the I believe the movies and the
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animation or doing is creating a community It's creating a
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community and expanding out through social media.
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If the negativity and the lack of Civility can be properly
15:20
contained. The whole concept of community
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ties right into the issue, you just brought up about how
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dealing in a safe environment with darker issues.
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Could be a healthy thing, mentally and emotionally.
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Just as important is the idea that everybody out there who's a
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comic book, reader is no longer. A loner and is part and feels
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part of a community. Yeah I mean it is surely amazing
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today. How big comic books have become
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and how important they are. I know that you spent ten years
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of your life trying to get Studios to make the Batman film
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to make a superhero film. That's dark and serious, but
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that was definitely not the norm back then for you Hello
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Superheroes Were portrayed comparing to now generations of
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moviegoers equate. The idea of Batman with Dark and
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serious. So what was Batman's image back
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then? When you were first, you first
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started to pitch, your ideas, just Studios.
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This journey began for me on a cold night.
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In January 1966, the Batman TV show was going to Premier.
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And the show came on. It was only 20 25 minutes in
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that it really hit me. Oh my God.
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This is a comedy. They are playing Batman for
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laughs. Oh my God, the whole world is
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laughing at Batman. He's a joke and that killed me.
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Remember. Now, not only am I hardcore fan.
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Boy knows the whole history of Batman and how he was created,
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but I heard it directly from Bill Finger as to how it what
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their intention was. so that night after the show, I made a
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vow. I said, someday I am going to
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show the whole world, the truth that man, but that and created
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in 1939, as a preacher of the night stockings deeply,
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Disturbed villains, and I'm going to find a way to get rid
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of these new words, pal zap Wham and purge them from the
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collective consciousness of the world culture.
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And that first opportunity came to what you alluded to.
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I'm a junior at Indiana University in the early 70s.
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And they had started an experimental curriculum
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Department with the concept being, if you had an idea for a
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college course that had never been taught before, you then had
18:06
the right to appear before a dean and Pitch it.
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So I wrote a syllabus comic books is an American art form
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the psychology of comic books. The literature comic book
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superheroes as our modern-day folklore, as our contemporary
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mythology. So armed with that, I went to
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appear before the bean and I walked in, and the dean looked
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at me and he said, so you're the fellow who wants to teach a
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course on funny books at my University.
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I begin the first pitch of my career.
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You let me speak for 2 minutes and then cut me off.
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He said Mr. You said stop. He says, come on, I don't buy
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any of this. I read Superman comics when I
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was a little boy. Well, comic books are cheap
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entertainment for little children.
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Nothing more nothing less. And I your theory and At that
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moment in time, I could have bowed my head picked up, my
19:00
funny books turned around and walked out and that would have
19:03
been the end. But believing I had absolutely
19:07
nothing to lose. I decided to Stand My Ground.
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I say Dean may I ask you two questions to ask me anything you
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want. Sadena, you familiar with the
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story of Moses is a. Yeah.
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So I said, so very, very briefly.
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Could you summarize for me? The story of Moses.
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And he folded his arms, and he sat back and said, mister
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Euston, I don't know what game you're playing here, but I'll
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play with us with you. He said the Hebrew people were
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being persecuted, their firstborn were being slain and
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Hebrew couple Place, their infant son, and a little wicker
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basket and send them down. The river night air is
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discovered by an Egyptian, family who raised him as their
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own son, when he grew up and learned of his true Heritage, he
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became a Great Hero to his people bias.
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It stop. That was great.
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Thank you very much d. You said, when you were a kid
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your at Superman, comics by any chance, do you remember the
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origin is Superman. He said, of course, the Planet
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Krypton was about to blow up the scientist and his wife placed,
20:08
their infant son in a little rocket ship and send them to
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Earth. Are he's discovered by the cans
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who raised him as their own son when he grows up and then he
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stops stares at me for what I swear to you was in eternity and
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says your course is accredited. I am now the world's First
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college professor of comic books.
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Thank you very much. That's, that's amazing.
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I love that. You know, one of the things you
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talked about that, I made me think of is somebody that
20:37
Stephen Dubner. The author Freakonomics is set
20:40
on different podcast, is the importance of stories.
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And when the most important things is, stories, are so
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memorable, right? When you think about the Bible,
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millions and millions of people read the Bible, and what they
20:51
remember is a stories. They have trouble repeating the
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tank impairments, but they can remember the stories from it and
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combo. Such interesting vessels with
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different stories and it is reminded of how powerful
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stories, all right? Because they're teaching a
21:05
similar lessons, it's teaching us people who find such value in
21:09
different things. Can learn different lessons from
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different types of Storytelling. That's why we love convert story
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time because it's such a diverse and creative Avenue to learn
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like values and learn lessons. You know what I love about your
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journey. It's so much incredibly stuff.
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This could fill two books in a Broadway play.
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And I think it might actually be doing that.
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So can you tell me about your two books and dark nights and
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Daydreams? I certainly can Stanley was your
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he would say, Michael, he's giving you an opportunity to
21:40
plug something. Get in there.
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Yeah, it was an incredible long journey to bring Batman to the
21:48
screen in the dark and serious way.
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It was literally a human endurance contest.
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I was a kid, my twenties when I bought the rights to Batman from
21:57
DC Comics and thought that every major Studio everybody in
22:03
Hollywood, we just line up at my doorstep and how could they not
22:06
see the potential for sequels and animation and toys and
22:10
games. And and I went out to Hollywood
22:13
and I was turned down by every single Studio not only turned
22:17
down but old it I was told it was the worst idea they ever
22:20
heard that I was crazy. You can't do dark super.
22:24
Groans Michael. You can't make serious comic
22:27
book movies. Michael, you're out of your mind
22:30
because nobody's ever taken an old TV show and turned it into a
22:33
movie, that's never been done. So as a result from the time, I
22:38
bought the rights to, we finally got our first movie out in 1989
22:41
took 10 years. Ten years of rejection, 10 years
22:47
of everyone telling you, you suck your idea stinks and it
22:52
test. Your mettle is as a human being.
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You've got to look deep inside yourself and say okay.
22:57
Is everybody right now I'm just being stubborn or do I really
23:01
truly believe in this? Do I really truly believe in
23:03
myself and I kept coming up with the ladder answer and trying to
23:07
hold on by my fingertips for 10, frickin years, I mean, close
23:11
your eyes for a second, fellas and think of where you were.
23:15
Ten years ago, that's a long, long time.
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But my brother Paul and I were taught about commitment and
23:25
perseverance from our mom and sacrifice.
23:30
And so I've written about that journey in my Memoir.
23:35
It's called The Boy Who Loved Batman.
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First came out in hardback in 2011 and a new revised trade
23:41
paperback. Came out a couple of years ago
23:44
and as a v of the success of that, I was asked to write a
23:49
sequel Memoir and my sequel Memoir called Batman's Batman
23:54
came out in March. So to make a long story short, I
23:59
got a call one day from the Nederlander organization of New
24:04
York and they along with the Schubert's defined broadly, they
24:09
are, they are Broadway show and they said, we'd love for you to
24:12
come in and we'd like, to talk to you and the bottom.
24:15
Was it said, we read your book, we think coming out of covid.
24:19
This is exactly the right story with the right things to be told
24:23
in a Broadway play. And we think it's very
24:27
entertaining, it's funny. It's very emotional and it talks
24:32
about dreaming bid and persevering and making your
24:38
dreams come true by getting up off the damn couch, and being
24:42
relentless and never giving up and a At the people at the
24:46
mentors, who supported you and evil, super villains of your
24:50
life who try to stop you. He said we think this is the
24:54
right story in the right thing for Broadway.
24:57
So we are in the thick of it and I'm going to give you a tip off
25:03
on Saturday of San Diego Comic-Con, which is July.
25:09
I'm looking it up 24, 23rd at 4:15 p.m.
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Room 6, d e. We are going to be announcing
25:18
the Broadway play. I could not be more excited
25:22
about it. It's weird.
25:24
You know, when you sit in a creative room and somebody says
25:27
something about well, younger, Michael wouldn't have said it
25:30
that way. I go, oh my God, myself in the
25:33
third person so it's it couldn't be any more excited for all the,
25:41
you know, emotional and interest.
25:44
Being true stories that you've told us.
25:47
It's very exciting that we'll get to read and watch more of
25:52
your stories and going along with our Batman Journey For You
26:00
1989. Tim Burton's Batman film to the
26:04
most recent 2022, Batman film. What are some of the most
26:09
notable changes to the Batman stories and values across these
26:14
For decades of filmmaking and what have stay consistent.
26:21
Let me start by saying this stage of my career and life.
26:25
What has become more and more, and more important to me is like
26:29
acid and four times now, and I will place a wager down that
26:36
we're soon to do it five times, which is crazy, a Batman or
26:42
Batman related movie has completely changed.
26:44
Changed how comic book movies are perceived and how they are
26:49
produced and how the Visions for them can change and flip and
26:56
grow and evolve. Here are my cases in point, 1989
27:02
Batman. Revolutionary.
27:05
First-ever, dark, and serious comic book feature film.
27:10
And it was Tim Burton this young genius.
27:12
He said to me, Michael, if we're going to do the first ever
27:15
darken, serious, Batman movement and we don't want to get
27:19
unintentional laughs from the audience.
27:22
The world audience is never read a comic book.
27:24
This movie cannot be about Batman.
27:28
This movie must be all about Bruce Wayne.
27:31
We have to show Bruce Wayne as a man, so driven, so obsessed to
27:39
the point of being psychotic that audiences will say, oh
27:42
yeah, that's a guy who will get dressed up in a bad suit and go
27:45
out and find a guy like the Joker without the laughs.
27:49
And that was why it was Tim. Burton said, the guy who can
27:52
pull this off, is Michael Key. He can pull off this brute
27:57
strength. And he was absolutely right
28:00
about that. Now, think about the impact of
28:03
what I just said was Tims. Big idea, you've all seen the
28:07
Iron Man movies. You've all seen the Spider-Man
28:10
movies, shouldn't they really be entitled?
28:14
Tony Stark? And Peter Parker.
28:18
Of course, this was the big idea that launched Marvel.
28:24
And Tim had a corollary to his big idea and the corollary was
28:28
Gotham City World building. Gotham City must be the third
28:33
most important character in this movie from the opening frames
28:36
because if we can't get audiences to suspend their
28:39
disbelief and believe in Gotham City, we will never get them to
28:44
believe in a guy dressed up as a back or a guy who looks like the
28:47
Joker and he was absolutely right.
28:51
Game Changer now. Let's jump into the future.
28:55
Christopher Nolan, an independent filmmaker comes in,
28:59
whose purpose is to restore the darkness and dignity to Batman.
29:03
He wants to do what Tim Burton accomplished in 89 but he wants
29:08
to come at it. I believe 180° differently
29:12
instead of building 5 Square city blocks of Pinewood Studios
29:15
on the back lot. He wanted to make us all believe
29:18
that. That man could be real, too.
29:20
Day that the world was no longer.
29:23
The way it was in 89, it was no longer black and white, good
29:26
versus evil. This was a world.
29:29
Now, post 9/11 of it was a gray world of order versus chaos.
29:34
So he wanted to make you believe Bruce Wayne to be a
29:37
post-traumatic stress kid, who is now on a journey of
29:42
self-discovery, right out of Lost Horizon and he pulled it
29:45
off of Christian Bale. He needed to make you believe,
29:50
the Gotham City could be real, so he chose Chicago.
29:54
Because if you remove two iconic buildings out of the skyline of
29:57
Chicago, most people around the world, can't identify the city.
30:03
He wanted to make you believe the Joker could be real today.
30:06
So he made him into a modern-day terrorist a homicidal maniac who
30:11
place? No value on human life
30:12
whatsoever. And in the performance of a
30:14
lifetime that he crafted with Heath Ledger, they pulled it
30:18
off. Joker was real Joker was scared,
30:22
and then, maybe he's biggest challenge.
30:25
He had to try to convince you that all the tech, all the
30:28
gadgets, all the inventions were real.
30:31
How the heck did he do that? He hired Morgan Freeman to tell
30:35
you. They were real.
30:37
And if Morgan Freeman says it's true by God.
30:40
It's true. When you walk out of a
30:43
Christopher Nolan Batman movie, you no longer had to say that
30:46
was a great comic book movie, you can now say that was a great
30:51
film, he elevated the whole thing, what an impact, what a
30:56
game changer in the culture and in Hollywood.
31:01
And then let's move to the next year's Todd Phillips, imagines,
31:06
what the Joker could be on his own and how when Cinema is doing
31:11
what it does best. It is a mirror of our society,
31:16
held up to the eyes of society, where they have to look and see
31:20
themselves warts and all biases and prejudices.
31:23
They have to watch that and Todd's commentary on our
31:27
polarization. Our lack of Civility the way we
31:31
all talk at each other instead of with each other.
31:33
Today, the fact how we've all turned our backs on issues of
31:37
mental health, which tied directly into gun violence.
31:42
This was an incredible breakthrough that completely
31:46
flipped how comic book movies can be done.
31:50
Matt Reeves did it again with the Batman?
31:53
The fact that this was a war crime drama about the world's
31:57
greatest detective. The fact that the Cinematic
32:01
antecedents proceedings for this, we're not comic book
32:05
movies. It was Silence of the Lambs and
32:08
zodiac. The Usual Suspects. 72 French
32:11
Connection. Once again, it turned on its
32:15
head. What a comic book or superhero
32:17
movie can be if you're willing to think out of the box and be
32:21
bold and daring, And I have no doubt that Todd Phillips is
32:25
about to do it again with Joker to, which I will not come in
32:29
them. I was 100% going to ask, so I
32:34
can't take anything away from from Todd Spotlight on and on a
32:38
final note. How could we forget Phil Lord
32:42
and Chris Miller. The dynamic duo that gave us the
32:46
Lego Movie Lego Batman turned on its head.
32:50
What animation can be and How can appeal to multiple age
32:55
groups and multiple generations? And how you can have that man in
33:00
a comedy without him, being the joke being laughed at.
33:04
But you laugh along with him. Respectfully, it was incredible
33:09
what they pulled off. And then they go ahead and do
33:11
into the Spidey verse and show. This was no one shot deal.
33:15
These are young Geniuses, but how fortunate for me to be
33:19
honored by being associated with movies.
33:22
Involving such G. As filmmakers.
33:25
And my point is Legacy. What these films have
33:29
contributed to expanding and changing and having comic books
33:34
and superheroes and supervillains being taken,
33:36
seriously, the worldwide. So, you mentioned, that was
33:40
really cool. Is, you know, some of these
33:42
comic stories have been told for 80 years, you know, decades and
33:47
Decades of Storytelling and leave a, and retelling and
33:50
staying relevant and something we talked about with Tucker who
33:54
wrote the slugfest book? Was this idea of how car books
33:59
are reflections of their time and love how you talk about it.
34:03
The movies as well is that no matter how amazing the Batman
34:06
that just came out, was it be hard to take that movie and put
34:09
it out 20 years ago or 30 years ago because it was a different
34:13
time. And I think this is when the
34:16
most beautiful things about comic book, story time, because
34:18
of how lawn and how cool these stories are is that these movies
34:21
these Comics these stories We are all reflections of those
34:25
times. They are written in a way in a
34:27
style, that's going to be impactful for the society, we
34:31
currently live in and that's what's kept these stories
34:33
relevant. And I think that just so
34:35
fascinating, I could hear it the way you described it.
34:37
You skip between the movies is that those movies were so
34:40
amazing, not just because of the impact in amazement of the
34:44
creators and Batman, but the fact that they were able to
34:47
capture a feeling Society, felt at that pacific time, it's so
34:52
true and Chris's Trilogy was so directly tied into 911 and and
34:59
our post nine eleven years and it, it was so thematically
35:04
important, I have to relate one story.
35:07
As you know, I've lectured around the world universities
35:12
business conferences, comic-con's and one thing I keep
35:16
hearing in QA to this very day, somebody will get up and talk
35:20
about when they went to see The Dark Knight.
35:23
And they were sitting in the darkness of the theater and
35:26
there was a scene that took place on a ship and the people
35:30
were told, they had a choice, they had a moral choice, they
35:34
could press a button and blow up all the people on another ship
35:39
to save their lives or they could choose not to do that.
35:44
So what happens when you're faced with a moral choice?
35:47
And the choices are bad and worse and so many people tell me
35:52
in the darkness of the theater. They were forced to think and
35:58
deal with what would I do in that situation and it was a
36:03
moment of intense self-realization.
36:07
That has impacted them and they've carried that scene with
36:11
them for all these years. Oh my God that was in a comic
36:15
book superhero movie that's how much as a reflection of the
36:20
times comic book movies became so thematically important and
36:24
I'll never forget at the time of dark night when I would
36:29
accidentally turn on Fox News. And there would be all these
36:33
political pundits claiming The Dark Knight.
36:35
As there's this guy is Our right-wing God and then you turn
36:40
on MSNBC or CNN and they go. Oh yeah.
36:44
This is the hero of the left. This is our guy and that's the
36:48
magic of Batman because he has no super powers.
36:53
We get to project ourselves into that room.
36:56
We identify with him based on who we are, what our
36:59
philosophies are, what our politics are, and can impose it,
37:03
right? Smack on Batman.
37:05
And he is our hero. He is a reflection of of us and
37:08
it doesn't matter what your politics or philosophies might
37:11
be, everyone has the opportunity to make him the room and that's
37:15
Magic. To close out every one of our
37:22
episodes, we have the segment called suspenders.
37:26
It. Works like this.
37:28
We ask you a fun random question.
37:30
That's not related to anything at all in.
37:32
You can give us any random answer.
37:34
You feel like, okay, question of the day is what movie can you
37:40
watch over and over without ever getting tired of?
37:46
There's two number one, my favorite movie of all time cast
37:49
A Blinder at this point. I have seen it well over 100
37:53
times every time I have the opportunity to see it on the big
37:57
screen, it's as if I'm watching it for the first time.
38:01
The second movie is the only Perfect movie I have ever seen
38:06
the only one where the script the acting, the actors every
38:12
detail is absolutely perfect and it's My Cousin Vinny awesome
38:17
amazing. By the way I can Also see over
38:21
and over again Groundhog Day, which is very apropos that I
38:24
could see it over and over again quick.
38:27
Anecdote, the day came years ago.
38:30
I'm in a meeting at 20th Century funds and you know, you do a
38:33
10-minute schmooze before you do your pitching.
38:36
And I'm sitting with all these Executives and go, guys, I
38:38
really don't understand something.
38:40
I got you had this big successful great movie Groundhog
38:43
Day and you never did a sequel, how come you never did a sequel
38:47
and they said well Michael to tell you the truth.
38:49
You've always wanted to do a sequel groundhog day but we
38:52
could never figure it out. I said I know exactly what to
38:55
do. You re-release Groundhog Day,
38:59
only you call it Groundhog Day two, that's when they kick me
39:04
out of their office, I love that.
39:07
Well, thank you so much for giving us your time.
39:10
It was a real honor to talk a little Batman with you today.
39:14
Thank you guys so much and please everybody if you're going
39:17
to be at San Diego Comic-Con, I'm doing two Animals are one on
39:20
our Broadway show and went on Stan.
39:22
Lee's Centennial where we're going to make a major
39:26
announcement and that is both on that Saturday.
39:30
And if you have an opportunity head on over to Amazon and check
39:33
out The Boy Who Loved Batman or Batman's Batman and I hope I get
39:37
a chance to meet you all. Thank you very much.
39:48
Welcome back to Top Hat. This is the part of the episode
39:52
where we dissect and analyze, some of the key storytelling
39:55
insights that we have gotten this week's at Smith.
39:58
Storyteller this week, we had someone who shepherded when the
40:02
most iconic American stories for the last 33 years will movies
40:06
animations Comics. Michael uslan, you know, cab
40:11
something. Michael talked about this week
40:13
which is so fascinating was his relationship with Stanley
40:15
Stanley. Always said that what made the
40:19
superhero is really the supervillains.
40:22
And one of my most favorite comic book characters of all
40:25
time is The Joker. The Joker has the Batman
40:28
Superman has let's loofah, so many iconic villains that get
40:34
the audience excited without conflict.
40:37
There is don't drama and we definitely see a similar
40:41
approaches. Use this idea of creating
40:44
villains in Sports to write for those of you who followed the
40:49
NBA. Like, I do every era.
40:52
There's, you know, players that are turned into sort of a
40:57
villainous character to kind of feed the narrative where that
41:03
makes it easier for fans to rather behind their opponents.
41:07
And those who dare you eat, does this?
41:09
Yeah, everything was going to be a very well with Babyface in
41:13
heels. That brings us to our next
41:15
great. And the importance of this
41:20
darkness and seriousness to Batman story.
41:25
Of course, and also comic book or superhero stories in general,
41:31
Michael talk to us about how you know that scene in Dark Nights.
41:35
Were there two ships. Each side has the trigger to
41:41
detonate the bomb on the other ship and that really got the
41:43
viewers themselves to think about Out how they would solve
41:48
this problem and reflect on their own morality.
41:53
Yeah, you're getting at something really interesting.
41:54
It's that idea of moral conundrums, because the best
41:57
toys the best toys make us think a little bit.
42:01
Make us question it. Make us engage make us wonder
42:04
what I do in that situation and villains being able to create
42:08
these moral conundrums, is one of the most important Powers
42:11
they have that. The Rusev was talked about how
42:14
the infinity War Movie was about fanos, that's a pretty big
42:19
counterexample actually because most people would agree that
42:22
destroying half the universe, isn't it pretty easy, moral
42:24
conundrum but when you look at the Joker and Batman, which is
42:28
something a little bit more grounded, in just one city
42:31
choosing between which both to destroy knowing if you don't do
42:35
anything, they're both gonna die.
42:36
It's a classic trolley problem, which is a moral conundrum in
42:40
philosophy. So that was something so
42:42
fascinating about the Batman series is because it's more
42:44
grounded, because it's more real.
42:46
Because it's it seeped in this gritty dangerous kind of world
42:50
that we can Envision a little bit more easier than Titans and
42:53
gods. It allows us to Grapple with
42:56
these moral conundrums a little bit better, and it goes back to
42:58
exactly what. Dr. Andre Ellena, mende talk to
43:01
us about dark and serious and tragic stories, One Touch.
43:07
So core to our beans because we can see it happy.
43:10
We can understand that something that happens and it allows us to
43:13
experience it in a psychologically.
43:16
Quake has been go food emotions, understand it?
43:18
Have we emotions without actually having to experience it
43:21
ourselves. Another important part of this
43:24
is how Batman story was able to stay relatable and relevant
43:30
throughout the decades. And we talked about how the
43:34
different movie franchises, really reflected, what was going
43:39
on in the world with the world. At the time.
43:42
The Dark Knight trilogy portrays the Post 9/11 World and the fact
43:49
that joker really reflects the lack of Civility people have
43:54
towards each other. Of course, the important topic
43:57
of mental health. So it is really important that
44:02
these stories with the important messages, they come.
44:06
They, they're able to ground it to the themes and settings that
44:11
are relevant. Within the time they came out.
44:16
You can't take the 2022 Batman and show it, 40 years ago, that
44:22
was not the world that we're living in.
44:24
Now, we didn't have the other movies, The other culture, the
44:27
other images that we have now it is relevant to our time and
44:32
that's how Batman stays relevant.
44:34
So always remember when you're telling your story, what is your
44:37
audience seeing? What is your audience consuming
44:40
and how can I make my story more relevant?
44:44
This has been our first episode back for season 2 of the linen
44:49
suit and Placid tie podcast. Make sure to go out and follow
44:53
us on Instagram at LSP. T-pod LSP.
44:58
T P0 D. Say that three times fast.
45:02
Follow us on Instagram. Find us on LinkedIn.
45:06
Make sure to subscribe to our show on Apple podcast Spotify,
45:09
or wherever you get Podcast. Leave us a review.
45:11
Reach out, we love talking to you all.
45:14
We want to know what you're thinking, what you think of the
45:16
show, how we can improve, what storytellers we can get for you.
45:19
Put us to work, we love you. Thank you for coming back.
45:23
Thank you for taking some time, out of your day, to make
45:25
yourself a better Storyteller. You are doing amazing and you
45:28
are making yourself better every day.
45:30
So we applaud you for that. We'll see you in the next one.