One of the more guarded and complicated roles in 2021's Batman: The Long Halloween is that of Gilda Dent, the wife of District Attorney Harvey Dent. As the young couple faces the pressures of Harvey's tireless pursuit of justice in Gotham City, their relationship undergoes challenges and emotional strain. As Harvey toils away obsessively with Batman and Jim Gordon in their mission to take down local crime lord Carmine Falcone, Gilda finds herself feeling alone in their marriage. However, in the two-part animated adaptation from screenwriter Tim Sheridan and director Chris Palmer, Gilda has her share of secrets too.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, actor Julie Nathanson -- who portrays Gilda in Batman: The Long Halloween's two-part animated film adaptation -- discusses finding the duality in Gilda's character, tapping into the emotional honesty of Gilda and her connection to Harvey Dent and her never-ending joy and excitement at being a part of the DC Universe.
Julie, what was it about this project that made you want to join on and take the role of Gilda Dent?
Julie Nathanson: I don't know what would have to be in place for me to not want to jump onto a project with my friends at DC. DC and Warner Bros. have just been an incredible team every time I get to work with everyone there and the projects are always wonderful. As to why was I especially excited by and honored to play the role of Gilda, she is a uniquely layered, subtle and emotional character. She has a lot going on under the surface, she's obviously carrying a lot of pain. And of all the things, I was most intrigued that there's such a duality to Gilda as well. There's so many dualities to Parts 1 and 2 and Gilda has her own.
It's clear to me, in my interpretation and awareness of her, that she's simultaneously craving connection with Harvey, her husband, and at the same time, holding a distance and guarded. She's holding quite a bit of pain that might be why she's holding at a distance and even shielding herself. But that dichotomy and push/pull between desiring connection and wanting to guard one's self is a pretty rich thing to be able to play as a performer and as a human being that I can certainly relate to. I like being able to dive deeply into characters and one of the things that attracted me to voiceover in the first place is that I'm able to play so many different kinds of people and creatures and those would not have necessarily been available to me in my on-camera life. Being able to really dive into this world was truly an honor. I've been holding on to this for several years now so it's pretty exciting just to be able to talk about it!
Speaking of the Warner Bros. team, you're working with the voice director Wes Gleason again on this. How is that?
Wes is fantastic and one of the things I've told Wes over the years is that his excitement, as he's working, is infectious. I always look forward to sessions with him, not only the way he'll work with me as a performer and in the performance, but also his enthusiasm and his clear passion for what he's working on. I tend to be really excited, I've been doing this for a really long time, and I don't seem to be losing any of my excitement and enthusiasm for what I'm doing so his can match mine, which is really fun.
But I also feel that he has a really good sense of tone so, if it's a quiet, intimate, sad scene, he's really matching that with me and making sure we're hitting those notes. And if it's a more broad scene -- like when he also directed me in Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay -- he had similar, broad things going on there and the tone can change. I feel like he has a really great sense of moving our work together to match the tone and feeling of a scene while still keeping the character intact.
In speaking of tone, was there a specific line or bit of direction from Wes that help you find your voice for Gilda?
I don't know if I have a memory of a specific direction coming from Wes that did that, however, when I first recorded some lines to see if this was a voice that they would want for Gilda, I kept her quiet and understated. I kept her very, very internal; one of the quietest roles I've played, and the fact that that spoke to Wes and to the team, informed me that I could keep her in that place. By virtue of the fact that was something they wanted to work with and we continued to expand upon throughout recording, she just matched what I felt about her. I don't think I attempted to make her more broad or extreme in her emotional reactions, I kept her very internal. And since that matched, it really gave me the permission to keep her there.
The Long Halloween is one of my favorite Batman stories of all time and what I love about your depiction of Gilda here is she has more agency than she did in the comic. How was it finding that nuance and stuff going on under the surface?
It's honestly a question of being truthful with myself for having felt similar things. Certainly not the same experiences but I can relate to the idea of feeling simultaneously like I want to connect or I want to disconnect or feeling guarded when I want to feel loved. Tapping into that is really less about interpreting a character and more about accepting the truth about what we can feel when we are in deep relationships.
You've worked with DC before and what do you find appealing about working on such a wide creative canvas?
I mean, what isn't appealing about it? [laughs] I certainly grew up with my love of Wonder Woman and my joy in Batman and Superman and the heroes and villains that stayed with me iconically as they do with so many people. One of my first animated series was The Zeta Project, a spinoff of Batman Beyond, where I got to run around with Diedrich Bader for a couple of seasons. That was a pretty wild experience, to go from being a fan of the DC Universe to being a part of the DC Universe. Anytime I'm invited to the party, I will always say yes!
As someone's that's gotten to do both voiceover and live-action roles, there's a liberation in the booth. I was wondering if you could speak to the joy of working in that space.
You hit the nail on the head, it is a place of joy for me. I remember the first time I stepped into the booth and this sounds really cheesy but I felt like I was home. I have been very lucky and worked right away on-camera and I enjoy it but the experience of being in the booth and having every aspect of my imagination called upon at once was a challenge my mind and heart enjoyed. In order to truly put myself in the position of speaking to Harvey Dent as Gilda in this padded room sometimes, I have to hear a voice in my head of Harvey speaking to me, when he's not there, and picture Gotham around me. I have to picture him in front of me, I have to hear the sounds of cars going by if it's an outdoor scene.
None of those things are happening in the booth but, because my imagination is called upon, I get to create this richness in my own mind and, just with my voice, have the incredible challenge to make that moment real. That, for me, is a magical experience.
Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One stars Jensen Ackles as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Naya Rivera as Catwoman/Selina Kyle, Josh Duhamel as Harvey Dent, Billy Burke as James Gordon, Titus Welliver as Carmine Falcone, David Dastmalchian as Calendar Man, Troy Baker as Joker, Amy Landecker as Barbara Gordon, Julie Nathanson as Gilda Dent, Jack Quaid as Alberto, Fred Tatasciore as Solomon Grundy and Alastair Duncan as Alfred, along with Frances Callier, Greg Chun, Gary Leroi Gray and Jim Pirri. The film is scheduled for release on June 22. Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two arrives digitally on July 27 and on Blu-ray on Aug. 10.
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