Fans of the fictional superhero Superman got some welcome news last weekend. Director James Gunn announced that, in the sequel to this year’s motion picture featuring the “man of steel,” a familiar but underused silver screen villain would be included. The bad guy in the Superman sequel “Man of Tomorrow” would be the criminal android Brainiac. A University of Alabama graduate, and two-time Prime Time Emmy award winner, could say “been there, done that.”
Actor Michael Emerson graduated from UA with a Masters of Fine Arts, including work at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, in 1995. His resume includes the evil hospital orderly Zep Hindle in the horror cult classic film “Saw.” But, arguably his biggest impact in the industry was in television. Emerson starred in several CBS television series, including “Lost” and “Person of Interest.”
Now, in semi-retirement, Emerson spoke during an upcoming episode of “APR Notebook” about his work as a voice actor, portraying two iconic two classic superhero villains. The Batman bad guy “Joker” in an animated motion picture, and “Brainiac” in an animated television series about Superman.
The fictional character Brainiac is a superintelligent android obsessed with collecting all the knowledge in the universe, including the shrinking and collecting of whole cities. Actor Lars Eidinger will portray Brainiac in the planned 2027 film sequel of this year’s movie of Superman. Michael Emerson’s turn as the comic book villain came in a recording studio for the 2023 animated series “My Adventures with Superman” on Adult Swim.
“It's difficult work. You need a good director,” Emerson said on “APR Notebook. “And then they'll, they'll tell you kind of what scale is, right? If you're smart, you'll also pay attention to other actors who have played similar roles and see what they've done.”
Emerson is known for playing villains in an understated style. He said it engages with the audience, charms them, makes them laugh, and makes them complicit in the villainy. Before his turn as “Brainiac,” Emerson used that same artistic strategy in a two-part animated film “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns” in 2012 and 2013. He played “the Joker.”
“As I get older, I'm do I continue to strive to do less, to make it more detailed and less Titanic or heroic or what have you,” You know, make that he to to humanize them and let the editors and post-production sound designers make the thing have scale. But I don't feel responsible for scale.”
Michael Emerson will be featured on “APR Notebook” in February.
