by ED FORTUNE
Patrick Fabian is best known for his role as Howard Hamlin in cult crime-drama Better Call Saul, as well as Cotton Marcus in 2010’s found footage horror, The Last Exorcism, and Alastaire in RomZomCom Eat, Brains, Love. His voice acting roles include The Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen DC Animated features, but we recently caught up with him to discuss his role as Harvey Dent in the latest DC animated movie, The Doom That Came To Gotham…
STARBURST: What should we expect from The Doom That Came To Gotham?
Patrick Fabian: All your favourite characters from Batman in a completely different world! You’ll be surprised how some of them act, and you should be delighted at what they do.
And what drew you to the project?
DC animation is so cool. And anytime you get a chance to be a part of it, you want to say yes, and I was lucky enough to be a part of The Reign of the Supermen and be Hank Henshaw, Cyborg Superman. When this came around, I was lucky enough to get asked to do Harvey. Of course, I said yes because nothing’s more exciting than the changes coming from those DC animators’ art.
How familiar were you with the source material?
You know what, not a ton. I sheepishly have to admit I’m not a comic book head – I’m not caught up on everything. A great thing about being part of these projects is that I’ve started to read more. But I was not familiar with The Doom That Came To Gotham and this whole Elseworlds situation, which I found to be really cool. I love the whole supernatural take, the whole H.P. Lovecraft into the field to everything. And I think it’s fun to go ahead and sort of take characters out for a spin and in a different realm. I think the audience will really dig it.
How did you find that the mix between Lovecraftian cosmic horror and DC comic books?
It’s funny, it’s tough to blend stuff like that, isn’t it? Because there’s such a familiarity with the world that you’ve already established with DC, right, everybody thinks they know what’s going on. But in the end, there are characteristics of the characters that get to stay the same while allowing us to see other ways of who they are. I like the fact that Batman is so reality-based but gives in to the supernatural quality of it. I love that we see Harvey Dent, mostly in this as the good guy, and the whole Two-Face part of it doesn’t really come up until towards the very end.
As an actor, what is it like to play Harvey Dent/Two-Face? You’re kind of being asked to do two roles for the price of one…
You should be my agent! Maybe we should go back to Warner Brothers and renegotiate, I don’t know [laughs]. Playing Harvey Dent is awesome because you do get to go ahead and be two people. What I like about this film is that Harvey is running for mayor, and he’s a good guy, he’s upstanding and optimistic and helpful.
You’ve played lawyer roles before, not just Harvey Dent but also Howard Hamlin. How do you get into those roles?
It’s funny what you draw on. In the case of Better Call Saul, I drew a lot on my father. Because my father was a very upstanding man and a good guy who would do the right thing. And we could have an argument about whether that was the case for Howard Hamlin, but for Harvey, he isn’t just a lawyer. There is this outward show of wanting to help the city, but like any politician, there’s a healthy dose of ego that’s involved there – a healthy dose of ‘only I can solve it’ sort of idea. And I think that leads ultimately to the downfall of many people, and it’s true for Harvey.
We touched on Lovecraft earlier, we’re guessing you’re more a fan of horror than superheroes?
It’s funny, The Doom That Came To Sarnath was one of the first H.P. Lovecraft things that I ever read. A friend of mine gave me a book of short stories. And I remember there was an illustration – obviously very Lovecraftian, as it were – but as a kid, it was so spooky and scary. I love horror and dark stuff. Nothing would make me happier if you said the rest of my career from here on in was set in the moonlight bathed in blood!
What’s your dream project?
I’ve been fortunate enough to be a working actor for like 30 years. And what that means is that you’re able to do a lot of different things. I’d like to be the sheriff in a western; I’d like to be the guy with the badge on – I haven’t done that yet! That would be fun.
So if DC decided to do more with Jonah Hex, you’d be interested?
That’d be great – I would love to do Jonah Hex! If DC call, my answer is yes, whatever they want me to do. That’s the truth. The good thing about being a working actor is you never know what’s going to happen next. By saying yes to things you find yourself in New Zealand, kissing Xena, the warrior princess, beating up the bad guys! You find yourself on a boat playing a ship captain and jumping into the ocean. Life is an adventure.
What’s next for you?
I just got done doing an independent film called The Way We Speak, and I’m the lead of that. It’s sort of a cultural, political theatre, and it’ll be out sometime, hopefully next year.
BATMAN: THE DOOM THAT CAME TO GOTHAM is out from March 27th on Blu-ray and digital.
