Ricky Church chats with Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons star Jack Griffo…
Batman, Superman and various members of the Justice League are often the headliners in Warner Bros. Animation’s DC films, but their most recent film is turned not only on the sidekicks, but Batman and Superman’s sons Jonathan Kent and Damian Wayne. Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons follows Jon and Damian as they are the only superheroes to save their parents and the world from a dangerous alien invader.
We spoke with actor Jack Griffo about his role as Damian Wayne/Robin with our discussion ranging from the reluctant friendship between Damian and Jon, the tense father-son relationship with Batman and Battle of the Super Sons‘ unique animation style. Check out our interview below…
Ricky Church: In Battle of the Super Sons you play Robin, in this film Batman’s son Damian Wayne. What’s it like for you to not only play Robin, but be the son of Batman?
Jack Griffo: Yeah, man. It’s like you say, it’s two in one but they were one and the same. I think I really leaned into that relationship with his dad for this character. Robin has got a lot of responsibility, a lot to take care of, but he’s got that added thing, like it’s his fucking dad, you know? He doesn’t really have a great relationship with his dad and I can definitely relate to that and I definitely let that inform a lot of the scenes. What an interesting character – super aggressive, kind of reckless, doesn’t play well with others which you see in the beginning of the film, you kind of get a glimpse into the Titans and whether he’s going to be working with them and Jonathan overhears a conversation that Damian’s having with the Titans.
It’s kind of heartbreaking. He has this whole background being raised by the League of Assassins and I think he doesn’t have many friends growing up and he didn’t know his dad for the first I think 13 years of his life, and all of a sudden his mom brings him to meet him and he takes the mantle as Robin and he is Batman’s son. He just has to start finding his way in Gotham without a real father figure because Batman’s obviously Batman. At least in my depiction of Batman, he’s kind of hard, he’s kind of harsh and kids need that love. And being Ra’s al Ghul’s grandson and Talia’s son, I think he was just raised to kill or be killed without that love. The movie is such a great depiction of their relationship and I didn’t even really see it fully before I saw it on Friday [at its New York Comic-Con premiere] when I was recording sessions. I think that dynamic is definitely the most interesting in the film. There’s obviously Jonathan and Jonathan and Damian, but for me as an actor I definitely leaned into the relationship with him and Batman.
Bringing up Jonathan, Damian and Jon are very different and they start off not really liking each other, but grow into this mutual respect and friendship. Damian’s got this tough love approach with Jonathan with how he tries to test him and unleash his powers. How did you view their relationship? Did you ever get to talk to Jack [Dylan Grazer, voice of Jonathan Kent] about your performances and how you’d play off each other?
No, believe it or not we never met before Friday, but in the sessions I just got a real feel for his comedy and timing. What a great actor, what a great guy. Right away I was like “Okay, this is going to work.” We both have a good feel for what we’re doing. We’ve both been doing it a good amount of time for our age. There’s definitely some friction in that relationship. I think a lot of it has to do with a sense of entitlement. Like Damian thinks “who’s this, you’re Superman’s son, but no powers and you’re coming in here, don’t know what you’re doing. I’m trained, I’m trained to kill,” you know?
I think also a lot of it has to do with our dads, that relationship and trying to make them proud. I have this chip on my shoulder, like I kind of mentioned earlier, I really don’t have a great relationship with Bruce. For me, it’s like here’s this kid who has been with his dad his entire life and he’s just finding out about everything. He’s early in the process. I think Damian is jaded by it all at this point. I’m like “Oh, great.” I’m joshing him hard in the first scene, pushing him off cliffs, hitting him with a Batarang. It’s intense, honestly.
One of my favourite scenes was the way Robin takes care of Jonathan’s bully. I found that hilarious!
Oh, so funny! The little pressure point touch, oh my gosh, and then he does it again at the end in the baseball scene. That is hilarious. I honestly forgot about that! You know, when you do a voiceover it goes by so fast and you forget about a lot of the little things, especially if there’s not many lines to them because you’re not acting them physically. You forget and that’s why it was such a pleasure just getting to sit down with the cast and just watch this film. Just to be a part of the audience and feel that energy of a room full of people that are die hard, that just love these characters and this story. I just feel grateful mostly, man. I feel really grateful to Warner Bros., the producers, the fans for Friday. It was such a cool day. I only hope that I lived up to the expectations and I made everybody happy, but for me I feel very happy with the finished product and my performance. I definitely hope that I can do it again.
Damian’s very different from the other Robins. Where Dick Grayson is more wise cracking or Tim Drake is very detective-leaning like Batman, it’s like you said that Damien’s just very reckless and full of himself. Do you have a favourite Robin or has Damian become your favourite?
Well, to be honest I was never super into comics. I didn’t even know Damian Wayne existed when I first started researching. I didn’t know. I didn’t know the first thing. So Damian, just by this process, is definitely is my favourite. I think he’s the most raw. Like you’re saying Tim Drake and the other guys there are cracking jokes, they’re detectives or whatever. This guy, Damian, is a different animal. He doesn’t come from this land, Gotham, or from anywhere close. He was biologically perfect. He’s almost supernatural and he’s got such a chip on his shoulder and obviously he’s the most compelling because he’s his fucking son! You know? It’s so, so compelling. So definitely, definitely Damian’s my favourite.
Now you said you saw the movie at the New York Comic-Con premiere. One of the things I really like about it is the animation style. It’s very unique and different compared to a lot of the other DC movies because of that computer generated animation. What did you think of the animation style, how it brought Damian and Jon to life?
Oh my gosh, it was beautiful! It was so beautiful, man. I love this style of animation. I think from the first to the second session there was just such a difference. It looked good in the first session, but when I came in for the second session like months and months and months later, I was really seeing it, you know? I was like “Wow!” I was like laughing! I was like giddy with excitement, you know? And the producers and the director, Matt, were just laughing back at me because it’s their baby too. They’re happy to see that I’m happy. It was a surreal feeling because they’re just playing some movie for me and it’s like that’s me! Like, I’m a fucking Robin! It’s very surreal and I was really, really happy.
The animation is gorgeous, man. It kind of has that bright, sort of anime feel to it. You know the big eyes, the really white whites and the really black blacks. It’s just gorgeous, man. Just absolutely crazy. With this whole experience with Comic-Con and everything, I’m like wow. Like I really want to keep doing this. I definitely want to do it and if I were to get the opportunity to do it again I’d even get to go deeper because there’s such a deep, rich history there. There’s just lots to do, lots to discover with this guy.
Thank you very much to Jack Griffo for speaking with us!
Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons will be released on 4K UHD and Blu-ray October 18th.
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