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Posted on Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 at 08:33pm

The opening scene of Batman was written to parrallel the Wayne family's own mis-fortune. A husband and wife with their small boy leave the theatre only to become victim of Gotham's "dark side".

The father, actor Garrick Hagon, is already a familiar name in sci-fi / fantasy circles - having acted as Biggs in Star Wars - so you think he would have known all about the "dark side".

Dan Kampling found out more...

Dan: Can you tell me how you came to be involved with Batman?
Garrick: I auditioned along with many other North American actors in London for Tim Burton and happened to have my family holiday photos from Spain with me. As a result my wife, Liza Ross, was asked to play my wife in the film. My son didn't get the role of my son because by then he had a British accent.

Dan: Were you a Batman fan before the movie?
Garrick: No, although I had played in Dirk Maggs' BBC radio versions of the stories.

Dan: How long were you on set?
Garrick: We shot 2 days, the most exciting being the long night shoot of the fantastically atmospheric opening scene.

Dan: Did you have much time with the other cast and crew?
Garrick: No, we were pretty well on our own with the excellent group of crowd artistes who made up the Gotham citizens on the crowded streets.

Dan: Do you have any good/bad memories that you could share?
Garrick: Nothing but good. The most exciting and realistic set I have worked on and Tim Burton directed it from a distant crane and allowed us to improvise a few of the lines as we jumped a taxi outside the cinema.

But the floor was hard as we did the "beating" scene about six times. (I was offered a massage by Michael Keaton's masseur but declined.)

Dan: Did you do anything to prepare for the role?
Garrick: Learned the scenes. Read some of the Batman comics.

Dan: Did Tim Burton film all of your scenes or was some of it second-unit directed?
Garrick: Tim certainly would not have delegated his opening scene to anyone else.

Dan: How was the hype for you after the film was released?
Garrick: It is often mentioned and creates interest when I discuss it in Star Wars conventions.

Dan: Did you get to keep any souvenirs from the film?
Garrick: I asked many times and wardrobe finally surrendered the hat I wore.

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Thanks to Garrick for giving up his time for the interview. Garrick can be seen in "Is Anybody There?" starring Michael Caine.

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