Batman: Caped Crusader has made its way to Amazon Prime Video, and Nerdophiles was on hand at SDCC 2024 to chat with the star of the new and highly anticipated animated series. We sat with the talented Jamie Chung (Lovecraft Country), the actress behind Dr. Harleen Quinzel. Check out our conversation here:
On this version of Harley Quinn, Chung shared: “In casting an Asian American as Dr. Harleen Quinzel, you come with my perspective and that is, you know, first & second generation trauma of an immigrant family. But you know, she’s an over-achiever; she became a psychiatrist, and I loved that she became a vigilante in her way. She’s taking the corrupt, most elite people in Gotham, becoming their psychiatrist, and then using all that information and turning it against them. I feel like she’s like the Robin Hood of Gotham!”
On finding Dr. Quinzel’s voice, Chung told us: “I mean, it’s hard not to be influenced by Arleen Sorkin (Gotham Girls), she’s a fucking legend. So it was hard not to try to imitate her, but I love that Bruce Timm (Batman Beyond) gave us the liberty to play with this new character and flip the script. Instead of Harley Quinn being unpredictable, joyful, and, you know, twisted, he wanted Dr. Harleen Quinzel to be bubbly and disarming and then have Harley Quinn be menacing. So I really got to play with my voice and feel it in my chest for this role; it was really fun.”
On her relationship status this season, Chung added: “I love that this Harley isn’t tied in so deeply with the Joker and has her own identity. She is her person; she is independent. She’s got a nine to five, and then turns into my toddler is the devil at night. So, it’s neat to see her origin story, and it is so different. But yeah, she’s flirting hard, and I love how forward she is.”
On the feminist idea of Harley Quinn in the story, Chung said: “Oh absolutely, and I love DC, but the issue with most of Batman and Superman comics is there’s not a lot of female antagonists or protagonists, and I love Bruce Timm came up with these ideas like making The Penguin (Minnie Driver, Starstruck) for example, a female character, and then giving Harley Quinn her own feet stand on. But yeah, I would consider Harley to be a twisted feminist!”
Well, one thing is sure: we cannot wait for audiences to see Dr. Harleen Quinzel, AKA Harley Quinn, be the twisted feminist we all know and love in this new animated series!
Check Out Batman: Caped Crusader Streaming On August 1st, Only On Amazon Prime Video!
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