Will Arnett Talks About That ‘Lego Batman’ Voice of His

Will Arnett is known for, among other things, his trademark low voice. He’s used it to great comedic effect in television shows like Arrested Development and BoJack Horseman, so it was only natural to have him take on the role of Batman in the 2014 smash hit The Lego Movie. But while his voice is naturally pitched low, he pushes it even further when playing the Dark Knight. Yahoo Movies asked Arnett how playing the part affects his voice.

Related: ‘Lego Batman’ Star Will Arnett Reveals Who His Favorite Batman Is

The Lego Batman Movie (credit: Warner Bros)
The Lego Batman Movie (Photo: Warner Bros)

“It’s real gravelly,” Arnett says. “It doesn’t feel great doing it a lot. And so when we do these sessions that are like four hours long, it would hurt. It’s hard to sing doing it because I’m a bad singer anyway. So I’m thinking about trying to keep in time and then doing the voice. The rap at the end of the movie was hard. … [I told the songwriters], ‘This is how it’s going to be. I can’t do it any better.'”

Batman and Robin, reunited on the big screen at last (credit: Warner Bros)
The Lego Batman Movie (Photo: Warner Bros.)

“And then all the things they call ‘exertions,'” Arnett says, “like running, jumping, you have to do all those kind of separately and sort of shouting stuff too. To shout doing the Batman voice is rough.”

After talking so much about Arnett’s voice, we couldn’t help but wonder how his pipes would lend themselves to lines from other Batman portrayals that have come before. If you’re wondering how Lego Batman would handle dialogue previously dished out by Adam West’s television character, you’re in luck.

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