Even the Joker thinks the world is “insane” currently.
At an action-packed premiere for “The Lego Batman Movie” at the Regency Theater on Saturday, Will Arnett posed in front of a life-sized Lego bat-mobile (it’s surprising he didn’t arrive in it), DC Entertainment president Diane Nelson arrived wearing a Batman-inspired custom jacket made entirely out of Lego, and Zach Galifianakis revealed he didn’t need to look far to find the insanity he wanted to bring to his rendition of the Joker.
“What was important for me was to show his insanity. I think insanity right now — there’s a feeling that things are insane, and I wanted to play with that, and also his lame jokes,” Galifianakis said.
And there were jokes aplenty on the appropriately black-and-yellow carpet. At one point, Arnett ran over to director Chris McKay, grabbed him by the shoulders and whispered loudly in his ear in his deep, growly Batman voice, “tell me why!”
Arnett later revealed the idea behind his Batman incarnation was to explore the question of why he has no friends despite his wealth and talent for epic crime-busting. It turns out the actor can relate.
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“I’m just a loner in the sense that nobody wants to be my friend,” Arnett joked. “We really loved the idea that he’s Bruce Wayne, he’s Batman, he’s a superhero, he’s a billionaire playboy, and yet he’s got no friends. Why?”
McKay added that “The Lego Batman Movie” allowed him and his cast to take the iconic caped crusader to places that other Batman movies aren’t able to go.
“We wanted to attack Batman’s core problem and make a film about him overcoming the hurt in his heart and maybe letting some people into his life,” McKay said. “It’s something that other Batman movies can’t do because, he’s Batman, but we wanted it to be ‘About a Boy’ meets Michael Mann, with a lot of jokes.”
Also joining Batman, the Joker, and the director on the carpet were Robin, in the form of Michael Cera; Batgirl, in this instance Rosario Dawson; and Harley Quinn, or Jenny Slate.
However, the cast member who drew the most attention, especially from the ranks of screaming fans, was Mariah Carey, who plays Mayor McCaskill in the film.
Carey arrived just in time for the cast photo in front of the bat-mobile, before being dragged down the carpet by two of her children, one on either arm.
“I love Legos, I step all over them everywhere I go in the house,” the singer quipped as she was whisked off into the theater.
