Brian Damage
08-21-2009, 11:43 PM
Adam West isn't getting older.
He's getting busier.
The 70-year-old TV legend, best known as the star of "Batman" (ABC; 1966-68), performs the voice of a mayor named in his honor on TV's "Family Guy," recently introduced his new two-disc interview DVD, "Adam West Naked!," at the Comic-Con International in San Diego, has a Web site (www.AdamWest.com) and does a voiceover for the new LendingTree campaign.
Fans who have always wanted to meet West can do so this weekend when he visits Monster-Mania Con 13 in Cherry Hill, N.J. Also featured will be a replica of the 1966 Batmobile.
Other celebrities at the three-day event will include John Astin (TV's "The Addams Family"), Michael Biehn ("The Terminator"), Barbara Steele ("Black Sunday"), Michael Madsen ("Reservoir Dogs") and director John Landis ("An American Werewolf in London"). A large dealers area with collectibles will also be available.
To what does West attribute his longtime appeal?
"I'm very much like Madonna: I keep reinventing myself," he says with a laugh during a telephone interview. "So many of my peers are gone, retired, can't work or are out of work.
"How else can I look at it? I'm the luckiest guy in the world."
His pop-culture longevity can be attributed to TV's "Batman" and the 1966 Caped Crusader movie it inspired. West understands the lasting appeal of the series.
"The show never seems to age because it's out there as something unique," he says. "There's never been a show like it, and maybe there never will be.
"We got so lucky because we had the right marriage of wonderful writers and great performers who understood the show. We were going for something that belonged in the theater of the absurd - a show that adults could laugh with forever and kids could learn lessons from."
West considered it his responsibility to set the mood for filming each episode.
"When I went onto the soundstage in the morning, I got all hyped up," says the actor, who named Catwoman, played by Julie Newmar, as his favorite villain, followed by The Riddler and The Penguin, portrayed by Frank Gorshin and Burgess Meredith, respectively. "I knew if we didn't approach the day with tongue in cheek and an element of fun, the material wouldn't translate."
Advertisement West has spent some time analyzing his famous comic-book character.
"When you think about it, Batman's a total nut," he says. "Can you imagine running around 24 hours a day in a cape?
"My approach to the role was that when I pulled on that cowl, I became a kid again - a kid playing Batman."
Certainly the Batman character generated international interest when director Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight," with Christian Bale as the title character and the late Heath Ledger as The Joker, grossed $1 billion globally.
According to West, who has only seen pieces of "The Dark Knight," the comic-book character can take different forms and tones.
"We did our thing (with the TV version) and they (the creators of 'Batman Begins' and its sequel, 'The Dark Knight') are doing theirs," he says. "Batman can take so many different shapes and appeal to different generations.
"They (Nolan and his creative team) know their audience, and there's a great amount of talent and skill connected with those movies. I'm not a critic, but I enjoy them as a layman."
And what do fans want to talk to him about when he appears at conventions such as Monster-Mania?
"It's constantly surprising because people come up with the damnedest questions and some of the fans are more noticeable," he says. "Some people have Batman tattoos all over them or ask me to sign certain things.
"Sometimes, I've refused to sign a piece of clothing that, let's say, hadn't been laundered."
http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news_details/article/177/2009/august/21/tvs-batman-still-monstrously-popular.html
He's getting busier.
The 70-year-old TV legend, best known as the star of "Batman" (ABC; 1966-68), performs the voice of a mayor named in his honor on TV's "Family Guy," recently introduced his new two-disc interview DVD, "Adam West Naked!," at the Comic-Con International in San Diego, has a Web site (www.AdamWest.com) and does a voiceover for the new LendingTree campaign.
Fans who have always wanted to meet West can do so this weekend when he visits Monster-Mania Con 13 in Cherry Hill, N.J. Also featured will be a replica of the 1966 Batmobile.
Other celebrities at the three-day event will include John Astin (TV's "The Addams Family"), Michael Biehn ("The Terminator"), Barbara Steele ("Black Sunday"), Michael Madsen ("Reservoir Dogs") and director John Landis ("An American Werewolf in London"). A large dealers area with collectibles will also be available.
To what does West attribute his longtime appeal?
"I'm very much like Madonna: I keep reinventing myself," he says with a laugh during a telephone interview. "So many of my peers are gone, retired, can't work or are out of work.
"How else can I look at it? I'm the luckiest guy in the world."
His pop-culture longevity can be attributed to TV's "Batman" and the 1966 Caped Crusader movie it inspired. West understands the lasting appeal of the series.
"The show never seems to age because it's out there as something unique," he says. "There's never been a show like it, and maybe there never will be.
"We got so lucky because we had the right marriage of wonderful writers and great performers who understood the show. We were going for something that belonged in the theater of the absurd - a show that adults could laugh with forever and kids could learn lessons from."
West considered it his responsibility to set the mood for filming each episode.
"When I went onto the soundstage in the morning, I got all hyped up," says the actor, who named Catwoman, played by Julie Newmar, as his favorite villain, followed by The Riddler and The Penguin, portrayed by Frank Gorshin and Burgess Meredith, respectively. "I knew if we didn't approach the day with tongue in cheek and an element of fun, the material wouldn't translate."
Advertisement West has spent some time analyzing his famous comic-book character.
"When you think about it, Batman's a total nut," he says. "Can you imagine running around 24 hours a day in a cape?
"My approach to the role was that when I pulled on that cowl, I became a kid again - a kid playing Batman."
Certainly the Batman character generated international interest when director Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight," with Christian Bale as the title character and the late Heath Ledger as The Joker, grossed $1 billion globally.
According to West, who has only seen pieces of "The Dark Knight," the comic-book character can take different forms and tones.
"We did our thing (with the TV version) and they (the creators of 'Batman Begins' and its sequel, 'The Dark Knight') are doing theirs," he says. "Batman can take so many different shapes and appeal to different generations.
"They (Nolan and his creative team) know their audience, and there's a great amount of talent and skill connected with those movies. I'm not a critic, but I enjoy them as a layman."
And what do fans want to talk to him about when he appears at conventions such as Monster-Mania?
"It's constantly surprising because people come up with the damnedest questions and some of the fans are more noticeable," he says. "Some people have Batman tattoos all over them or ask me to sign certain things.
"Sometimes, I've refused to sign a piece of clothing that, let's say, hadn't been laundered."
http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news_details/article/177/2009/august/21/tvs-batman-still-monstrously-popular.html