After appearing in Tim Burton's BATMAN as Gotham City district attorney Harvey Dent, it was assumed at the time that he would return as Two-Face in a subsequent sequel. However, by the time Two-Face made a proper appearance in BATMAN FOREVER, the role was handed over to Tommy Lee Jones. Now, close to thirty years later, Billy Dee Williams will finally get the chance to play the character when he voices Two-Face in THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE. It may not be exactly what Williams had in mind all those years ago, but he told THR that returning to the role was a lot of fun.
Billy Dee Williams was also asked whether he was able to incorporate anything he was planning to use all those years ago into his LEGO portrayal.
Well, I never got to really work on it. I just thought it would have been really interesting. Tommy Lee Jones was really great, and he’s one of my favorite actors, but I thought it would have been a kind of a departure and it would have been different. You win some, you lose some. I remember as a kid reading the Batman comics and seeing what the character was through illustration. The whole idea of a nice-looking guy ending up with a horrible disfigured look was pretty intriguing to me. It was like playing out two personalities. In the Lego Movie, it’s really hard to really talk about it because it’s in pieces, but the character, it’s not like doing a feature film in that sense. There’s more of an animated feeling to it.
In addition to Two-Face, another famous Billy Dee Williams role will soon be returning to theaters when Lando Calrissian shares the screen with Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) in the UNTITLED HAN SOLO STAR WARS ANTHOLOGY FILM. Calrissian will be played by Donald Glover this time around, and Williams recently had lunch with Glover to discuss the role.
He’s a very delightful young man, I must say. We had a very nice lunch and we talked for a very long time and it was very easy. He had questions about [Lando]. I guess he was doing what normal actors do, they just want to find out what direction they want to take so they gather their information. So, we just sat and talked and I didn’t want to impose on anything he wanted to do, he’s got his own ideas, I would imagine. I know he has his own ideas. He’s a very talented young man. In fact, I was listening to some of his music [Childish Gambino, Glover’s musical alter-ego] and it’s pretty good stuff.
Despite enjoying his time speaking with Donald Glover, Williams still isn't sure how to feel about someone else stepping into the role of Lando. "To me, I guess what it is that I identify so much with Lando. I mean, Lando has been very much a part of my life for over 30 years. When I go out and do conventions and stuff like that, even though people know me from all the other things that I’ve done, certainly [Lando] takes precedence. I just never thought of anybody else being Lando, I just see myself as Lando." When asked whether he would be making a cameo appearance in the spinoff, Williams said that he "wouldn't say no" if they asked him.
THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE is set for a February 10th release and the UNTITLED HAN SOLO STAR WARS ANTHOLOGY FILM will hit theaters on May 25, 2018, although there have been rumours that it will be pushed back to December.