Could a Live-Action Mr Freeze Ever Work?

Here's the thing with the infamous Batman and Robin; I consider it to be a terrible film, but it's a lot of fun to watch and revel in its stupidity. It is a misfire on many levels. George Clooney is a terribly uninspired Batman (though I actually don't mind his Bruce Wayne all that much), there's a reason studios have kind of shied away from Robin in recent years, corny one-liners are funny for all the wrong reasons, and there's a certain hint of smugness that even without taking the film seriously at all, I can't quite enjoy. In terms of the villains and their execution, Uma Thurman nearly killed off her career with a career low as Poison Ivy, a villain with a great deal of potential, and the way the iconic villain of Bane is downgraded into some interchangeable paper-thin mook with cartoonish looking 'muscles' is laughable. As for Mr Freeze, the biggest selling point of the film was seeing how in the world Arnold Schwarzenegger would take on the role. Well he's not entirely terrible in an objective sense. He has a few affecting seconds, and it is somewhat enjoyable to see him rattle off the likes of 'allow me to break the ice', and 'revenge is a dish best served cold'. Unfortunately it completely undermines the nature of the character as one of Batman's finest rogues.

Mr Freeze hasn't been attempted in live-action film since, and I can kind of see why. The prevalent impression of the character among the general public unfamiliar with the comic books or television series see him as a rather 'unrealistic' villain, thus he'd never have really have fitted into Christopher Nolan's excellent Gotham universe where villains like Scarecrow, the Joker, and Harvey Dent/Two-Face were all depicted in a manner contingent with their gritty, hyper-realistic dimension. There was no room for a sub-zero scientist, although I would say the utilization of Bane and the League of Shadows was an element that does muddle the gap between 'realism' and 'fantasy'.

Anyway, I digress. Is there a way to make a live-action Mr Freeze work? Well apparently the version of Victor Fries on television show Gotham is well-done enough, so I can't comment. But based purely on what I've seen, Mr Freeze if done right, is a brilliant character with so much emotional depth to mine from. My basis largely stems from the Batman: The Animated Series, where Mr Freeze was voiced by Michael Ansara.

Throughout the series, Ansara's terrific voice work, which made the character so eloquent and menacing, but also with an undercurrent of sadness, stood out, but none more so in two features: the greatest episode in the series, 'Heart of Ice', and the feature film Batman and Mr Freeze: SubZero. I'll start with the latter first actually. In this film, the arc of Victor Fries actually somewhat resembles that of Schwarzenegger's Fries, in that Freeze has his wife Nora cryogenically encased, looking for a cure and soon discovers it in the form of an organ transplant from a rare blood type donor, which he soon finds in Barbara Gordon/Batgirl. The way the film presents Fries is fantastic in that despite being the antagonist, he's never really a villain. The perspective we're given with the character makes you emphasize with his plight even when he's doing technically dastardly things, because there's never a hint of malevolence behind it. He shows no joy in performing 'bad' actions as a 'bad' guy, he merely has become so disenchanted with the world that he'll go to any means to piecing it back together again. The use of an Inuit boy Koonak is another inspired element to the film as Victor Fries' partner, as it gives the man an interface for showing some of the humanity underneath the icy exterior.

The work of Ansara and the animators in the film was great, but the crowning legacy of Mr Freeze must certainly go to 'Heart of Ice'. The episode's story is simple: Batman tracking down Freeze and finding out what's his story. It's a stylish and exceptionally well-made episode, but I do think its greatest strength lies in its emotional core. A particularly great scene is when Batman finds out the backstory to Freeze's creation and his ailing wife's death; the jarring turn from the horrified, grieving Freeze and the chilly, unmoved one who says to Batman, 'it would move me to tears, if I still had tears to shed'. The writing of Freeze's lines is brilliant as there's an incisiveness and coldness to it fitting for a Batman adversary, but beneath that deadpan and cool delivery such an overwhelming sadness. The final few lines of the episode are beautifully written and made even more heartbreaking by Ansara's delivery of them, and the closing image of his snow globe is marvellous.

So where does that leave us now? Well, in terms of actors who could potentially play Freeze, I'm not sure. Bryan Cranston could be fantastic, David Morse would fit the role well, and I could see someone like Corey Stoll, or Mark Rylance knocking it out of the ballpark as well. A toned down Sharlto Copely could work terrifically in the role as well, and a younger Sam Neill would have been pitch-perfect. In terms of his recent output, Keanu Reeves might make a surprisingly inspired choice; and my close runner-up to my top choice for Freeze would be Damian Lewis, who has a great voice

If I had to choose one particular actor though, Mark Strong would be my pick. He can play intimidating villains in his sleep, but what I love is that his performance in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy showed how much emotional depth he could give an cold disposition, how much warmth he could convey beneath an icy veneer. I can't imagine the current DC universe doing the character justice however, so I guess I'll just leave it as wishful thinking for now.