Trivia / Batman: The Animated Series E14 "Heart of Ice"

• Cast the Runner-Up: Mark Hamill hoped to be cast as Mr. Freeze, but Michael Ansara beat him to it, leading Hamill to be cast as Ferris Boyle. Luckily for Mark, however, he eventually got to voice The Joker when Tim Curry's performance didn't satisfy the producers.
• Deleted Scene: The original idea for the flashback video was to have Freeze cling to Nora's cryogenic tank and realize in horror that his hair, now frozen, is breaking off in chunks. Paul Dini stated that he wanted to do this in pre-production, but they were over air time and cut it out.
• He Also Did: Mr. Freeze was designed by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola.
• Playing Against Type: Michael Ansara made his career as swarthy "heavies" — Klingons and black-hat outlaws, to name but two examples. He wasn't the most obvious choice for a Tragic Villain with Shakespearean overtones in Creepy Monotone, but he sold it completely. However, it is worth noting that he did play Pindarus in the 1953 screen adaptation of Julius Caesar so someone Shakespearean was hardly alien to him.
• Recast as a Regular: Prior to voicing The Joker, Mark Hamill voiced Ferris Boyle.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Before Michael Ansara's casting, the producers approached Leonard Nimoy to voice Mr. Freeze, but he declined. Anthony Hopkins and Anthony Zerbe were also considered.
  • The planned ending was to have a weeping Freeze in his cell, with his tears freezing and turning into snowflakes. Timm and Dini mentioned that if they could go back and do any episode again, they would do this one and include this. This was used in Batman & Robin.

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