Batman/Bruce Wayne Casting Thread - Part 4

[Rorschach2012]

**** it bring it on.

Really? I’ve seen 2 movies where he had a significant role

I don’t hate him as an actor, but he isn’t right for Bruce at all... Grayson yes, Bruce no.

 

[Eddie Dean]

Ben’s head shrunk in rehab.

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

If Centineo is playing Bruce then my interest in this officially drops down to zero.

You and me both.

 

[MadderMaximus]

You and me both.

3rded

 

[Gamma Goliath]

Centineo kid looks more like nightwing.

 

[Invader Joker]

I don't mind having a pretty face guy for the part, but I'd rather have Jonathan Groff for that, Centineo just screams all sorts of "no" for me.

 

[Rorschach2012]

Hahah if Noah Centineo is Batman, his first comment on his casting would be that it’s something that he’s “hella, like, stoked on.”

 

[Rorschach2012]

I don't mind having a pretty face guy for the part, but I'd rather have Jonathan Groff for that, Centineo just screams all sorts of "no" for me.

Batman? Really? Dude looks like he could pull off Riddler

 

[flickchick85]

I do NOT support Jonathan Groff for Batman, for the record, but in Invader Joker's defense, I'm sure he was referring to Groff in Mindhunter mode, rather than...whatever that is above, lol.

 

[2kt09]

He still reminds me of this:

 

[Invader Joker]

Here's my argument for a pretty face young Batman:

I think it creates an interesting contrast between his Bruce Wayne persona

Sure, maybe if we were talking Batman in his mid 40s, mid 30s, late 30s, etc. he'd obviously need to look rugged and serious and imposing, but that's partly because Bruce Wayne (the public persona) obviously has to mature as well.
here, we are talking about a young Batman, one that's just starting out.

25-35 year old Bruce Wayne. Without the cowl, he looks handsome but he doesn't look like a guy that'd fit pretty well and by his mere look impose in a harsh war setting like idk, Jon Hamm does (to put an example), he looks like what he's just supposed to be for the public: a young, non caring playboy that looks like he'd fit well in any given random party of young attractive rich entitled adults that'd make for the cover of some crappy tabloid site or belong in a show like Gossip Girl or Glee.

Which is why what he considers to be his true self isn't represented not even in his face what the public sees, or what the girls he dates see, it's instead reresented by the moment he is behind the mask, all his pretty and non threatening features covered by a dark mask with some demonic qualities to it, that allows nothing to see except his jaw and his eyes that in those moments express nothing but anger, frustration and just a general feel of discontent with the world surroundig him. His true self is also shown when he's underneath the cave, his face covered in some very small shades of lightning, weary, with an stressed focused expression.

When he's finishing taking a shower and looks himself in the mirror and practices a smile to keep practicing the acting of his Bruce Wayne persona, when he looks at that pretty face and pretty smile, he doesn't see himself. He doesn't feel identified with the man he is seeing in the mirror, with the face he's been born with it, instead he feels identified with the reflection that he gets to see of himself when he looks over a dark screen in the Batcave, and he sees the same monster in dark clothes that th criminals see, and he takes off the mask to see a low res glimpse of his face, but now weary, bruised and with the look of a broken, depressed and mysterious man.

 

[BestGirl]

I respect your take, Invader Joker, but I don't want a Batman that looks like a teenager. Someone like that Groff guy would be better, who can look both youthful and intense. I can't imagine intensity from Centineo.

Maybe Centineo is playing young Bruce in a flashback.

 

[Invader Joker]

I respect your take, Invader Joker, but I don't want a Batman that looks like a teenager. Someone like that Groff guy would be better, who can look both youthful and intense. I can't imagine intensity from Centineo.

Maybe Centineo is playing young Bruce in a flashback.

Yeah, I was about to clarify I don't want Centineo either.
He looks just so wrong for the part, I do think there's a line that if if you cross with this take could go wrong.
But that was my thesis for Jonathan Groff who was literally in glee and is a textbook example of pretty boy face that'd not look so wrong for Bruce Wayne.

Every time he looks at himself in the mirror and sees a pretty boy he sees as a stranger instead of seeing the real monster inside of him, he is reminded that no matter how much he looks the part or plays the part or falls in love with women that might play along, he'll never, ever be that seemingly happy playboy and instead he'll always have the responsabilities of preventing or meeting death in the dead of night, just like he did when he was a boy.

 

[ArmsHeldOut]

I didn't read all of that, but I believe I got the gist of what Invading Joker's trying to say, which is that someone like Centineo or Groff would likely come across less conspicuous than your traditional Bruce Wayne type were this real life. Thing is, as much as I want Reeves' film to have some verisimilitude or basis in reality à la the TDK trilogy, that need not apply to the physical appearances of every single character. At the end of the day, you're always going to have some level of implausibility in a Batman film, specifically one that's true to the spirit of the character. Why? Because we're essentially dealing w/ a fantasy-based, comic book billionaire who fights crime all the while dressed as a bat. As such, every little thing shouldn't have to make perfect sense or be explained. People often bring up Keaton to stress the point that unconventional casting can work because it already has before -- that's fair -- but the prerequisites for what a Hollywood superhero should look like nowadays aren't the same as what they were in the late eighties. They've been redefined by Bale, Jackman, etc. Whatever the case, I'd much rather have a Bruce Wayne who looks like he'd be useful in a fight sans the costume than one who doesn't.

 

[Invader Joker]

I wasn't making my argument based on realism, I couldn't care less about that, but rather in the artistic angle you might get from having a pretty faced guy for Bruce Wayne, which is the higher contrast between the Batman and Bruce Wayne persona and him feeling more identified with a piece of black clothing as his true self instead of his pretty face.

However if they casted Michael Fassbender, Aidan Turner, Armie Hammer, Jon Hamm or so on you'd hear no complaints from me, it's just that I consider this (a casting with Jonathan Groff, that has proven to be a competent actor capable of working with a big talent director in a very intense role that required a lot of nuance) an interesting angle to take if we're going for a YEAR ZERO Batman.


If they casted Noah I'd consider that a screw up. Maybe in ten years the guy could be cut out for the role but right now he really, REALLY isn't. He has to prove himself and grow into looking more like the part, and that isn't happening in 6 months time.

 

[Invader Joker]

Here's my last argument for Groff.
He was casted by David Fincher, the guy that has previously worked with talent like Brad Pitt, Jake Gyllenhaal, Andrew Garfield, Edward Norton and so on as the leading man in his TV show.

He wasn't casted by David Fincher as a supporting character in a non impressive role in a movie like let's say, Eiza Gonzalez was by Edgar Wright, no, he was casted by David Fincher as the leading man in an extremely well produced TV show where he plans to explore in great detail this very complex character full of subtletly and nuance into the different aspects of him and development he made over 10+ hours of television and more with the upcoming season. David Fincher looked as Groff and said "yeah, I can work with this guy for years as the centre in my very complex and psychological tv show"

If that doesn't tell you anything about his acting habilities, his potential and how Matt Reeves, the guy that made two films with apes as main characters and made them work, could use him, I don't know what will.

 

[TheIronist]

Batfleck looks buff af in recent pics

 

[ArmsHeldOut]

I wasn't making my argument based on realism, I couldn't care less about that, but rather in the artistic angle you might get from having a pretty faced guy for Bruce Wayne, which is the higher contrast between the Batman and Bruce Wayne persona and him feeling more identified with a piece of black clothing as his true self instead of his pretty face.

However if they casted Michael Fassbender, Aidan Turner, Armie Hammer, Jon Hamm or so on you'd hear no complaints from me, it's just that I consider this (a casting with Jonathan Groff, that has proven to be a competent actor capable of working with a big talent director in a very intense role that required a lot of nuance) an interesting angle to take if we're going for a YEAR ZERO Batman.


If they casted Noah I'd consider that a screw up. Maybe in ten years the guy could be cut out for the role but right now he really, REALLY isn't. He has to prove himself and grow into looking more like the part, and that isn't happening in 6 months time.

I see what you're saying now (I also went back and read your original post in its entirety). I can't say I have any interest in seeing that particular angle play out on-screen, but it's nevertheless an interesting one.

Also, while Groff would't be my first pick (or my second; or third), he's certainly a better choice than that Centineo guy.

 

[Invader Joker]

Even with my take I think we can all agree anyone that looked like this just 6 years ago should not be Batman.

 

[Rick the Ruler]

Centineo would pass as Dick Grayson, I doubt he's up for Batman.

 

[thebatfan5194]

If he’s up for Dick Grayson that just continues to raise my suspicions that this detective story is going to center around the murder of Dick graysons parents.

A story that would be “deeply personal” for Batman, something reeves has said he wants to do.

Also re: Ben Affleck, good for him getting in shape! Addicted to exercise is definitely better than alcohol. Whether he comes back as Bruce or not, glad to see he’s doing better.

 

[Gamma Goliath]

He could up for the nightwing movie that they've been silent about. It did have a director and script. Qe just never got casting news.

 

[Boom]

Or maybe they shelved the Nightwing movie because Reeves had plans for Dick Grayson. Enter Centineo.

 

[thebatfan5194]

He could up for the nightwing movie that they've been silent about. It did have a director and script. Qe just never got casting news.

I feel like if that movie were close enough that it would be casting we would have heard more about it by now. Like BOP, hopefully Flash and Batman all have had small production updates either from secondhand sources or people directly involved themselves, Nightwing has vasicllay been silent since February/March.

 

[Invader Joker]

The oldest Dick Grayson can be for it to be believable he'd need a legal guardian is probably 15 years old.
I think that yeah, Noah can pass for a 15 year old.
So it'd be alright I guess.