Brave and the Bold Casting Thread

[Invader Joker]

Something about Pace always makes me think of Timothy Dalton. Something vulpine and predatory.

A friend of mine said Lee gives a sort-of Gregory Peck vibe to him as well and I can see it. Cary Grant too. He strikes me as an actor that'd have probably been a gigantic star back in the 50s. Has that sort of Old Hollywood vibe that fits right at home for what the archetype of Bruce Wayne is (Primarily because that archetype was formed based on those types of actors in the first place)
Coincidentally, fits with the vibe that Corenswet and Brosnahan bring with them as well.

Talk about cherry picking photos. I really don't want another older Batman paired with a young Superman, but clean shaven in a suit with a scowl, you can't pretend that Pace doesn't fit the classical Bruce Wayne mold:

Fits like a glove.

 

[FeedOnATreeFrog]

This Batman will have to sell the ridiculous tone of having a 10 year old ninja son.

The ideal is someone like Gosling imo, who can sell the dry comedy of a scene with a simple furrowed brow. But can also bring the intensity and pathos when needed.

There's a goofiness to Lee Pace that I think could work. This old-school Hollywood looking handsome actor dressed in grey tights, fighting crime with his crazy kid. It works for me. But like others have suggested, Pace, despite his talents, doesn't always light up the screen the way a leading actor ought to. But then again, throw a Batsuit on him and it might just push him into real leading man territory.

 

[Invader Joker]

The key to the over the top aspects in a Batman story I feel is much like what Adam West said: The Batman actor can't be playing the joke. The world he lives in may be ridiculous, but he's not aware of that nor does he care. I actually think there's very little difference between casting for a "lighter" Batman and for a "darker" Batman unless you're doing a straight-up parody like LEGO, because either way Bruce is gonna be taking everything mega-seriously. For him nothing changes.

 

[flickchick85]

In what universe is Corenswet a more exciting and interesting actor than Lee Pace?! I like him but come on.

The only lie you’ve told in this thread.

 

[flickchick85]

Lee Pace has classic Hollywood leading man good looks. If you don’t like his face, sorry, but that’s a you problem.

 

[Lily Adler]

Yeah it'd be toootally unbelievable to see this wimp playing a crime-fighting badass. Could never be able to suspend my disbelief.

I need to see this episode... for science.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

A friend of mine said Lee gives a sort-of Gregory Peck vibe to him as well and I can see it. Cary Grant too. He strikes me as an actor that'd have probably been a gigantic star back in the 50s. Has that sort of Old Hollywood vibe that fits right at home for what the archetype of Bruce Wayne is (Primarily because that archetype was formed based on those types of actors in the first place)
Coincidentally, fits with the vibe that Corenswet and Brosnahan bring with them as well.

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Fits like a glove.

A very sexy glove.

 

[Lily Adler]

That face is just not a Batman face , I will never see it. How can you possibly look at this man and think Batman?

You're missing the best Batman of all time, Batfleck.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

The only lie you’ve told in this thread.

FC's first full length fan fiction novel. Trapped In an Island with David Corenswet.

 

[Invader Joker]

You're missing the best Batman of all time, Batfleck.

#NotMyBatman

 

[Snow Queen]

#NotMyBatman

Thought I was looking at Adam Sandler for a moment.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

Lee Pace has classic Hollywood leading man good looks. If you don’t like his face, sorry, but that’s a you problem.

We agree that a man is handsome. I’m pretty sure that makes it an objective fact.

 

[Invader Joker]

As for the range thing when it comes to Lee Pace: I could care less because if he played Bruce Wayne the exact same way he played Joe Macmillan it'd still be a great Bruce Wayne performance.

Not every actor /has/ to be as insanely chamaleonic as Bale or Pattinson. It helps, sure, but even if I were to concede he has a """"limited range""" (which I don't think that's the case, not every actor can jump from playing a role like Ned in Pushing Daisies to playing Thranduil to playing Ronan to playing his role in Halt and Catch Fire. Widly different characters with wildly different tones.) I don't care because both Bruce Wayne and Batman fall within that range. He doesn't do crazy vocal or physical transformations, but he wouldn't need to for Batman. He fits the character as is.


Also, I'll just leave this quote of Dave Bautista quoting Sarah Finn here:



Hot take but I think that if one of the most experienced casting directors in the business has this opinion about Lee it's probably for good reason.

 

[The Lazarus Pit]

His facial structure is so much more suited to Joker but I don’t think he would be very good as Batman or Joker.

The great Batmen would have been able to play a great Batman or Joker (Bale, Keaton, Pattinson).

Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Gosling could both work as Batman or Joker. Ryan was even strongly considered for both roles.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

His facial structure is so much more suited to Joker but I don’t think he would be very good as Batman or Joker.

The great Batmen would have been able to play a great Batman or Joker (Bale, Keaton, Pattinson).

Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Gosling could both work as Batman or Joker. Ryan was even strongly considered for both roles.

The facial structure thing I also think comes down to just a disagreement about what is and isn’t important: it’s cool when you have someone like Pattinson who looks like he was drawn by Jack ****ing Kirby but at the end of the day I’m not really concerned with it. Oftentimes outside the box appearances lead to the most striking and successful choices - like, I have zero interest in ever seeing a ‘conventional’ looking Bond after someone as strikingly unique as Craig.

 

[NEXUS 6]

First off, apologies for derailing the Pace discussion with my question re: Midnighter. I think the timing of my post might have unfairly dragged in some of Lazarus’ separate criticisms and didn’t mean to turn that into assessing an actor’s sexuality in terms of fitness for the role.

Regarding the answer to that question, specifically:

No. Having read The Authority comics, Midnighter is a gruff "one beer in one hand, one gun on the other" type of soldier character. He's closer in attitude to something like The Comedian, which is not the type that Lee Pace is at all. You'd need something closer to someone like Jon Bernthal or Jeffrey Dean Morgan for that.

You could make an argument for Apollo but honestly having read the comics I don't think that'd be ideal for him either. Apollo is this mega straight-faced, kinda shallow character that's mostly there to be Midnighter's boyfriend and also a weapon for The Authority, he's probably be more apt for a Tom Brittney-type.

And aside from that, Batman is a way better character than those two, and also a far more exciting pick for Lee.

I know you don't mean bad but I'm also tired of hearing of Apollo or Midnighter in these discussions. It just strikes me as a very specific form of typecasting that does frustrate me a lot since "gay actors can only play gay roles" is in part a line of thinking that has limited the opportunities of a lot of people before. The fact those two roles keep being brought up constantly purely because of Lee's sexuality is kinda tiresome.

I appreciate the response and it’s directness. I am only peripherally aware of Midnighter and haven’t read Ellis’ run (or any Authority headlined titles, actually), so I’d always read him as a sort-of Batman stand-in. As that’s not the case, I 100% get that a gay/bisexual potential Batman actor shouldn’t be “relegated” to the role.

I do think that Apollo and Midnighter should be played by gay/bisexual actors, so prior to that clarification about the former it felt like if there was a perfect actor for Batman that happened to be gay, making sure that the narrative and real-world commentary inherent to a gay Batman-analogue character being fully realized on screen would be ideal.

All that is to say, thanks for the reply and for bearing with the question. Still not personally sold on Pace for the role, but he’s deserved a huge career since The Fall and certainly checks enough boxes to be such a big part of this discussion.

 

[darkdefective]

His facial structure is so much more suited to Joker but I don’t think he would be very good as Batman or Joker.

The great Batmen would have been able to play a great Batman or Joker (Bale, Keaton, Pattinson).

Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Gosling could both work as Batman or Joker. Ryan was even strongly considered for both roles.

Just catching up with this thread and everything I’ve seen from you reads like drivel (no offence). Love Ryan Goslink but he has constant Deer in headlights look so there goes the type of intensity needed for Batman. If his filmography has proven anything is that he excels more in comedic roles. Also think about Jake Gyllenhaal’s potential Batman voice for 5 seconds, he’d sound like Kermit the Frog

 

[SwordOfMorning]

Okay, Gosling has an absolutely frenzied and violent intensity to him - let’s not pretend that isn’t one of his strengths. Jake is also just about the most perfect Batman imaginable IMO, and I think there’s something to his weird screechy voice I feel like would wind up working really well in practice.

 

[ArmsHeldOut]

His facial structure is so much more suited to Joker but I don’t think he would be very good as Batman or Joker.

The great Batmen would have been able to play a great Batman or Joker (Bale, Keaton, Pattinson).

Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Gosling could both work as Batman or Joker. Ryan was even strongly considered for both roles.

Not that it really matters, but this is both inaccurate and misleading. If we're gonna do the "purist" thing, though, Pace's facial structure is arguably better suited to the cowl than Keaton's or Bale's. Really, it's just Pattinson who has him beat in that regard. Sure, Affleck came close, but his pronounced jowls gave his face a somewhat chubby/bloated look. Yes, I know, I know. "But the eyes! No intensity in the eyes!" This, too, was already refuted (successfully, I might add) by several other posters in the thread. And it seems like you care much less about that (if at all) and more about his face, anyway.

 

[The Lazarus Pit]

Just catching up with this thread and everything I’ve seen from you reads like drivel (no offence). Love Ryan Goslink but he has constant Deer in headlights look so there goes the type of intensity needed for Batman. If his filmography has proven anything is that he excels more in comedic roles. Also think about Jake Gyllenhaal’s potential Batman voice for 5 seconds, he’d sound like Kermit the Frog

None taken…but it seems like you too think Pace as Batman is a good idea…and my criticisms about Pace not fitting MY personal vision of what Bruce should look like and the caliber of actor required has clearly gotten the conversation started but only reads like drivel to you.

Fair enough, that’s an easy out when you don’t agree with what someone has to say. The echo chamber is definitely real and I see that Pace has loyal fans. After watching a lot of his work, I still don’t know why so many are ready to settle for Pace. Look at the pedigree of actors who have taken the role in the past…Pace is a pretty steep drop from the likes of Bale and Pattinson but again I clearly perceive his performances and range completely differently than his fans. But hey everyone has a different idea of great acting, I thought Henry Cavill as Superman was one of the worst superhero performances ever, but he clearly has legions of devoted fans.

Besides my personal unquantifiable perception of his acting ability, I genuinely believe Lee Pace’s chin would look awful in the cowl. Bale had a similarly pointy jaw and it looked weird in the TDK suit. And someone called Lee Pace’s eyebrows menacing, but that is the last thing I would call his eyebrows, they’re just really big… Everyone’s perception is different, and to me, he just does not come across as a believable badass. I buy him as spoiled playboy Bruce Wayne but not Batman.

Thandruil, Ronan, and his character in Foundation are basically recycled performances to me. I recognize they are different characters! Yes they have different backstories but this is because they are from different writers. Pace fails to differentiate these characters in his performances. He just does this same exact deliberate, slow deep way of speaking in those three roles. To me, it demonstrates his willingness to repeat performances because it’s comfortable for him. He’s no chameleon, he’s a character actor and is down to do the same thing. I feel it, the guy has to work. But I want an actor who is on an upward trajectory and willing to take risks. Bodies Bodies Bodies was a fun change of pace for him but I just don’t enjoy him very much on screen. He’s not magnetic or charismatic on film in the way some stars naturally are. That’s why Pattinson was exciting, I am excited about his career and feel he has a lot of untapped potential still. I don’t feel that with Pace, he’s been around a while and just hasn’t grabbed me as a performer. Sue me…

Again I have seen H&CF, The Fall, GOTG, Twilight, part of Pushing Daisies, Foundation, Lincoln, The Hobbit, and BBB. He is serviceable and not bad by any means. I’m just not really a big fan. Especially not for the greatest superhero of all time. He deserves to be played by an actor at the top of the game like Gyllenhaal.

And yeah the eyes … I don’t see it at all. And it’s not something that can be quantified or refuted lol, it’s subjective. No intensity there IMO, like I said the guy does not come across as tough or badass whenever he tries. It feels forced, he doesn’t have that natural badass swagger. He’s in good shape but he just doesn’t have any edge to him that I pick up on. He’s all playboy Wayne and not enough Batman.

He’d be a decent Brainiac.

 

[Invader Joker]

Okay, Gosling has an absolutely frenzied and violent intensity to him - let’s not pretend that isn’t one of his strengths. Jake is also just about the most perfect Batman imaginable IMO, and I think there’s something to his weird screechy worries I feel like would wind up working really well in practice.

I think Gosling could've made a good Batman in some specific version of the character, like if you were re-making the TDK trilogy today and he was playing Bale's Batman I'd say "Yeah that makes sense", it's the idea of him as Batdad Batgod Batman that doesn't end up clicking with me entirely.

If Gunn is going the mega-comic accurate direction with the character following the exact logic he seems to be applying to his Superman, Lois and Jimmy Olsen castings, then there's a very particular vibe that this sort of Batman based on Morrison's run portrays that I don't think that Gosling would be /necessarily/ ideal for.



The way that comic Batman, specifically Morrison's Batman, just completely unabashedly embraces the whole "peak human, always has a plan for everything, he's mastered as many things known to man" element of Batman doesn't reaaally make me think of Gosling. Gosling can play intense but more like "cool guy intense" or "mega loser intense", not /this/ sort of "force of nature, an absolutely ridiculous human being" intense.

Gyllenhaal though, I can see, mostly because he always carries with him this sort of mega-determined borderline psychotic energy that'd make me believe "Yeah this man would 100% go as overboard as to become the absolute master of every martial art, every science, every skill" in a way that'd really fit Morrison's Batman.

I do agree the voice is his big problem though lmao His natural speaking voice doesn't fit Batman /at all/, so he'd have to come up with a new deeper voice (which he's never done in his entire career) and we'd have to pray to god is a good one or one in which he doesn't have to do the whole gruff thing Bale did or he has to use the voice modulator.

 

[Invader Joker]

Thandruil, Ronan, and his character in Foundation are basically recycled performances to me. I recognize they are different characters! Yes they have different backstories but this is because they are from different writers. Pace fails to differentiate these characters in his performances. He just does this same exact deliberate, slow deep way of speaking in those three roles.

You're beating a horse that's not only dead, but also buried six feet underground but again, I do not know why you keep insisting on going for these demostrably wrong arguments.




Not only is his voice different in both roles, but his entire demeanor and mannierisms are different as well. In Guardians he's clearly going for more of a "generic space villain Darth Vader type" while in Foundation for a "pampered man-child emperor". And it's a moot point anyway since within his range also falls the Joe Macmillan "complex businessman with a dark past" type which clearly is applicable for Bruce Wayne. The amount of range he has is perfectly sufficient to play Batman and a damn great version of Batman at that.

Just let it go. You're /clearly/ not swaying anybody either way and it's been 5 pages of you saying multiple versions of the same thing that nobody even agrees with and that you keep being proven wrong over and over about. The Lee Pace you're seeing for some reason is not the same one the rest of us all see, so just leave it at that.

 

[The Lazarus Pit]

Dude you haven’t proven anything, this comes down to opinion, and you don’t like reading mine because it goes against this confusing echo chamber of support for an uninteresting actor. He doesn’t fit my vision of what Batman should look or act like. It’s ok, we should be able to talk about suggestions being bad if we feel that way.

I will leave it at that though. I’ve said my piece. I have my fingers crossed you do not get your wish.

We do both agree that Jake Gyllenhaal would be good. He is by far the best option and I think this is the perfect opportunity for him to finally play Batman. The Batdad element would suit him well.

His selections of roles have been really weird lately and I can see him committing to this version of Batman at this point in his career.

This is Batman:

 

[SwordOfMorning]

You're beating a horse that's not only dead, but also buried six feet underground but again, I do not know why you keep insisting on going for these demostrably wrong arguments.




Not only is his voice different in both roles, but his entire demeanor and mannierisms are different as well. In Guardians he's clearly going for more of a "generic space villain Darth Vader type" while in Foundation for a "pampered man-child emperor". And it's a moot point anyway since within his range also falls the Joe Macmillan "complex businessman with a dark past" type which clearly is applicable for Bruce Wayne. The amount of range he has is perfectly sufficient to play Batman and a damn great version of Batman at that.

Just let it go. You're /clearly/ not swaying anybody either way and it's been 5 pages of you saying multiple versions of the same thing that nobody even agrees with and that you keep being proven wrong over and over about. The Lee Pace you're seeing for some reason is not the same one the rest of us all see, so just leave it at that.

Christ, was that man ever wasted in Guardians. He's fun in it but, man, huge fan of the franchise but parts of that first movie are weak as hell. You can see the skeleton of something incredibly generic

And, yeah, it's clearly Joe Macmillan that proves his merit as Batman. He could roll up and give literally that performance and be great in the role. That's part of the thing about Pace: his default is a good fit for Batman, even if that was all he could do that is sort of irrelevant because he just naturally fits the character.

I think Gosling could've made a good Batman in some specific version of the character, like if you were re-making the TDK trilogy today and he was playing Bale's Batman I'd say "Yeah that makes sense", it's the idea of him as Batdad Batgod Batman that doesn't end up clicking with me entirely.

If Gunn is going the mega-comic accurate direction with the character following the exact logic he seems to be applying to his Superman, Lois and Jimmy Olsen castings, then there's a very particular vibe that this sort of Batman based on Morrison's run portrays that I don't think that Gosling would be /necessarily/ ideal for.

View attachment 66958
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The way that comic Batman, specifically Morrison's Batman, just completely unabashedly embraces the whole "peak human, always has a plan for everything, he's mastered as many things known to man" element of Batman doesn't reaaally make me think of Gosling. Gosling can play intense but more like "cool guy intense" or "mega loser intense", not /this/ sort of "force of nature, an absolutely ridiculous human being" intense.

Gyllenhaal though, I can see, mostly because he always carries with him this sort of mega-determined borderline psychotic energy that'd make me believe "Yeah this man would 100% go as overboard as to become the absolute master of every martial art, every science, every skill" in a way that'd really fit Morrison's Batman.

I do agree the voice is his big problem though lmao His natural speaking voice doesn't fit Batman /at all/, so he'd have to come up with a new deeper voice (which he's never done in his entire career) and we'd have to pray to god is a good one or one in which he doesn't have to do the whole gruff thing Bale did or he has to use the voice modulator.

See, for me the voice is so unique it becomes an asset. There's a maniacal intensity to it that is way different than any other Batman actors voice but... I dunno, man, I can picture some of Morrison's dialogue being read in Jake's voice and it totally works for me. That famous scene where he loses his goddamn mind at Damian for the first time especially.

A big factor for me when casting this particular project which I assume will have a greater comedic bent than most modern Batman films is the actors ability to be funny in the role while still being a normal, serious Batman. Jake would nail that. I have a gut feeling post-Flash that if Muschietti stays this movie will be super comedic because he clearly has a very specific take on Batman - a bad one, mind you, but a specific one. Even if he leaves, that might also be Gunn's instinct for the character and we'll just get a better take on it.

 

[flickchick85]

Dude you haven’t proven anything, this comes down to opinion, and you don’t like reading mine because it goes against this confusing echo chamber of support for an uninteresting actor. He doesn’t fit my vision of what Batman should look or act like. It’s ok, we should be able to talk about suggestions being bad if we feel that way.

I will leave it at that though. I’ve said my piece. I have my fingers crossed you do not get your wish.

We do both agree that Jake Gyllenhaal would be good. He is by far the best option and I think this is the perfect opportunity for him to finally play Batman. The Batdad element would suit him well.

His selections of roles have been really weird lately and I can see him committing to this version of Batman at this point in his career.

This is Batman:

View attachment 66962

Let’s be clear. The only person here who seems to be having trouble accepting an opinion here is you. You don’t seem to be able to accept that Lee Pace is a popular pick for Batman around these parts, hence the increasingly aggressive attacks on his appearance and escalation to hyperbole evident in your posts. You’d think he killed your dog at this point honestly. Nobody’s gonna be convinced here. I think I speak for just about everyone else in this convo when I say we’re all happy to chalk it up to a hot take you have and move on.