Brave and the Bold Casting Thread

[Deck Rickard]

That's part of the fun, imo. I really want to go back to taking huge risks with major casting. A big thing for me is I try to, for the most part, ignore natural "vibes" actors have as a major factor - I feel like we're in an era of super traditional casting that sometimes forgets that most of these characters could probably be played by any skilled actor with transformative ability.

Batman's a much less clear fit for him than Bond though. I don't know exactly how he'd click as Batman but I can instantly see him as Bond.

Yeah that is true and I do love it when an actor surprises you. For example, I’m really glad we got Pattinson as Batman but after seeing Hoult as Luthor, it makes me think he really could have nailed Batman too. I need a QUC so I can visit every universe where other people were cast in all these roles lol.

But yeah, it is fun to speculate and visualize, especially when it’s really hard to see an actor as a particular character. To be fair to O’Connor, one only seen him in Challengers and while he was definitely the standout in that movie it’s just hard to picture him as Batman.

 

[The Lazarus Pit]

Josh OConnor as Batman is an awful idea.

I’ve come around to Sklenar if they have to go with someone around his age.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

I just don't see anything in Sklenar. For Batman or any role really. He's so unbelievably boring. Even down to his voice, just an utterly boring man. Every time someone posts a clip from that horrible Taylor Sheridan show to glaze his acting its just incomprehensible to me that anyone thinks a beady eyed goon muttering in a grumbly dumb guy voice is some brilliant acting showcase.

 

[donuts]

I feel like Sklenar would be a terribly boring choice as Batman. I don't find him to be particularly interesting or "electric" as an actor.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

I feel like Sklenar would be a terribly boring choice as Batman. I don't find him to be particularly interesting or "electric" as an actor.

He'd also pair really badly with Corenswet, imo. There's nothing striking or fun or funny about the idea of them on screen together. If you want just a good, classic, affordable Batman then Oliver Jackson-Cohen is right there and an immeasurably superior actor.

It'll totally be Sklenar or a very similar actor though. Absolutely what I expect.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Oliver Jackson Cohen is definitely one of my top choices for the role. I really liked him in Hill House, Bly Manor and Wilderness. The latter really showed that he can do the rich playboy thing very well. You don’t see much of him in The Invisible Man but when you do, he’s genuinely scary. He’d make a great Batman.

Now if only there was some way I could see that Jackdaw movie he did with Jenna Coleman but it seems like it’s impossible to find in the States.

 

[BobJM]

 

[AndrewGilkison]

The Joker

 

[Sawyer]

Reeves-verse Scarecrow IMO

 

[Lily Adler]

Reeves-verse Scarecrow IMO

His version of the Scarecrow horse scene in Begins.

 

[BobJM]

The Joker

Reeves-verse Scarecrow IMO

 

[Sawyer]

If that Oscar win didn’t sour damn near everyone on Rami Malek, I might agree.

 

[donuts]

If that Oscar win didn’t sour damn near everyone on Rami Malek, I might agree.

Who gives a damn? A good actor is a good actor.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Yeah I still like Rami Malek. I really liked him in that movie, even if the movie itself wasn’t very good (but that’s what you get when you hire Bryan “Sorry I’m just going to ditch the movie halfway through production so I can go be a sexpest” Singer).

 

[TMP98]

Is Elordi too young for this? Some incredible work in Frankenstein, and he’s got the brooding down perfectly

 

[The Lazarus Pit]

I wouldn’t be mad if any of these guys got it:

Oliver Jackson Cohen - great cheaper option, but lacks star power. Kind of a boring choice but he’d do well

Jake Gyllenhaal - the best option right now IMO. Checks all the boxes

Josh Brolin - slightly older but he just played a father of a young child in Weapons. I don’t really think his age is a big problem

Adam Driver - a surprisingly good option. He doesn’t scream Batman from a visual standpoint but he would nail it

Jacob Elordi - just a bit too young but I want him to play Batman at some point. If Reeves were casting The Batman now, he’d be my top pick. Priscilla is the better Elvis movie which brings me to…

Austin Butler - A Kilmer-esque Batman. This just makes sense. I’m not convinced he’d be a great Batman but I know he’d at least be good.

Ryan Gosling - not happening. And he really only works for a very specific type of Batman. But I’ve loved the idea since Drive. Still do.

Brandon Sklenar - I think he would be very serviceable - but more like a Kilmer where he doesn’t rank with the likes of Keaton or Bale. I think we’ve seen what he would do with the character in 1923. There are way worse options I’ve seen though.

Jon Hamm - slightly too old but man, that face would look so good in the cowl. Still wish he and Willem Dafoe would’ve been our DCEU Batman and Joker.

Keanu Reeves - an insane idea. He’s too old. But something about it would be so exciting.

Anson Mount - Had beef with Gunn, but he would be soooo good for a cheaper option. I like him better for it than his Star Trek costar Ethan Peck.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

Elordi and Butler would be the obvious Pattinson successors under normal circumstances. They're not Gunn's type of actor at all even if he was casting a young Batman I suspect, but I feel like at least one of those two is borderline destined to be Batman someday.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I wouldn’t be mad if any of these guys got it:

Oliver Jackson Cohen - great cheaper option, but lacks star power. Kind of a boring choice but he’d do well

Jake Gyllenhaal - the best option right now IMO. Checks all the boxes

Josh Brolin - slightly older but he just played a father of a young child in Weapons. I don’t really think his age is a big problem

Adam Driver - a surprisingly good option. He doesn’t scream Batman from a visual standpoint but he would nail it

Jacob Elordi - just a bit too young but I want him to play Batman at some point. If Reeves were casting The Batman now, he’d be my top pick. Priscilla is the better Elvis movie which brings me to…

Austin Butler - A Kilmer-esque Batman. This just makes sense. I’m not convinced he’d be a great Batman but I know he’d at least be good.

Ryan Gosling - not happening. And he really only works for a very specific type of Batman. But I’ve loved the idea since Drive. Still do.

Brandon Sklenar - I think he would be very serviceable - but more like a Kilmer where he doesn’t rank with the likes of Keaton or Bale. I think we’ve seen what he would do with the character in 1923. There are way worse options I’ve seen though.

Jon Hamm - slightly too old but man, that face would look so good in the cowl. Still wish he and Willem Dafoe would’ve been our DCEU Batman and Joker.

Keanu Reeves - an insane idea. He’s too old. But something about it would be so exciting.

Anson Mount - Had beef with Gunn, but he would be soooo good for a cheaper option. I like him better for it than his Star Trek costar Ethan Peck.

This is extremely rude to Val.

 

[The Lazarus Pit]

I feel like it’s going to be Austin Butler as Batman and Bill Skarsgard as Joker

 

[AndyTrevino]

Bill Skarsgard as The Joker would've excited me so much more if he wasn't already Pennywise and/or doomed to be directed by Muschietti.

 

[donuts]

Y'all being way too negative about Muschietti

 

[SwordOfMorning]

I feel like it’s going to be Austin Butler as Batman and Bill Skarsgard as Joker

I just don't think they're gonna want a big star. Casting a big hot rising star as Batman is so, so out of their wheelhouse thus far. Butler's expensive and gonna get way more expensive. There's no way its entirely coincidental that Gunn has completely avoided big names so far.

That being said: with Gunn implying the concept has changed radically maybe it will be a younger actor now. We have less to go off of than we used to.

Y'all being way too negative about Muschietti

Idk. Mama is okay and It is okay because it is coasting off some really excellent work Fukunaga had already done on the project, but It: Chapter Two is a nightmare and The Flash is an absolute disaster. He's not that much worse than most directors who get higher to do these movies, but we should have hire standards for Batman after Burton, Nolan and Reeves - Or Schumacher even, to be fair, who was a substantially better director than Muschietti.

It's really probably not gonna be him though. The conspiracy theory that he was a fake hire drives me nuts, everything about him screams Gunn-friendly, etc. but unless Welcome to Derry's success changes the equation its a little hard to picture.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

The ideals, most of whom I don't think would actually be up for it, in no real order:

Jake Gyllenhaal
Cosmo Jarvis
Austin Butler
Jacob Elordi
Lee Pace
Oliver Jackson Cohen
Bill Skarsgard

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Y'all being way too negative about Muschietti

 

[SwordOfMorning]

Steven Yeun also has the exact right brooding intensity (see: Burning) for Batman but even a DCU that wasn't obviously pointedly not doing any racebending would never have the balls to be open to a Batman who wasn't white.