Yeah, and what about the casting of Superman, Wonder Woman and Maxwell Lord? A block of wood, an "actress" with barely any experience and a guy who can't play anything but a high strung nerd?
Also, Hammer might be a good actor but I don't think he was "spot on" for Batman.
Because...
This cast reeked of studio executives trying to cram a bunch of young teeny bopper types into multiple roles to make a buttload of cash.
"Teeny bopper"? Which of the actors were preteens or very young teenagers?
George Miller said that he cast young actors so they could grow into their roles over several films.
They auditioned a lot of up and coming young actors and actresses, but I don't believe they were "teeny boppers". Most of the people up for roles by and large were not household names or especially popular at the time.
Now, not all of them were studio choices, since Miller got Hugh Keays-Byrne was in there and Common is a good actor. But a number of pivotal roles went to people that I simply don't believe could have pulled them off.
At some point in the process you have to give the casting people credit for their own casting. They knew who they were casting and what they could do. It's fine to be skeptical, but to outright say "They couldn't have handled the role they were cast in"...we simply don't know that.
I seriously doubt WB would have trusted a $220-$300 million movie and franchise to people who couldn't effectively portray the parts they're cast in. Nor do I believe George Miller would have done this.
Additionally, "it's George Miller" doesn't convince me when he's the guy who said that Superman is boring and had no problem casting a terrible actor in the role who doesn't even look the part.
George Miller didn't write the script, so why does it matter whether he thinks Superman as a character is boring?
Again, the casting department knows what the actors could do in the roles...we don't.
Besides that, how doesn't Cotrona look the part, exactly? He's chisled and has the jawline. He's not as tall as Superman traditionally is, but the man is built, and sounds a lot like the character as he's generally portrayed if you listen to interviews or performances.
Hell, as bad as Routh was in Superman Returns, he at least resembled Superman to some degree.
DJ Cotrona very much resembles Superman to "some degree".
Everything about this movie--and I remember this distinctly because I followed the news as it was happening back then--just felt like another case of WB trying to slap something together quickly and cash in.
The project was fast tracked, but there would have been a two year period in between the completion of the script and the film's release, which is similar to the script and production timeframe of several superhero films, notably BATMAN BEGINS.
I'm just glad Chris Nolan had enough clout at that point to put the kibosh on the whole thing.
Nolan didn't put the kibosh on it...he was rumored to have expressed concerns about how it intersected with his franchise, but the writer's strike, and more importantly, the tax break situation in Australia put the kibosh on this film. The success of Dark Knight didn't hurt matters, but it was not as simple as Nolan simply putting an end to this project.
