The Batman Reboot Casting Thread - Part 1

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The Machinist really convinced me that Bale wasn't just a one-hit wonder, and had talent and range.

The film's plot wasn't that good and took some criticism for it. But even the critics who tear apart the plot, say the film is worth watching for Bale's acting:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/machinist/


Rescue Dawn and 3:10 to Yuma are some of my other favorite Bale films as well. I totally understand why there was such a passionate fan campaign for him to be cast as Batman.
 
Yeah, I'm one of those people who demanded Bale be cast as Batman and celebrated when it happened.

Overall I think his performance is decent but not ground-breaking. My biggest complaint is his Batman voice which sounds less like a calm detective and more like Wolverine.

I have more problems with how Batman is depicted but the blame mostly falls on the director's end.
 
I can't blame Bale for the voice either.

Any actor cast as Batman in those films would have had to have done the voice.

That is what Nolan wanted, for the sake of realistically disguising Bruce's voice.

I do appreciate the quiet intensity of it though. It was great in some scenes in "Batman Begins" especially.

I understand the director's logic behind it, but it just wasn't that necessary. He's got a full face mask and the playboy facade, those are good enough disguises for the sake of plausibility.
 
Bale's Batman is a wasted opportunity.

Even if it was for one scene, IMO, we at least got to see the perfect Batman when he broke into Gordon's office and had their very first conversation in BB.
 
I'm all for knocking Nolan down a peg, but don't blame him solely for Bale's batvoice, that was a horrible acting choice by Bale.
 
I'm all for knocking Nolan down a peg, but don't blame him solely for Bale's batvoice, that was a horrible acting choice by Bale.

The gravelly roar in The Dark Knight was all Nolan. But yeah, even still Bale oversold it, I would have preferred a more of a quiet rasp as opposed to the growl every scene. The roar should have only been used in scenes like the "SWEAR TO ME!" and "WHERE ARE THEY?!" scenes, it felt so out of place when trying to talk Two-Face out of killing a child.
 
I blame Christian Bale for the Batvoice, because he's the one doing it. The concept is great, and makes perfect sense, and there have been moments it sounds fantastic. But modulated or not, the inflections he has used in certain scenes have just sounded ridiculous. It's not so much as a question as overselling it all the time as that he never found the right balance, period. There are times when it sounds fine, but its apparent he doesn't quite have a handle on how to use it, at least through THE DARK KNIGHT. I'm hoping he will have more balance to it in TDKR. We'll see.
 
I think the main problem with his bat voice is that he puts too much into it. it's like he's breathing heavily into every word, he just sounds out of breath. and like I said earlier, he puts too much passion into it. batman shouldn't be outwardly passionate or emotional. but again, that goes to the writing and directing. nolan's made some great films that happen to feature batman, not great batman films.
 
Immortals with Tarsem

Whatever Works with Woody Allen

Showtime's critically acclaimed series "The Tudors"

He was also a previous finalist for Superman under another director.

He was still a relative unknown, and WB gave him a huge opportunity. If Jensen at least auditioned for the role, I assure you he'd either win or be a runner up.

Nolan had a big influence in the Man of Steel casting. Do you think Russell Crowe would take his first supporting role in years for someone as mediocre as Zack Snyder?

I'm sure he did, but once he's done with TDKR, he'll be done with Batman. His name as producer will only be there so people don't get too worried and start calling the reboot a flop before it even releases.

I don't agree with that at all.

If you're referring to critics and general audiences, I'd like to see some proof of that from the reviews.

If you're referring to the online fans on SHH and Batmanonfilm, you're definitely wrong there by leaps and bounds. There's a huge reverence and respect for Bale on here. It's going to be amped up like crazy in a couple months. Guaranteed.

Type in Batman parody on Google and see how much hits you get. All making fun of the voice. Obviously some people like him, but there are plenty who don't.

I get what they tried doing with the voice, it was a great idea, but very flawed in execution.

To say Bale is incapable of giving performances with heart would be an erroneous statement, considering his other work.

I didn't say he's never given a performance with heart. The Fighter was one of the best performances I've ever seen. I love everything Bale does, but his Batman doesn't stack up against other characters he's played before.

It won't be hard to top him.

To use a metaphor, in a sphere of acting Bale is a heavyweight champ. Ackles is a mediocre fighter who's never successfully fought in the big leagues and shows no potential of ever entering them.

We're talking about Batman here. And in that sense, Bale is certainly not a heavyweight champ. And like CCon brought up, Jensen was the best thing about Under the Red Hood. Andrea Romano, a veteran voice director whose been in the industry for a very long time, cried during one of his recordings. A "mediocre" actor sure as hell wouldn't be able to do that.

Once Supernatural ends, I wouldn't be surprised if Ackles ends up on another low budget TV series, if anything.

I don't disagree, but I blame his agent. Jensen is too talented to be wasting time making movies like My Bloody Valentine.

When it comes to his suitability for a DC character based of what he's shown in Supernatural (since you wanted me to refer to that as a basis of his talent), if anything... the only characters his acting and everything else seem suited for are Flash and Guy Gardner.

That's the thing about him, I can see Jensen playing a bunch of different comic book characters. Flash, Red Hood, Green Arrow, GL, Eddie Brock, etc. He just needs to be given the opportunity.

Beetlejuice proved he could take direction from Tim Burton and transform into a Burton-esque role.

That means nothing. Just because Johnny played a damn good Sweeney Todd, does that mean he can play Batman? Probably not.
 
Bale honestly doesn't have a good speaking voice, he has a weird accent that sounds American, but dips into British occasionally.

If Keaton, Kilmer and Conroy are anything to go by, they slightly darken their normal voices as Batman. If Bale did it? UGH!!!
 
Also listen to him the BB VG. He sounds slightly different there, he talks at times more normal, but darker, like Keaton,etc. Its worse than his growl voice!
 
I absolutely love Bale, my friends often poke fun at me for how much I like the man, but I won't let my admiration for him change my opinion on his crappy Batman voice.
 
I never thought his Bat voice was that horrible,Although I much prefer his BB voice!!(toned down&bit different than TDK)
 
I like Jensen Ackles, but I just can't see him as Batman. Might just be a fault on my part, but I think he's more suited to a snarkier role. Pity he weren't cast as Hal rather than Ryan Reynolds. . .
 
He was still a relative unknown, and WB gave him a huge opportunity. If Jensen at least auditioned for the role, I assure you he'd either win or be a runner up.

I'm sure he did, but once he's done with TDKR, he'll be done with Batman. His name as producer will only be there so people don't get too worried and start calling the reboot a flop before it even releases.

Type in Batman parody on Google and see how much hits you get. All making fun of the voice. Obviously some people like him, but there are plenty who don't.

I get what they tried doing with the voice, it was a great idea, but very flawed in execution.

I didn't say he's never given a performance with heart. The Fighter was one of the best performances I've ever seen. I love everything Bale does, but his Batman doesn't stack up against other characters he's played before.

It won't be hard to top him.

We're talking about Batman here. And in that sense, Bale is certainly not a heavyweight champ. And like CCon brought up, Jensen was the best thing about Under the Red Hood. Andrea Romano, a veteran voice director whose been in the industry for a very long time, cried during one of his recordings. A "mediocre" actor sure as hell wouldn't be able to do that.

I don't disagree, but I blame his agent. Jensen is too talented to be wasting time making movies like My Bloody Valentine.


That's the thing about him, I can see Jensen playing a bunch of different comic book characters. Flash, Red Hood, Green Arrow, GL, Eddie Brock, etc. He just needs to be given the opportunity.

That means nothing. Just because Johnny played a damn good Sweeney Todd, does that mean he can play Batman? Probably not.


Depp could have pulled Batman off in a Keaton-style portrayal. Depp lacks the physicality but he's a great character actor who really transforms into his roles.


Romano's comments don't carry much weight. Voice acting is a completely different medium. Also, based on his voice there's probably a reason he was cast as Jason Todd, instead of Batman in Batman Year One, for example.

I don't agree that Nolan is a producer in name only. Robinov's comments imply that Nolan and Thomas will have creative influence in how WB will 'reimagine' Batman. Clearly WB wants to play it safe and rely on him for quality control.


There are plenty of parodies about the Joker online too. Plenty. It doesn't mean that performance was badly received.
 
I like Jensen Ackles, but I just can't see him as Batman. Might just be a fault on my part, but I think he's more suited to a snarkier role. Pity he weren't cast as Hal rather than Ryan Reynolds. . .

he would have been really good in that. too bad studios aren't as inspired to cast some like him as opposed to just farting out reynolds for everything.
 
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Depp could have pulled Batman off in a Keaton-style portrayal. Depp lacks the physicality but he's a great character actor who really transforms into his roles.

Depp's a great actor, one of the best, but I disagree. He'd make a great Joker or Riddler, tho.

Romano's comments don't carry much weight. Voice acting is a completely different medium. Also, based on his voice there's probably a reason he was cast as Jason Todd, instead of Batman in Batman Year One, for example.

Acting is acting. No "crappy" actor can pull that kind of reaction from a veteran voice director.

I don't agree that Nolan is a producer in name only. Robinov's comments imply that Nolan and Thomas will have creative influence in how WB will 'reimagine' Batman. Clearly WB wants to play it safe and rely on him for quality control.

Obviously they want to keep Nolan, but I don't think he has much intrest in sticking around to make Batman movies the rest of his career.

Eventually his role as producer will turn into what Burton did on BF. Name only.

There are plenty of parodies about the Joker online too. Plenty. It doesn't mean that performance was badly received.

Fair enough, but there are substantially more Bale Batman parodies. The majority of Joker-related videos I see on YT are impersonations, they don't outright mock the character's voice.

Bottom line (because this is going to go on forever and the forum being unstable is getting annoying), this is just fan casting. I'd love to see Jensen audition for the role based off what I've seen from him. But I'd be happy just to see him in a superhero movie because I believe he's wasting his talent at CW.
 
Nolan won't be a 'name only' producer. He had a lot to do with MOS, he was really into it.

And you make it sound as though he doesn't care about Batman at all. He enjoyed what he did and was really into it as well, he gave his time and some of his best work specially for those movies. Do you really think he wont have some attachment to DC stuff? Especially after BB, TDK, TDKR and MOS? He will want to help and offer his own ideas in the future, no doubt.
 
Well he could have at least told Goyer he didn't give a damn about Superman :hehe:
 
Nolan won't be a 'name only' producer. He had a lot to do with MOS, he was really into it.

And you make it sound as though he doesn't care about Batman at all. He enjoyed what he did and was really into it as well, he gave his time and some of his best work specially for those movies. Do you really think he wont have some attachment to DC stuff? Especially after BB, TDK, TDKR and MOS? He will want to help and offer his own ideas in the future, no doubt.

I'm sure he had a blast with Batman while he was directing, but I can't see him doing his own thing while being super enthused about someone else's Batman films. Like I said, maybe he'll be into it in the beginning, but he'll lose intrest and it'll turn into a "name only" thing.

And I didn't get the feeling he was "really into MOS", tbh. Just seemed like "Yeah, I'm producing. I trust Zack, Henry will be great" to me.
 
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