The Batman Reboot Casting Thread - Part 1

[Eddie Dean]

He's too good an actor for such a stupid character.

 

[OptimusPrime114]

He's too good an actor for such a stupid character.

You don't like Hush?

 

[Majik1387]

No one actually likes Hush.

 

[OptimusPrime114]

Really? Why?

 

[Majik1387]

Because he's a lesser mixture of Black Mask and Red Hood(Jason Todd)

 

[OptimusPrime114]

I see.

 

[flickchick85]

I remember you were for him in the Casting Superman thread; wanna know how sadomasochistic I am? I reread that thread fully the other day.

My God. Have you considered therapy?

But Yeah, I'd like him as Hawkman as well. I think there's only ya few roles I wouldn't want him in; Batman is not one of them.

It's funny, because just in the very short time we've been talking about it, I'm already warming up to the idea. I've just imagined him for a specific type of role for so long (the more "gentle giant" types of heroes), and imagined a specific type of actor for Bruce Wayne for so long as well, that the suggestion of him for Bruce elicited a kinda knee-jerk "all wrong!" feeling from me. But the more I ponder it, the more I could see him as a very different take on Batman than Bale had.

And random note: A while back when the Huffington Post did that "who should play Batman next?" article (with Fassbender, Manganiello, Hammer, Edgerton, etc) I e-mailed it to my mom just to see who she'd pick, as she was only vaguely familiar with most of the actors on it and a casual fan of all these superhero movies. So she's my go-to "general audience" person. She e-mailed be back saying, "Obviously Manganiello!" She's never even seen the guy act for 5 seconds before, so I guess she just thought he looked like Batman. I'm pretty sure my response was "LOL MOM." I'll never hear the end of it if he were actually cast.

 

[Minus Shock]

I have always loved Timothy Olyphant for Joker. IF you see him in villainous roles like Scream 2, I really think he could do the character justice. May not have a great laugh, but then again I wouldn't have pegged Ledger to either. Could be different and interesting.

 

[Majik1387]

Haha, yeah, my dad's first time watching Batman Begins and his first response to seeing Bale was asking why did they get such a feminine guy for Batman.

 

[Rockstar]

Aronofsky needs to stay the hell away from Batman.

Aronofsky's approach to Batman wasn't that radical. It was true to the core characterization of Batman.

http://io9.com/5735881/darren-arono...-coming-to-comics-++-and-then-possibly-movies

The only changes were replacing Alfred with Al the mechanic, having Bruce live among the criminal element and downtrodden before becoming a crime fighter, and having Bruce first develop a proto-superhero suit using hockey gear.

It all still leads to Batman.

I'm actually curious to get a copy of this:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/markhug...onofskys-batman-film-and-more-in-newest-book/

 

[Majik1387]

Aronofsky's approach to Batman wasn't that radical. It was true to the core characterization of Batman.

http://io9.com/5735881/darren-arono...-coming-to-comics-++-and-then-possibly-movies

The only changes were replacing Alfred with Al the mechanic, having Bruce live among the criminal element and downtrodden before becoming a crime fighter, and having Bruce first develop a proto-superhero suit using hockey gear.

It all still leads to Batman.

I'm actually curious to get a copy of this:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/markhug...onofskys-batman-film-and-more-in-newest-book/

The fact that any of that doesn't sound like an issue to you saddens me.

EDIT: Especially with all this as well
Among other things, Bruce flees after his parents are murdered, and goes to live above a car garage with Big Al, and his son Little Al. Big Al eventually dies, and Little Al becomes Bruce's mentor and the "Alfred" figure. Bruce turns a Lincoln Continental into his Batmobile, but he doesn't really set out to be a bat — he disguises himself first with a scar, then with a hockey mask and cape. He is hitting criminals with his father's old signet ring, leaving the initials "TW" on their faces — but everybody thinks this looks like a bat-shape, and they start calling him the Batman. So he finally decides to go with it and dress like a bat. We meet Harvey Dent and Selina Kyle before they become Two-Face and Catwoman, and also glimpse the Joker. Despite these differences, some scenes and strands are lifted directly from Miller's graphic novel.

 

[flickchick85]

Haha, yeah, my dad's first time watching Batman Begins and his first response to seeing Bale was asking why did they get such a feminine guy for Batman.

 

[OptimusPrime114]

I like to focus on who should be the next Batman, but also as to who will be in the supporting cast as well.

What do you think of Jessica Chastain as Vicki Vale?

 

[Rockstar]

The fact that any of that doesn't sound like an issue to you saddens me.

It isn't an issue.


Bruce's characterization is still intact. His journey is still intact. From a storytelling point of view, they really don't change much.

It's more or less asthetics.

Interestingly, some form of a protosuit, and Bruce living among the downtrodden and criminals (without his fortunes for years) made it into Batman Begins.

I like Alfred of course, but Al could have easily served the same purpose as Alfred without losing anything about Bruce's character development.


This is why I take Aronofsky's suggestions for Bale and Bentley as Bruce Wayne seriously... at the end of the day, the actor is still playing all the correct facets of Batman's character.

 

[Majik1387]

Except for ignoring how his surroundings are. It's not just about the character's interior dilemma; that's why Aronofsky should stay the hell away, because his changes are drastic, and the parts that aren't drastic changes are lifted from the graphic novel and Nolan did it already.

Batman is a character that doesn't need his origin to be told ever again.

 

[shauner111]

Aronofsky was obviously asked at the time to do something opposite of Batman and Robin, plus he was doing the origin story. So he and Frank miller took it a little too far. Nolans pitch vs Aronofskys script wasnt as extreme and more faithful to the comics so they went with him.

This is a whole different situation. 10 years later, they know what they want, it wont be an origin, Nolans producing and Aronofsky knows they wont want anything too extreme. So if they ask him now and he says yes, it could be creative and not too extreme at the same time. He's a good director so i dont know how u can judge him based on a script that was written 10 years ago that was written specifically to be an far-out origin on Batman.

 

[Rockstar]

No one is suggesting Aronofsky to do Batman:Year One again. His directorial involvement does not mean Year One.

You're right that Nolan already nailed the origins and there's no point trying to go over that.

The liberties in his treatment don't seem drastically more divergent than those taken by Burton's take on the character.

For the upcoming reboot, Nolan's involvement will ensure quality in the approach. It be won't Aronofsky's vision alone if he is directing.



This is also the post-TDK era. The treatment of how directors and studios handle these properties are changing, thanks to Nolan.

Aronofsky's treatment for Batman was very reflective of the time it was written in, and where Batman was in development at that point.

 

[Majik1387]

This is a whole different situation. 10 years later, they know what they want, it wont be an origin, Nolans producing and Aronofsky knows they wont want anything too extreme. So if they ask him now and he says yes, it could be creative and not too extreme at the same time. He's a good director so i dont know how u can judge him based on a script that was written 10 years ago that was written specifically to be an far-out origin on Batman.

I'm judging him based on his filmography as well; some good, some not so good, some overrated, all being overly about the characters with little regard to their surroundings.

The liberties in his treatment don't seem drastically more divergent than those taken by Burton's take on the character.

Bull.

 

[Rockstar]

The Joker kills Bruce's parents.

Bruce has Al the mechanic instead of Alfred.


Big deal. Neither drastically alters Batman's character.


I like liberties, as long as theyre executed well and enhance the story.

 

[shauner111]

I'm judging him based on his filmography as well; some good, some not so good, some overrated, all being overly about the characters with little regard to their surroundings.

That's your opinion, not a fact. I dont love every movie he's done either. If he can take the concept of ballet and do what he did with that, and put focus on Natalie Portmans character at the center of it, with a smaller budget and be effective. That could be a hint of the focus he'll put on Bruce Wayne while not having to spend so much money. He can do mind**** stories AND they'll be watching his new movie Noah pretty closely. Im sure that's a big budget with a huge actor, so if he can handle that then it's that kind of diversity the reboot needs. A director who can adapt to different stories. He might not even write the damn thing this time.

He's not even my personal number 1 choice but dont write him off.

And what Burton did in say..Batman Returns to the characters of Batman, Penguin and Catwoman was just as screwed up as Aronofskys take on Bruce, Al, etc. One leans towards fantasy, the other much grittier. But they both got it completely wrong. I enjoyed things about Returns but i barely look at it as a Batman movie. Im sure i would have looked at Year One the same way

 

[flickchick85]

I was REALLY excited about the prospect of an Aronofsky Wolverine movie...but for some reason the idea of him doing a Batman film leaves me cold. Maybe it's because I'm less protective of Wolverine as a character and feel like his cinematic incarnation is running on fumes, so I'm therefore more open to a radical interpretation. But I don't think radical changes are needed for Batman to make the franchise interesting. On the contrary: I think Nolan has left enough aspects of Batman completely untapped that there's a still a drastically different - but equally awesome - Batman franchise to be made that remains 100% faithful to the source material.

 

[Jake Cassidy]

Has this been posted?

http://****************.com/movies/joe-manganiello-play-batman-dark-knight-rises/

I wouldn't mind Joe Manganiello as Batman, but he'd be great as Hawkman.

 

[Project862006]

fincher would be a way better choice than darren

darren is like tarantino

he would change an existing character to appease his vision

 

[Rowsdower!]

Hey, if Total Recall is a hit, what about Colin Farrell? I remember he was rumored for the role way back when the Batman vs. Superman movie was in pre-production. It turned out to be totally false, but some fans were open to the idea back then. There are probably better choices, but I've always felt Farrell was underrated.

 

[terry78]

Ehhhh.....