The Batman Reboot Casting Thread - Part 7

[Chip Chipperson]

Only if Armie Hammer is Batman.

Call Me By Your Alter Ego

 

[David H.]

Robin’s gonna put on Batman’s cowl...

 

[Rorschach2012]

Batman - Jake Gyllenhaal
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Alfred Pennyworth - Colin Firth
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Commissioner Gordon - Denzel Washington
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The Joker - Joaquin Phoenix
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Catwoman - Ruth Negga
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The Penguin - Steve Carrell
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The Riddler - Paul Dano
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Two-Face - Mahershala Ali
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Poison Ivy - Evan Rachel Wood
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Mister Freeze - Giancarlo Esposito
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[Rorschach2012]

Ra's Al Ghul - Antonio Banderas

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Talia Al Ghul - Olga Kurylenko

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Bane - Edgar Ramirez

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Hugo Strange - Hugh Jackman
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Clayface - Vince Vaughn

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Scarecrow - Jackie Earle Haley
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Ventriloquist - John Lithgow
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Man-Bat - Michael C. Hall

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Mister Zsasz - Ben Foster

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Hush - Bradley Cooper

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[Aximili86]

Lithgow as Ventriloquist is awesome thinking! He's probably too tall, but that'd be a totally-nothing nitpick, not like it matters. But he'd rock that big-time.

Banderas as Ras? That's...really interesting! Don't know if I love it or hate it, but that' pretty inspired & cool.

 

[DeadlyWest]

Not a big fan of Jackman as Strange, personally. I'd give him the chance if he got the part, but he's not my first pick. I honestly think that Mads Mikkelsen would be a much better pick. Him as Hannibal shows he can very easily play a more sophisticated psychopath.

 

[Aximili86]

B.D. Wong on Gotham is frickin' awesome as Strange.

Full-on George Takei voice and everything. I'd rather they lean a little more that way with Strange than a "Jackman because he was bald once".

 

[DeadlyWest]

B.D. Wong on Gotham is frickin' awesome as Strange.

Full-on George Takei voice and everything. I'd rather they lean a little more that way with Strange than a "Jackman because he was bald once".

Agreed. Criticise Gotham all you want, you cannot deny that their casting choices have been on point since the beginning.

Like, legit, Sean Pertwee is easily my favourite Alfred so far.

 

[David H.]

I’d switch Giancarlo to Strange.

 

[DeadlyWest]

I’d switch Giancarlo to Strange.

Holy crap, that would actually be brilliant. Great shout!

 

[DeadlyWest]

Now that I think about it, I actually think I'd swap Collin Firth to Freeze. I feel he could do the almost...cold empathy to Freeze pretty well.

 

[Rorschach2012]

Agreed. Criticise Gotham all you want, you cannot deny that their casting choices have been on point since the beginning.

Like, legit, Sean Pertwee is easily my favourite Alfred so far.

Pertwee is definitely my favorite so far too.

Now that I think about it, I actually think I'd swap Collin Ferrell to Freeze. I feel he could do the almost...cold empathy to Freeze pretty well.

Ever since that rumor came out, I've been stuck on Ferrell as Constantine. It's a perfect pairing.

I really like Viggo Mortensen and Daniel Craig as Mister Freeze as well. I've always liked the idea that they could've been good guys if things had gone differently. And my favorite versions of the character portray him sympathetically, even helping Batman from time to time.

 

[DeadlyWest]

Ever since that rumor came out, I've been stuck on Ferrell as Constantine. It's a perfect pairing.

I really like Viggo Mortensen and Daniel Craig as Mister Freeze as well. I've always liked the idea that they could've been good guys if things had gone differently. And my favorite versions of the character portray him sympathetically, even helping Batman from time to time.

It just occurred to me I got that wrong. Didn't mean Farrell, meant Colin Firth. My bad XD

I'd be all for Farrell as Constantine, yeah.

Viggo I'd be more interested in seeing as Ra's personally. Craig I'd be a tad bit more hesitant about, as the only time I've really seen him show subtle tragedy which is needed for Freeze is Vesper's death in Casino Royale. But if he could take that and effectively amplify it, I'd be all for him as Freeze.

 

[KevTravels]

I want Jake Gyllenhaal as Batman/Bruce Wayne.

Let's get it done WB

 

[Aximili86]

Yeah, Pertwee's a boss as Alfred. Really like Irons too, even though some of the sheen comes off him given which movies he's in.

For whatever reason I just never really dug Caine. And I really like Caine as an actor. It's a cool opposite-of-the-Burton-verse take, but you really get this cool middle-ground take with Irons & Pertwee.

Donal's pretty awesome as Bullock too, even if he is a little too "good" these days.

 

[Rorschach2012]

Yeah, Pertwee's a boss as Alfred. Really like Irons too, even though some of the sheen comes off him given which movies he's in.

For whatever reason I just never really dug Caine. And I really like Caine as an actor. It's a cool opposite-of-the-Burton-verse take, but you really get this cool middle-ground take with Irons & Pertwee.

Donal's pretty awesome as Bullock too, even if he is a little too "good" these days.

I have enjoyed JK and Irons in everything else I've seen them in, but neither have worked for me in the DCEU. I would welcome recasts of both if we're getting a new Batman.

Michael Caine was fantastic for that portrayal of Alfred. You couldn't ask for a better performance. But I prefer a more hands-on Alfred. Irons was more in that direction but Pertwee just nails that balance between gruffness and tenderness.

With JK, it feels too similar to JJJ I think. That was the comic book role he was born to play.

I've loved Donal as Bullock too. The casting for that show has really surprised me.

 

[DeadlyWest]

I have enjoyed JK and Irons in everything else I've seen them in, but neither have worked for me in the DCEU. I would welcome recasts of both if we're getting a new Batman.

Michael Caine was fantastic for that portrayal of Alfred. You couldn't ask for a better performance. But I prefer a more hands-on Alfred. Irons was more in that direction but Pertwee just nails that balance between gruffness and tenderness.

With JK, it feels too similar to JJJ I think. That was the comic book role he was born to play.

I've loved Donal as Bullock too. The casting for that show has really surprised me.

Agreed. Honestly, there isn't really any casting choices in Gotham that I personally disagreed with. Only one that comes close is probably Gordon in S1 but he improved and Freeze, but that was more just the writers...screwing up the glory that is Mr. Freeze's storyline.

I personally was sold on Pertwee the second that he literally fought assassins like a psuedo Batman himself to protect Bruce and Selina.

Up until that point, I got the impression he was more going to be a Caine like Alfred, which would've been fine, just not ideal.

Then, the badass that he is, he literally socks a female assassin in the mouth.

Legit, it was such an "OH ****!" moment, I loved it.

 

[Aximili86]

The Gotham Cobblepot stuff really threw me at first with how different it was, but over the seasons I've really come to love it. Not what I'd want in a movie I think, but for that show it totally works on its own level. Riddler's pretty sweet too, especially this year now that he's all-in, costume and all.

The sensei/teacher guy this season (old guy, head of the Court) was really cool too, forget the actor's name, but seen him in a bunch of stuff.

Not all caught up on it yet, the introduction of Ras is the last ep I saw, but already he's seeming better than the Arrow take though. Really glad they didn't try to tie Gotham to that Arrowverse in later seasons, just keep it its own thing.

 

[DeadlyWest]

The Gotham Cobblepot stuff really threw me at first with how different it was, but over the seasons I've really come to love it. Not what I'd want in a movie I think, but for that show it totally works on its own level. Riddler's pretty sweet too, especially this year now that he's all-in, costume and all.

The sensei/teacher guy this season (old guy, head of the Court) was really cool too, forget the actor's name, but seen him in a bunch of stuff.

Not all caught up on it yet, the introduction of Ras is the last ep I saw, but already he's seeming better than the Arrow take though. Really glad they didn't try to tie Gotham to that Arrowverse in later seasons, just keep it its own thing.

Also agreed on Ra's. But don't be so sure. If that does happen and the CW is connected to Gotham, they could easily just make the argument that Ra's is a title and after Gotham Ra's died, someone else took up the mantle. I hope they don't, because I'd much rather see Gotham lead into a Batman show done by HBO that's unconnected to the CW, but it wouldn't surprise me if that's the route they go.

 

[Aximili86]

Ehh. I have no interest in seeing this version of an adult Batman at this point, like 80% of his villains have already shown up, been around since he was a kid. That's fine for Penguin, Maroni, Falcone etc, I just can't get on board with most of the others pre-dating Bats by that much.

Just keep it an elseworlds fun "what if?" type of thing.

 

[DeadlyWest]

Ehh. I have no interest in seeing this version of an adult Batman at this point, like 80% of his villains have already shown up, been around since he was a kid. That's fine for Penguin, Maroni, Falcone etc, I just can't get on board with most of the others pre-dating Bats by that much.

Just keep it an elseworlds fun "what if?" type of thing.

I get that. I personally see Gotham as Batman's version of Smallville. An elseworld story where the majority of villains predates Batman. Also, as a number of people involved with Gotham have said, Batman will basically come into play when Gotham becomes so chaotic that not even Gordon the Super Cop (Even I'll admit, that really annoys me) can stop them.

Either way, it's still an interesting concept. Have all the villains predate Batman and then introduce Batman. How does what is effectively Batman in Year One stop all of his Rogues that Batman usually fights more and more as more years get added to his war on crime?

 

[Aximili86]

I just can't get on board with, like, Black Mask and "Joker" and all of the other freaks being that much older than him. And starting his journey to becoming Bats at 12/13 or whatever, in an actual proactive sense.

I guess Fries is fine, generally portrayed as an older dude. Penguin too, I guess Riddler. A lot of the others though, ehh. Kinda hate the "childhood friends with Selina" thing too in a broader Batman context, even though I sort of love it for the sake of the show.

Still love the show for the most part though, really don't understand all the hate.

 

[Herofan]

I always liked the idea of Joaquin Phoenix as Two-Face and I think he could probably still play him well.

Agreed on Colin Firth as Mr. Freeze (seems kind of basically sympathetic and yet can also play well antagonistic) and Evan Rachel Wood as Poison Ivy.

 

[DeadlyWest]

In all honesty, if casting him as Batman doesn't happen? I'd like to see Jon Hamm as Harvey, actually. Hell, if it's the other way around and Hamm gets the role of Batman (please for the love of Satan), Gyllenhaal would also make a good Harvey. There was a rumour that he'd been cast in the role for TDK for crying out loud.

 

[Aximili86]

Yeah, I'd take Hamm as Dent anyday, over Bruce.