Are you as depressed as me about the casting of the ‘Abercrombie boy’ as the younger version of Batman in the upcoming JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA picture?
I don’t actually hate any of the other casting decisions so far (alth0ugh none would be in my top four choices for their respective parts), but that one just makes me want to puke. Above anything else, you need strong and experienced actors to play the parts of Batman and Superman in a team-up movie like this and when you have a guy like Common as the Green Lantern… he’s just going to look older and more in charge of the situation than Bats.
It’s just not going to work, simply put unless this guy is as freaky to the role as a young Christopher Reeve was to Superman all those years ago.
Let’s forget JLA for the moment shall we and let’s fantasize for a little while about the potential of a ANOTHER Batman franchise that could possibly exist at the other end of the Dark Knight’s spectrum.
I mean why not? Now we have two Batman’s… why not add a third, fourth and frikkin’ fifth? Have we actually reached the point of universes like Earth I and Earth II with the cinematic Batman?
I’ve always had this fantasy, ever since I saw what Joel Schmacher began to do with the Batman franchise… and no matter how unlikely it was, I always held on to it and that was my hope of Tim Burton once again directing Michael Keaton in a movie about an aged Batman character which exists some years after the events of BATMAN RETURNS.
Something possibly along the same lines as the great Frank Miller tale THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS.
Hell, stick Jack Nicholson in their as The Joker if he thinks he can still manage it.
Kevin Smith’s been talking to MTV and maybe he has the same kind of fantasy…
‘Justice League’ feels like it’s an all-star movie to begin with and maybe they’re kind of wise to cast it with unknowns…For me, it’s like, I would definitely cast Michael Keaton as Batman,” he asserted. “I thought Michael Keaton was an awesome Batman. And in world where they don’t want to crossover with what Chris Nolan is doing in ‘Dark Knight,’ I mean, why not cast Michael Keaton?”
It’ll never happen but it’s nice to think about for a while isn’t it?
I would have loved to have seen Burton direct several more Batman movies but alas, it wasn’t to be and yeah.. it’s taken us some years to get to this point but with BATMAN BEGINS behind us and THE DARK KNIGHT looking incredibly awesome… this isn’t a time to be a moaning Batman fan.
Even if Warner Brothers are doing the most they can do to piss us off with their 2009 tentpole.
5 Comments
Matt, I agree whole-heartedly. A Dark Knight Returns movie with Keaton and Nicholson would easily be the most anticipated comic-book adaptation of all time. It’s been talked about off and on again for years though the studios have always been hesistant.
But given the success of Batman Begins and that people in “mainstream” America are becoming familiar with Frank Miller, I think a Keaton/Nicholson headlined DKR’s time has come.
Oh, and the casting of this JLA movie sucks ass. I don’t like ANY of them.
Ever since I first read that Bale and Routh weren’t going to be a part of JLA, I thought it should be Keaton and Welling. It just made the most sense. Why won’t you make sense Warners?
It might be understandable to forgo the obvious Keaton/Welling team up if Warners was instead going with big name hot stars to draw audiences in. If they were talking about, say, Gerard Butler and Brendan Fraser, then I’d feel a brief pang at lost opportunities, but shrug and say, “Oh well, that makes sense”. But Warners is not talking about forgoing Keaton/Welling for star names, but rather for flat nobodies. Why won’t you make sense Warners?
In the other direction, Warners could say, “We went for unknowns who possess deep theater background; worthy award winners, who only lack exposure to blow us away with their powerful acting skills that put Keaton and Welling to shame.” But instead they’re displaced for Abercrombie Boy and Bystander. Why won’t you make sense Warners?
I love Keaton as Batman. I’ve always thought that anyone can play Batman because all that’s required is a big rubber muscle suit and the absence of what I call “George Lucas chin”. The trick is playing Wayne, which I think Keaton did the best out of all the Batmen.
If they are making JLA and TDK in seperate timelines, why not Dark Knight Returns as well? The comics have been doing this for years with different versions of the same characters. They could even dust off Aronofsky’s Taxi Driver-esque Year One pitch.
Why the fuck would Keaton want anything to do with Batman again or the Justice League movie. For one he’s getting a bit old (Has anyone seen him in “The Company”?) and it’s just not his style anyway.(Course’there’s always a big payday!)
Nice to see Keaton recognized as the best Batman.
The best by far.