After Batgirl directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah recently teased the inclusion of Batman in their upcoming HBO Max film in a Dutch interview, a new bit of casting news has been announce today.
Deadline reports that actor Jacob Scipio, likely best known as the villain of Bad Boys For Life has nabbed an unknown part in the DC Comics project. Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah directed the Bad Boys sequel before getting involved with Marvel’s Ms. Marvel series at Disney+.
Scipio joins Leslie Grace (In The Heights), who plays the titular Batgirl and J.K. Simmons reprises the Justice League role of Barbara Gordon’s father, Jim Gordon. This element would suggest that Batgirl takes place directly within the DCEU, given Simmons’ return. However, if they end up using Michael Keaton’s Batman as her mentor, that could suggest that the cinematic universe is turning more into a hodgepodge of connective tissue.
Christina Hodson, who recently wrote The Flash movie (just wrapped filming over the weekend) is behind the pic’s script.
Sadly, Batgirl is firmly at HBO Max and likely won’t be getting a theatrical release just like their Latinx superhero film Blue Beetle. The optics aren’t great that DC Films/WarnerMedia is dumping diverse superhero projects on a streaming service instead of giving them a traditional theatrical run.
A release date hasn’t been named but we’ll likely get a good look at the project in 2022.
Dune director Denis Villeneuve made his thoughts public on both superhero films and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, however, doesn’t seem to dislike everything about the genre and has an affection for one particular superhero.
During a recent interview with the Happy Sad Confused Podcast, the French-Canadian filmmaker revealed that Batman is the only comic book character he could “relate to” suggesting he’d be open to tackling him in the future.
“Batman would be probably the only character that I could relate to. From what I read, like ‘Arkham Asylum,’ a book like that, I got in contact with when I was an adult. It’s for me, the character that I could connect to.”
Villeneuve is already in the scripting phase of Dune: Part Two and has mentioned a potential fall 2022 production start, assumed to take place in Budapest again. He’s started talking up his desire for a third Dune movie to round-out a trilogy, adapting the second book, Dune Messiah.
After Villeneuve’s public comments on WarnerMedia/Warner Bros. Pictures it’s unclear if Batman will ever land on his lap with Matt Reeves currently tackling a trilogy of films starring Robert Pattinson. Interestingly enough, Ben Affleck’s solo Batman film would have focused on Arkham Asylum.
Dune will hit theaters on October 22.
DUNE – A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.
The film stars Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet (“Call Me by Your Name,” “Little Women”), Rebecca Ferguson (“Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep,” “Mission: Impossible – Fallout”), Oscar Isaac (the “Star Wars” franchise) Oscar nominee Josh Brolin (“Milk,” “Avengers: Infinity War”), Stellan Skarsgård (HBO’s “Chernobyl,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron”), Dave Bautista (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, “Avengers: Endgame”), Stephen McKinley Henderson (“Fences,” “Lady Bird”), Zendaya (“Spider-Man: Homecoming,” HBO’s “Euphoria”), Chang Chen (“Mr. Long,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”), David Dastmalchian (“Blade Runner 2049,” “The Dark Knight”), Sharon Duncan-Brewster (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” Netflix’s “Sex Education”), with Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling (“45 Years,” “Assassin’s Creed”), with Jason Momoa (“Aquaman,” HBO’s “Game of Thrones”), and Oscar winner Javier Bardem (“No Country for Old Men,” “Skyfall”).
The unmade Batman film starring, co-written, and directed by Ben Affleck sounded sort of interesting. There had been previous talk that Arkham Asylum would have been a featured location with Joe Manganiello’s Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke being set up as the film’s big bad.
Manganiello dished a few more details to Comic Book’s podcast Phase Zero (spotted by The Playlist), where he name dropped Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl needing to get involved as Batman couldn’t handle Deathstroke on his own. Adding that Wilson would be more of a horror character citing Steven Spielberg’s shark movie Jaws.
MANGANIELLO: “There was like a big huge showdown, I think between Batgirl…Batgirl jumps in to try and help Bruce because Deathstroke is so fast. He can anticipate Bruce’s movements. That leads to this big climactic battle through the streets of Gotham in the end. It’s like a real-life psychological thriller with Deathstroke. He was like a horror movie, like a shark, kind of like Jaws.”
We’ll likely never see this ever fully realized but it’s certainly interesting tidbits of information none-the-less. Affleck is said to be appearing one more time as Batman in The Flash movie and might be his last time in the role.
Matt Reeves is busy with his own Batman trilogy starring Robert Pattinson and it was revealed by DC Films that it takes place within the cinematic universe’s version of Earth 2. This allowing the studio to populate new/rebooted versions of DC Comics heroes in that world starting with The Batman.
We’ve all been excited after there was a report about Batman actor Michael Keaton reprising the DC Comics role in The Flash movie directed by Andy Muschietti. It was even more interesting when a piece of concept art from the film confirmed they planned on having both Keaton and Ben Affleck’s Batman in the event project that would introduce DC’s own Multiverse.
The only catch is that according to Michael Keaton, he hasn’t agreed to be in the film. Keaton did a lengthy interview with Deadline and the subject of The Flash was brought up. He was quick to point out that he hasn’t even read the script they sent along with the potential that his current project, upcoming projects, and the COVID-19 situation in the United Kingdom could prevent him to even doing it.
KEATON: “…to tell you the truth, somewhere on my iPad is an iteration of the whole Flash thing that I haven’t had time yet…I called them and said, I have to be honest with you. I can’t look at anything right now. I’m so deep into this thing I’m doing. Also, I’m prepping a thing I’m producing and getting ready to do down the road in the fall that I’ll be in, and I feel responsible to that. So, yeah, there is that. I’m not being cute or coy. If I talked about it, I’ll be just bullshitting you. I don’t really know. I have to look at the last draft. To be honest with you, you know what worries me more than anything about all this stuff?”
“It’s Covid. I’m more concerned. I keep my eye more on the Covid situation in the UK than anything. That will determine everything, and so that’s why I’m living outside the city here on 17 acres, staying away from everybody, because the Covid thing has got me really concerned. So, that’s my first thing about all projects. I look at it and go, is this thing going to kill me, literally? And you know, if it doesn’t, then we talk.”
Despite the possibility they might be losing Keaton, there will be the introduction of the DCEU’s Supergirl as played by actress Sasha Calle. We’ll keep our fingers crossed we’ll end up getting multiple Batman in The Flash, but it’s not looking like that is going to happen but I wouldn’t be shocked if there are more surprises yet to be announced.
The Flash movie is getting more superhero help as Deadline reports that actress Sash Calle has been cast in the role of Supergirl. The newcomer was selected over 400 potential candidates but impressed the studio and director Andy Muschietti.
A new Supergirl solo film had been in development stages at Warner Bros. before her addition to the Flash project, we have to assume that Sasha will likely lead that project if things finally come together on it. Screenwriter Oren Uziel (Mortal Kombat, 22 Jump Street, The Cloverfield Paradox) had been previously hired to write a script for Supergirl before development on the solo project froze.
The latest incarnation of Flash’s script was penned by Christina Hodson and will open the DCEU to their own Multiverse via Barry’s speed-force powers, taking cues from the Flashpoint story. There are already two Batman actors expected to appear with Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck teased in official concept art released over the summer.
The Flash will be shooting at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Watford, England with a release date set by Warner Bros. for November 4th, 2022.
Before Ben Affleck wore the cowl in Batman v Superman and Justice League, he starred in a Marvel project with 20th Century Fox’s Daredevil feature film which predated the fan-beloved Netflix series starring Charlie Cox. That 2003 film saw Ben Affleck co-star with Jon Favreau, the director of Iron Man and Iron Man 2. Jon became one of the architects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and still plays the role of Happy Hogan in Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy.
As a filmmaker and producer, Ben most certainly was watching the success of Marvel Studios, which has led to some praise to Kevin Feige in a new interview. While chatting on The Hollywood Reporter’s podcast Awards Chatter, Affleck gushed about how successful Feige has been.
AFFLECK: “Fucking Kevin Feige is absolutely, you have to say, the greatest producer, most successful producer who ever lived. He’s the only guy in the world who, if he told me, ‘I know what the audience wants! This is what we’re doing!’ I would believe him 100%.”
“That fucker knows his audience like no producer (ever), he’s a genius. Kevin is like a ringmaster at the circus; he knows exactly how much to wink at the audience, exactly when to pull at the heartstrings, exactly when to do the effects, how many jokes, what the sensibility, what the tone is. Because people didn’t know to run away from the pajamas or embrace it or make it serious.”
Affleck is reportedly set to direct a film Disney with an adaptation Keeper of The Lost Cities and his pal Matt Damon has seemingly joined the cast of Marvel’s Thor: Love & Thunder.
I’m sure fans would enjoy to see Ben Affleck join the MCU in some capacity.
It was announced by WarnerMedia, via press release circulated to trades such as Deadline, that they’ve just hired Joe Barton to become the new showrunner on their Gotham PD-centric series on HBO Max that is produced by The Batman director Matt Reeves, taking place years prior to the events of the upcoming film starring Robert Pattinson.
Barton replaces Boardwalk Empire‘s Terence Winter, who had exited over creative differences and is no stranger to gritty underbellies of crime as he was creator of the Yakuza series Giri/Haji.
Here is what Matt Reeves had to say about the DC Comics series when promoting it over the summer at DC FanDome.
REEVES: “The idea of this story was a story in which Gotham, which has this depth of corruption, and the idea that we could do a series that is going deeper into an aspect of it, which in this case is the corrupt police department, the corrupt inner workings of the city. And the way we’re gonna do this series. Terence Winter is just an incredible writer, so the idea that we got him to do this, just is literally a dream. The idea is, we go back to year one, and year one is the beginning of the first emergence, the first appearance of this masked vigilante that starts to unsettle the city, and you start to see the story through the POV of these corrupt cops, and one in particular. And the story is actually a battle for his soul.”
“He’s a cop over generations and the history of corruption in Gotham is enormous and goes back many years, and the story is like, as you realize that there’s this myth-building in the background, you’re actually in a new place where you’ve never seen these characters before – some of them we’ll touch on that you may have seen in the comics, but others are totally new. Then you can go down an avenue and go into detail that you couldn’t do in a movie, and to go into these rich places and meet entirely new characters that Terence is going to create.”
This was the original press release for the project before Winter’s exit.
HBO Max announced today that it has given a series commitment to an original DC drama set in the Gotham City police department from The Batman filmmaker Matt Reeves, Boardwalk Empire creator Terence Winter, The Batman producer Dylan Clark, and Warner Bros. Television. The groundbreaking television series to be written by Winter is set in the world Reeves is creating for The Batman feature film and will build upon the motion picture’s examination of the anatomy of corruption in Gotham City, ultimately launching a new Batman universe across multiple platforms. The series provides an unprecedented opportunity to extend the world established in the movie and further explore the myriad of compelling and complex characters of Gotham. This marks the first television project for Reeves under his recently announced overall deal with the Warner Bros. Television Group.
The Batman is reportedly still shooting in the United Kingdom despite new lockdown restrictions due to a new variant of COVID-19 that is rapidly spreading there. Warner Bros. had pushed the film’s release date from October 1st, 2021 to Mach 4th, 2022 because of previous production delays. Pattinson himself had tested positive for the virus at one point.
Reeves has previously stated this would be the first in a new trilogy with the film introducing us to Batman’s rogues gallery which will include The Riddler, Catwoman, Carmine Falcone, and The Penguin.
This version of Batman according to DC Films takes place within Earth 2 and the show takes place during Bruce Wayne’s first year operating as the Caped Crusader.
From Warner Bros. Pictures comes “The Batman,” with director Matt Reeves (the “Planet of the Apes” films) at the helm and with Robert Pattinson (“Tenet,” “The Lighthouse,” “Good Time”) starring as Gotham City’s vigilante detective, Batman, and billionaire Bruce Wayne.
Also in the star-studded ensemble as Gotham’s famous and infamous cast of characters are Zoë Kravitz (“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” “Mad Max: Fury Road”) as Selina Kyle; Paul Dano (“Love & Mercy,” “12 Years a Slave”) as Edward Nashton; Jeffrey Wright (the “Hunger Games” films) as the GCPD’s James Gordon; John Turturro (the “Transformers” films) as Carmine Falcone; Peter Sarsgaard (“The Magnificent Seven,” “Black Mass”) as Gotham D.A. Gil Colson; Barry Keoghan (“Dunkirk”) as Officer Stanley Merkel; Jayme Lawson (“Farewell Amor”) as mayoral candidate Bella Reál; with Andy Serkis (the “Planet of the Apes” films, “Black Panther”) as Alfred; and Colin Farrell (“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” “Dumbo”) as Oswald Cobblepot.
Over the summer there were huge waves made when it was reported that actor MichaelKeaton was going to reprise the Bruce Wayne/Batman role for Andy Muschietti‘s upcoming Flash movie, after previously playing the role in Tim Burton‘s Batman and Batman Returns.
Ben Affleck is also expected to appear in the film thanks to a Multiverse storyline allowing two Batman actors to appear on the big screen at once.
However, it’s starting to sound like Keaton is going to be the one continuing the role within the DCEU and Robert Pattinson playing his version from The Batman in Earth 2. This comes after an excerpt from a New York Times article from last month and a follow-up comment made by the reporter Brooks Barnes on Twitter clarifying he was talking about Michael Keaton, not Affleck being that second Batman.
To make all the story lines work, DC Films will introduce movie audiences to a comics concept known as the multiverse: parallel worlds where different versions of the same character exist simultaneously. Coming up, for instance, Warner Bros. will have two different film sagas involving Batman — played by two different actors — running at the same time.
The answer is the multiverse. Boiled down, it means that some characters (Wonder Woman as portrayed by Ms. Gadot, for instance) will continue their adventures on Earth 1, while new incarnations (Mr. Pattinson as “The Batman”) will populate Earth 2.
UPDATE: Barnes says that he doesn’t know Keaton’s fate beyond The Flash and also doesn’t dismiss the previous reporting that suggests Keaton will have bigger role beyond that film.
Been offline (moving apartments) and return to see this Michael Keaton craziness. I was referring to the *one film* that Keaton has been announced as being in, not a set of his own Batman films. If I had info on him beyond "The Flash," I would have obviously put it in my article
The inference is that Keaton could play a mentor version of Bruce Wayne in things like Christina Hodson’s Batgirl movie that might head to HBO Max and something else like a Batman Beyond live-action adaptation. Allowing other characters in the Batman franchise to take over the crime-fighting mantle be it Barbara Gordon, Terry McGinnis, Dick Grayson or others given Keaton’s advanced age.
The Hollywood Reporter essentially reporting this last year when first revealing Keaton was in talks with the studio.
If a deal makes, Keaton wouldn’t just return for Flash but possibly for several other DC-oriented film projects. Sources tell THR that the role being envisioned for the veteran actor is akin to the role played by Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, something of a mentor or guide or even string-puller. Batgirl is one the projects in development that could fall into that category.
I also wouldn’t put it past DC Films to eventually make an authentic version of Frank Miller‘s The Dark Knight Returns having Michael Keaton in the lead role even if it was a standalone project within that particular version of Gotham, which would more than likely land a mature rating (something perfect for HBO Max audiences). This could allow them to do more mature stories without conflicting with Matt Reeves‘ Batman trilogy starring Robert Pattinson, while dark happens to be it’s own thing in the PG-13 realm. I’d even enjoy seeing a limited-series similar to HBO’s Watchmen.
The more interesting part will be if Keaton is expected to show up in other “Earth 1” movies moving forward that aren’t directly connected to Batman franchise characters or spinoffs.
There had been plenty of fan speculation that after walking away from the Batman role that Affleck would be jumping feet first into new projects because his appearance in TheFlash, leading to extremely unreliable rumors of future Batman projects with Ben attached in the role being in the works. The impression from the New York Times stuff is that the studio is more or less pivoting from Ben’s version of the DC Comics hero, which isn’t terribly surprising since this has been the narrative since his exit from the solo film.
We’ll likely get more official word from Warner Bros. and DC Films but its looking like Michael Keaton will be sticking around longer than we have original thought back in the summer.
In a brief exchange with a fan on Vero, it looks like director Zack Snyder has revealed that his version of Justice League heading to HBO Max next year will be coming out sometime in March.
Zack Snyder has confirmed Zack Snyder’s Justice League will debut on HBO Max in March! pic.twitter.com/MnoIvmVEfe
Before Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson’s The Batman, there had been plans for Ben Affleck to co-write, star, and direct a solo Batman film. Creative differences and Affleck’s apparent frustration eventually led to him first exiting the project as director then later leaving the Bruce Wayne/Batman role altogether.
We don’t know a lot of about the unmade project but there had been confirmation from cinematographer Robert Richardson (Live By Night, Kill Bill, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Inglourious Basterds), who had been once attached to the Affleck film, that the film would involved the infamous Arkham Asylum.
RICHARDSON: “I wanted to shoot Batman with Ben [Affleck] cause that was the next film we had. There was a script, but not a loved script. There was a lot of work he was doing to it to change it.Well, he was going into the more insanity aspects.He was entering more into the Arkham, he’s going into where everyone was bad.“
Deathstroke actor Joe Manganiello had been expected to reprise the Slade Wilson part for Ben’s Batman solo project allowing him to later get a meatier role than his small cameo in Justice League. While speaking with Yahoo Entertainment, Joe compared the purposed Affleck project to David Fincher’s underrated Michael Douglas thriller The Game and gave some details about the tone they were attempting to go for.
MANGANIELLO: “There were similarities to The Game…It was a really dark story in which Deathstroke was like a shark or a horror movie villain that was dismantling Bruce’s life from the inside out. It was this systemic thing: He killed everyone close to Bruce and destroyed his life to try and make him suffer because he felt that Bruce was responsible for something that happened to him…It was really cool, really dark and really hard. I was very excited for it.”
Joe confirmed his return to the Deathstroke role in Zack Snyder’s extended version of Justice League for HBO Max on social media, but remains to be seen if he’ll ever play the role again.
THE GAME (1997) – Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) is a successful banker who keeps mostly to himself. When his estranged brother Conrad (Sean Penn) returns on his birthday with an odd gift — participation in a personalized, real-life game — Nicholas reluctantly accepts. Initially harmless, the game grows increasingly personal, and Orton begins to fear for his life as he eludes agents from the mysterious game’s organizers. With no one left to trust and his money gone, Orton must find answers for himself.
The David Fincher connection isn’t shocking given that Ben Affleck had recently worked with the director on the thriller Gone Girl and Matt Reeves incarnation is essentially taking cues from Fincher’s entire movie library. I’ve spotted multiple homages or nods to Zodaic, Seven, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Panic Room, and even the aforementioned film The Game in the teaser trailer.
Matt’s movie seems to be taking a similar dark tone and might be picking up on what Affleck wanted to do.
THE RONIN 