14 DAY TRIAL // Batman fans are still convinced that Warner Bros. and director Zack Snyder are in for one unpleasant surprise when their choice for Batman, Ben Affleck, will damage their upcoming film “Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice” (2016), but producer Charles Roven is eager to convince us all that he’s the best fit for the role – or, better said, for what they have in mind for this new iteration of Batman.
Roven sat down for an interview with The Hollywood Reporter on the upcoming superhero flick from Warners, which represents the foundation of the planned Justice League franchise and standalone film.
A segment from the chat is available below.
Ben Affleck was the best – and only – choice
Aware that they’re working against public support and that they must convince fans to give Affleck a chance before they get them into theaters to see his performance, people involved in the project have been working non-stop to explain why he was cast as the famous caped crusader.
Roven is one of them. To fans saying that they had a wide choice of potential leads, he has this to say: “He was the first guy we went to, that’s who we wanted.”
Ben Affleck didn’t just come from a background that suggested he had the skills to pull off the role, but he was also a good fit from a physical standpoint. As we already know, this new Batman will be much older, battered, and tired, disappointed in life and on the edge of hanging his cape for good.
He must strike a contrasting note to Henry Cavill’s Superman, who is young and, as we saw in last year’s “Man of Steel,” barely getting his start as defender of the people on Earth.
“We also wanted a guy with big stature. Ben is 6’ 4". Henry [Cavill] is a 6’1. We wanted Batman to tower over Superman. Not hugely, not like a basketball player. Superman needed to ‘look up’ to Batman. We wanted that dynamic and Ben could do that, easily,” Roven explains.
Christopher Nolan may or may not have approved of the Affleck casting
Christopher Nolan wrote and directed the “Dark Knight” trilogy, which had Christian Bale as Batman and is considered the best take on the hero so far. Many of the fans who were opposed to the idea of Affleck as Batman were so because he would have to “take over” from Bale, who did an absolutely wonderful job with the character.
Roven has something to say to those too: Nolan is actually an executive producer on “Dawn of Justice” (he is credited in the same capacity on “Man of Steel” as well), and he was the one who suggested Affleck for the Batman role.
Pressed for details on this, Roven backtracks, saying, “We have a very strong relationship with Warner Bros. obviously all of the DC comics are at Warner Bros. Ben had literally just won the Oscar for Argo which was a Warner Bros movie so it wasn’t like it was difficult to reach him.”
What this means is that it wasn’t Nolan who handpicked Affleck for the role, as neither was Snyder: Warner Bros. called the shots on this one, “awarding” him with the role for his Oscar win.
Roven admits that Nolan and wife Emma Thomas are both more focused on “Interstellar,” his next directorial effort, which will be out in November.
“Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice” will open in theaters in May 2016.
