14 DAY TRIAL // Last month, Charles Roven, producer on Zack Snyder’s upcoming “Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” was telling the Hollywood Reporter that the proposal to cast Ben Affleck as Batman had actually originated with Chris Nolan, who serves as executive producer on the film.
Perhaps realizing that the truth would be coming out one day (when fans who were still upset over “Batfleck” would go after Nolan), Roven backtracked and suggested that the idea actually came from Warner Bros., but that it was backed by Nolan.
As Roven put it, director Zack Snyder, who also helmed “Man of Steel,” the first installment in the rebooted Superman franchise, had exactly zero input in the decision.
Ben Affleck’s casting, a blame no one wants to take
Ben Affleck will probably make for a decent Batman. As we’ve seen with the David Fincher-directed “Gone Girl,” if the movie is solid and the other performances are engaging, whatever won’t work about him in character can be easily overlooked.
Judging by the kind of film Snyder delivered with “Man of Steel,” there’s little doubt that he won’t be able to do justice to “Batman V. Superman,” the first feature film to ever bring the 2 superheroes together.
Still, there’s a small chance that Affleck won’t work as Batman or at least that fans won’t resonate to his performance, and everybody involved in the project must be aware of it, seeing how Roven seems eager to distance himself from a potential disaster. He’s backing up Affleck for the role, telling the media he’s positive he will be amazing, but he doesn’t want to take the fall if he’s a disaster.
So he tried to lay the responsibility at Nolan’s door, and when he realized that wouldn’t work, he laid it at Warners’.
Nolan will have none of it
Guess what? Nolan is doing pretty much the same thing: asked by The Daily Beast if there’s any truth to the report that he wanted Affleck for the Batman role, the famous British director points out that he’s only an executive producer on that project, which means he’s “not involved in the day-to-day.”
So that would be a “no:” no, he did not specifically ask for Affleck as Batman. However, Nolan is quick to add that, when he was informed he’d been cast, he thought, “How thrilling!”
“This is the guy who just won Best Picture as a director and as an actor, and I thought it would be a great thing that he’d be willing to do this. I think the guy is incredibly talented and I’m very excited to see what Zack and Ben do together,” the director continues.
Nolan too wants to distance himself from the casting choice and seeing how fans are still not convinced that Affleck is a good fit for Batman, who can blame him.
“Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice” also stars Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, both equally disputed casting choices. Jeremy Irons, Amy Adams, Holly Hunter, Laurence Fishburne, and Jason Momoa are also part of the cast. The film will be out in March 2016.
