Director Matt Reeves’ reboot of the blockbuster Batman franchise starts filming early next year, and is now in the process of casting major roles. Casting calls went out weeks ago for a wide array of characters including Riddler, Penguin, Catwoman, Two-Face, and a host of other villains appearing in
The Batman. Several casting announcements will be coming soon, as Warner and DC continue celebrating Batman’s 80th anniversary, as
Joker hits theaters
to potentially record-breaking numbers, and as both
Birds of Prey and
Wonder Woman 1984 draw closer to release.
So far, Robert Pattinson is the only performer officially signed to appear in the film. Pattinson is starring as Bruce Wayne/Batman himself, in a surprise but welcome casting decision. Any fans harboring skepticism about his ability to take on such an intense superhero role should give films like
Good Time and
High Life a watch.
This week brought additional casting reports from
The Hollywood Reporter,
as Borys Kit and Mia Galuppo reported both Jeffrey Wright and Jonah Hill are in negotiations to appear in
The Batman. Wright is expected to sign for the role of Jim Gordon, the head of the Gotham City Police Department and Batman’s strongest ally. Hill has two different roles on the table – Penguin and Riddler – and his representatives are negotiating with Warner about which is the ideal choice.
With just a few months to go before Reeves kicks off principal photography on
The Batman (as the film is still tentatively titled, although word is that could change), the post-release period after
Joker is an excellent window for a steady, growing flow of casting news. Expect to hear official confirmation of Wright joining the project as Commissioner/Lieutenant Gordon in coming weeks, as well as likely confirmation of Hill’s involvement (I’m betting he’ll wind up in the role of Riddler).
Fans have been chomping at the bit for more information and some casting news about
The Batman, but I remind everyone to be patient and remember we’ve had three Batman appearances by Ben Affleck in the previous three year period of 2016 to 2018 (
Batman v Superman and
Suicide Squad in 2016, and
Justice League in 2017). It’s been less than two years since we last saw Batman in a major leading role on film, and since 2005 Batman has appeared in six movies (the three mentioned above, plus the Christopher Nolan
Dark Knight Trilogy) – or an average of 1 film every two and a half years or less.
Reeves is taking his time on the project, to ensure he gets it right and builds the foundation for a new Batman series that delivers a fully realized bat-world capable of sustaining itself for many movies going forward. At this point, Reeves will be making a trilogy of films, but there will be opportunity for the world he creates to continue, be it with Reeves still at the helm or someone else taking time in the director’s chair.
That’s why the plan is to fill this bat-world with an entire rogues’ gallery of villains – and Batman has the best slate of villains in comics, rivaled only by Spider-Man.
Likewise, it’s expected that the upcoming
Batgirl film project will be tied into this new bat-world, and the currently delayed
Nightwing movie has to wait until the status of Batman’s sidekick has been settled.
From what I’ve heard, dikk Grayson is expected to make an appearance in one of the Reeves movies, probably in the form of an origin story (whether that’s the film’s main plot or a subplot, however, remains to be seen).
I’ve long been a champion of Reeves as the filmmaker to take over the Batman series, a drum I started banging all the way back in 2014 after the release of his spectacular film
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Ben Affleck was my top pick for years before he took on the role as actor-writer-director for the Batman series, and in 2014 I still enthusiastically awaited Affleck’s solo Batman film project. But nobody ever sticks around forever to make these movies, so Reeves instantly became my one and only favorite as the person best suited to take over after Affleck was done.
As we all know, Affleck wound up leaving the Batman project entirely, and while I was sad to see him go, I knew it was what he wanted and therefore for the best. So I began to mention Matt Reeves as the best choice to replace Affleck as director, and frankly I never had a backup choice – even when negotiations between Reeves and Warner stalled, I said I had no alternate choice and I only wanted Reeves. And as I expected, negotiations resumed and he got the job.
I say all of this to make the point that my faith in Matt Reeves has been long-lived, and the waiting period will have been more than worth it when additional casting news starts to leak out and get confirmed. Already, the casting we’ve heard about is excellent. Pattinson is a great talent who has the skill, experience, and looks to be a perfect Batman. Wright is a big favorite of mine – I previously suggested him for the role of Norman Osborn in the MCU Spider-Man movies – and will be an amazing Gordon. And Hill has proven his tremendous acting chops with Oscar-nominated performances, and I’d love to see him in any role in the Batman series.
Some of my own personal casting suggestions for the film included Ben Kingsley for Hugo Strange (
if Strange winds up one of the films, as I suspect will be the case), Simon Pegg or Charles Dance for Alfred, Ice Cube or John Goodman as Harvey Bullock, and Matthew Rhys for Two-Face. Rhys was previously my top choice for Gordon, but would still love to see him in the film in a meaty role making full use of his incredible range as a performer, so maybe Two-Face is the best role for Rhys if he’s cast in the film.
Of course, fan casting rarely turns out accurate, but I happen to have a pretty decent history with DC movie casting. Ben Affleck, Jason Momoa, and Joaquin Phoenix were all my suggestions for the roles they wound up with in DC movies, years before each of them were eventually cast. I figure I’m due for at least one accurate prediction with
The Batman, so place your bets now.
Speaking of Phoenix, his
Joker is supposed to be a standalone story, and word is there’s no plan for a sequel. And certain elements of that film suggest it would be hard for him to cross over into Reeves’ Batman world. That said, there are other elements of the film that suggest maybe we shouldn’t be so certain about the possibility Phoenix’s Joker might be able to make the jump after all... I won’t spoil it, but keep the word “ambiguity” in mind.
If Phoenix doesn’t eventually reprise his Joker role for Matt Reeves’ version of the Caped Crusader, then I don’t envy whomever has to follow in his footsteps in the role. But if anyone could pull it off, it would be Cate Blanchett. The gender/sex issue isn’t an issue at all, since there’s plenty of ways it could work out – not mentioning the Joker’s gender at all, or just accepting that the Joker is a woman in this version and not make a big deal out of it.
A new and unique approach won’t make all of the previous movies and comics suddenly vanish, and nobody will come to fans’ homes to destroy there Blu-rays and comic books, so fans should remain calm and keep in mind that if they could accept all the other changes constantly made to every superhero for cinematic adaptation – including their origin stories and the worlds around them and their costumes and so on – then casting an Oscar-winning performer like Blanchett shouldn’t be a problem for anyone.
But that said, I don’t think Warner will cast Blanchett as Joker, no matter how brilliant it might be as a way to follow up Phoenix’s Oscar-worthy (and eventually, I believe, Oscar-winning) performance in the role if he doesn’t want to reprise it. I’m not convinced yet that he’s off the table as a casting option, though, so for now I’ll leave that as a “to be continued” in my casting considerations for
The Batman.
One way or the other, though, the Joker will have to be cast for Reeves’ Batman movies. Whether the character appears in the first film or not remains to be seen, but he’ll show up eventually, so that’s a can that can only be kicked down the road for a relatively short period of time.
The next several weeks and couple of months should bring casting news for at least four to six characters in
The Batman, from arsonists to mind-controllers to thieves, so get ready for some serious fan freakouts (of the positive sort) when it becomes clear the direction this film is headed and which source material is playing an inspirational role. In the meantime, enjoy the speculation and anticipation for the next several months, and get ready for a major new era of Batman cinema.
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Dr. Narcisse is Jim Gordon.
