If Ben Affleck steps away, would he make a good Batman?
As production ramps up on Matt Reeves’ The Batman, the biggest question remains unanswered. Will Ben Affleck return as The Dark Knight? Of course, Affleck was originally attached as the director of the project before leaving the director’s chair and his own brother, Casey Affleck, has cast some doubt on Ben’s involvement with the film.
As of yet, nothing official has been announced but plenty of people have been speculating about the future of the Caped Crusader. If Affleck walks away, one actor that has frequently been mentioned as a potential replacement is Jake Gyllenhaal.
Of course, Gyllenhaal’s sister has already featured in The Dark Knight – she played Rachel Dawes – and some Batman fans really want to see the actor inherit the cape and cowl.
We think that the star of Nightcrawler and Donnie Darko could also make an excellent Joker, but he was asked by CNA Lifestyle if he’s going to play Batman.
“Wow, that’s a very difficult question. The answer to that question is no,” said Gyllenhaal.
Mmm, so that’s a definite no on the role of Batman, but we’re still holding onto hope that he could play The Joker at some stage.
In terms of the approach that Matt Reeves will take on The Batman, he previously said that he’s hoping to pursue a “detective version” of the character.
“In all of my films, what I try to do, in an almost Hitchcockian sense, is use the camera and use the storytelling so that you become that character, and you emphasise with that point of view. There’s a chance to do an almost noir-driven, detective version of Batman that is point-of-view driven in a very, very powerful way, that hopefully is going to connect you to what’s going on inside of his head and inside of his heart,” he said.
The director of Let Me In and War for the Planet of the Apes added: “One of the reasons I was drawn to [The Batman] is that I had a similar obsession to Batman when I was younger that I had with the Apes series, which I was obsessed with. I see a parallel emotionally between Caesar and Batman, in that they’re both tortured and trying to sort of grapple within themselves to try and do the right thing in a very imperfect and, to some degree, corrupt world. It’s really that emotionality that I’m interested in.”
Recent rumours have said that The Batman could begin filming sometime in 2019, with a projected release date aiming for 2020 or 2021.
