Ahem.
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| Ta. Da. |
The 41-year-old American actor/director/screenwriter that you have probably heard of before, Ben Affleck has been confirmed as "the next Batman." (Is DC taking cues from Doctor Who now?) I don't think this is a good idea, but upon refection, I know it's not Affleck I protest to. The last thing we need right now is a new Batman, you might even go so far as to say.... he's the hero we deserve, but not the one we need right now.... ha... (or is that joke too obvious?)
Seriously though, we haven't gotten over Christian Bale and his gravely growl yet, so of course Ben Affleck isn't exciting to us! Putting all that aside though (just pretend it's actually about ten years in the future) Affleck is at least a very interesting choice.
First of all he's actually American, which is more than can be said for his growly predecessor (not that it matters since Bale is a perfectly convincingly American) and more than can be said for his soon-to-be alien "buddy" Henry Cavill.
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| Bats and Supes. |
Affleck does seem well-cast for the Bruce Wayne part of the deal, and he no stranger to being a action/super hero either, though never to much critical acclaim. Critically, he best feature is directing, and I add my voice to this opinion as well. I never liked him at all until I caught The Town on the TV one day, and suddenly I respected him as a director. And curiously enough, his acting steps up a notch when he also directs.
Which leads to the most interesting factor of his casting. Apparently Warner Bros. has been eying him to direct The Justice League, and now that he's connected to the franchise, that idea becomes more and more likely. If he is hired to direct, I would be pleasantly surprised, but currently, my slight interest in all this Superman/Batman/Justice League stuff remains unvarying by this bit of casting news, and my low opinion of the franchise is only strengthened.
Here's something fun though, Batman and Superman discuss their upcoming "Vs." movie in a HISHE Super Cafe! If you haven't seen it, it's a must-watch, and if you have, I have given you the perfect excuse to watch it again. You're welcome.
I am still not sure what to think about the casting decision. I am more curious about the new Batman costume because there is not a lot that has not already been done.
ReplyDelete-James
Oh, that is an interesting thought! Now I'm curious to see what they do with it too.
DeleteWell, my only thought is that he is a vast departure from Bale, and I think that's a good choice. Instead of trying to replicate Bale's performance, they'll be free to take the character in a new direction.
ReplyDeleteThat true, he is very different from Bale, and they had the right idea to do that. I'm not sure it'll pan out the right way, but we'll see!
DeleteI really, really love Christian Bale's Batman. He's one of my favourite actors anyway and he was just fantastic in the role. As for Ben Affleck, well, I thought he was really good in The Town and Argo and I can definitely picture him as Bruce Wayne but as Batman? Not so much! I mean to give him a chance though. I can't ever imagine liking his portrayal as much as Bale's but he could still be really good. We just don't know yet. We haven't even seen any footage of him in the role so I think it's really harsh that fans have signed petitions against him. It reminds me of all the hate that Daniel Craig got when he signed up to do James Bond and also when Matt Smith was cast as the Doctor.
ReplyDeleteYeah, isn't that interesting that he seems like he'd be a very good Wayne, but only a mediocre Batman? I feel the same way -- that I doubt he'll be able to top Bale, no matter how good he turns out to be, but I'll save the judgement for after I've seen the movie.
DeleteI didn't realize Daniel Craig got hate for being Bond. Personally, I didn't like him until I saw Skyfall, but I thought most people did.
Oh man, Daniel Craig got hated on so much when they cast him as Bond. He's blond!!! James Bond can't be blond!!! It would destroy the fabric of reality! Etc. Until Casino Royale came out and he was brilliant, and then everyone kind of calmed down.
DeleteBut Roger Moore was blond, right? Did he get any grief? Anyway, ideally Bond should have dark hair, but that's kinda petty. It makes sense that they calmed down once they saw the movie. That's usually the case, isn't it? Ha, good thing Affleck has the right hair color... ;)
DeleteNo, Moore is a pretty solid brunette.
DeleteWhat greatly amuses me is that, in the very first James Bond novel, Bond himself says he looks kind of like Hoagy Carmichael. Google him if you don't know what he looks like, but basically really thin, with a long, thin face and a pretty prominent nose. Not especially handsome or muscly, hee.
Aw, well, he's not too bad-looking, and does look similar to some of the Bonds... not Craig though!
DeleteI also found pics of Moore as Bond and in some he looks pretty blond, maybe only a shade darker than Craig. Anyway, it doesn't matter, people will always find irrelevant things to dislike about someone if they want to. :P
Yeah, as Hamlette says there was a massive backlash against Daniel Craig's Bond purely because of him being a blonde. I know there was at least one petition and a "Craig not Bond" website got set up. It was kind of pathetic. As I'm someone who likes their adaptations to be as accurate as possible I'm obviously happier if actors look like the character they're playing - but even if they don't I can let it go if the actor gives a great performance. The only time I get really, truly annoyed about actors not looking like the characters they're playing is when they're playing a real-life character. Jennifer Love Hewitt once played Audrey Hepburn in a biopic many years ago but apart from being a brunette Hewitt looks absolutely nothing like Audrey Hepburn!
ReplyDeleteYeah, of course everyone wants movie versions of characters they know to like they imagine them, but seriously, the performance is much more important, so if you can't have both it's better to have only the latter! Of course, in the Affleck situation, it's kinda reversed, because no one likes his acting...
DeleteHmm, that's interesting... and I bet her performance wasn't too great either.