Cast the new Batman

[marksound]

I posted this in the new movie thread. It's probably not accepted protocol to repost, but I think it bears repeating. Here it is:

The thing with casting superheroes is, IMO, getting the main part of the character right. If you're casting Superman, you have to cast Superman. Anybody can play Clark Kent. If you're casting Iron Man, you have to cast Tony Stark. If you're casting Batman, you have to cast Batman. Anybody can play Bruce Wayne.

My opinion is that Christian Bale's Batman sucked. I've held back on that because he's so popular around these parts. But the lispy, mouth-breathing dog-barking Batman in the extremely bad cowl and the velvet cape and the motorcycle armor just isn't believable to me. I don't buy it.

Batman is a badass. Christian Bale is not. None of those pretty boys on that list are not either. I doubt they could convey the internal pain that is the reason for the Batman's existence, much less pull it off in the suit. Those guys might be ok as Bruce Wayne, but they're not Batman.

Read this, from Kevin Porter:

The Voice

One of the most common questions that I get is what inspires me in regards to my version of what Batman sounds like. It’s an interesting question as I cant deny certain influences. I loved Keaton and of course Conroy was the master. However, the voice is as much a part of the persona of Batman as his cowl.. Even more so. There is a strength and pain that resonates in the voice. Its so much more than just making a growling voice. The voice is conflicted by the man vs. the mission. By the animal that he must sometimes become and the refined upbringing that he has to sometimes project. It’s clean and articulate. But dirty and abrasive. The grammar is perfect but the annunciation boarders on the verge of breaking. There is duality that come across in the voice and the eyes.

My speaking voice is FAR different than that of Batman’s. People are very surprised when they speak to me for the first time. I view this as a complement. I'm asked to do the voice often out of character and its very strange. Even when we are doing ADR or vocal looping in the studio for Bat In The Sun its sometimes tough to get into character. Well, Maybe its because I just have a blast with those guys and its hard to be so grim when laughing.

If you haven’t seen the attached video, please do so. It is a greatest hits collection of us in the studio looping some Batman lines. You will hear how I have to turn the voice off and on and how difficult it is, especially when the guys are cracking me up. Its hard to be dark and brooding as your director is making faces through the sound booth.

Also, bonus points to anyone who knows the ending reference “Chicken Feet”. It was used during a fight scene while shooting Seeds of Arhkam!

Voice Over Out Takes!

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hzw2socwnU&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PL87A9385C6ECE56A1[/yt]

This guy knows the role, and would do a hell of a job. DC already employs him for public appearances. He has big screen experience. It's not much of a stretch for me to see him in a lead role in a major motion picture.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Kevin Porter sucks.

 

[Aragorn]

With how often you've posted about Kevin Porter, makes me wonder if you're his agent.

Warner will greenlight a $100 million Batman & Robin 2 directed by Brett Ratner before Kevin Porter will get cast in the Superman sequel.

 

[marksound]

Blahblahblah.

I'm not afraid to call bullshit if I see it, and Nolan's Bat films were way overrated. Bale was not a good Batman.

I'm not afraid to push talent when I see it, and Kevin Porter is the best Batman I've ever seen. Apparently DC like him, because they keep putting him in the suit.

If you don't like it, fine. No skin off my hiney. But the way they've been playing Batman in films the last several years makes him come off as a wuss. Batman is not a wuss.

But hey, I've been around the block a couple of times. It really doesn't make a crap to me what a bunch of teenchatters on a forum say. My word is as big as anyone else's here.

Would you rather have the new Batman a skinny little girly man in a bunch of armor, or a real grownup Batman who has suffered and channeled that suffering, building himself into the Batman that we know through history?

I know what I want to see, and it's not some pretty boy in 50 pounds of motorcycle suit.

But that's my opinion.

 

[Gojira]

So now they're saying they want someone in his forties?

Okay. Problem solved. Hamm or Caviezel.

Those would be my two choices and I would be happier with either of them. Although I think Caviezel can come across more serious.

 

[the G-man]

So now they're saying they want someone in his forties?

Okay. Problem solved. Hamm or Caviezel.

The TV actors are the least likely to be cast based on their television commitment, especially someone like Jim Caviezel or Jensen Ackles who have to be there for 8-9 months. Although if they're filming the next Superman movie in Vancouver and Supernatural is willing to lighten Ackles' load, he could conceivably do double duty.

It would be easier for the cable TV actors -- Timothy Olyphant? -- with their shorter schedules. Just depends on when they shoot their shows.

I doubt Caviezel would be given the role even if scheduling were accounted for. He basically already plays a version of Batman in Person of Interest and would just be taking that character to the big screen.

You mean like Pierce Brosnan and Remington Steele/James Bond. Yeah Hollywood would never do that.

 

[theenglish]

The TV actors are the least likely to be cast based on their television commitment, especially someone like Jim Caviezel or Jensen Ackles who have to be there for 8-9 months. Although if they're filming the next Superman movie in Vancouver and Supernatural is willing to lighten Ackles' load, he could conceivably do double duty.

It would be easier for the cable TV actors -- Timothy Olyphant? -- with their shorter schedules. Just depends on when they shoot their shows.

I doubt Caviezel would be given the role even if scheduling were accounted for. He basically already plays a version of Batman in Person of Interest and would just be taking that character to the big screen.

You mean like Pierce Brosnan and Remington Steele/James Bond. Yeah Hollywood would never do that.

Or Roger Moore and The Saint? The difference was though that neither series was in production at the time the actors moved to the big screen.

 

[StarTrek1701]

How about this guy?

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0093589/

Has the exact look, height and body type for Bruce Wayne.

 

[Nerys Myk]

How about this guy?

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0093589/

Has the exact look, height and body type for Bruce Wayne.

Looks a bit like Cavill. Which would be perfect if they did one of those wacky Silver Age stories where Superman and Batman impersonate each other.

 

[Captaindemotion]

The TV actors are the least likely to be cast based on their television commitment, especially someone like Jim Caviezel or Jensen Ackles who have to be there for 8-9 months. Although if they're filming the next Superman movie in Vancouver and Supernatural is willing to lighten Ackles' load, he could conceivably do double duty.

It would be easier for the cable TV actors -- Timothy Olyphant? -- with their shorter schedules. Just depends on when they shoot their shows.

I doubt Caviezel would be given the role even if scheduling were accounted for. He basically already plays a version of Batman in Person of Interest and would just be taking that character to the big screen.

You mean like Pierce Brosnan and Remington Steele/James Bond. Yeah Hollywood would never do that.

Actually, Remington Steele's production schedule prevented Brosnan from taking the role in the 1980s. As someone else pointed out, he didn't take the role up until the show was off-air. But they did cast him (first time) when the show was still fresh in viewers' memories, so your point does stand.

 

[Immolatus]

Adam West

 

[The Old Mixer]

You mean like Pierce Brosnan and Remington Steele/James Bond. Yeah Hollywood would never do that.

Actually, Remington Steele's production schedule prevented Brosnan from taking the role in the 1980s. As someone else pointed out, he didn't take the role up until the show was off-air. But they did cast him (first time) when the show was still fresh in viewers' memories, so your point does stand.

In fact, the Bond people specifically wouldn't take him as long as he was still appearing on Remington Steele, and the Steele people played hardball, not letting Brosnan go. Thus the Bond producers had to go to Dalton.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^I've heard it told different ways, including the way you describe. I've also heard that NBC had cancelled RS due to low ratings, which freed him up for 007. However, on the back of the publicity created by Brosnan landing the Bond job, the tv show's ratings went back up, so NBC cancelled the cancellation.

This stopped him playing Bond, either because of his contractual obligations simply stopping him having the time to film it or because Cubby Broccoli didn't want a tv actor in the lead. Of course, RS was then cancelled the following year anyway!

 

[Christopher]

How about this guy?

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0093589/

Has the exact look, height and body type for Bruce Wayne.

Matt Bomer is a tenor. He has a good voice for Superman -- having just played the role in the DVD movie Superman Unbound -- but not for Batman.


How about Peter Capaldi?

 

[Gaith]

Clooney did B&R while still a regular in ER but that was an ensemble, as oppose to the 2-headers of Supernatural or Person of Interest.

BOOM; nailed it. Time to bring Clooney back into the fold.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^Might be interesting to see him amend for his past sins in something like The Dark Knight Returns but I don't really see it happening.

 

[Gaith]

"Sins?" B&R wasn't good (though for the self-mocking romp it is, it isn't horrible either), but Clooney's performance wasn't at all lacking, given the context.

 

[Ovation]

How about this guy?

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0093589/

Has the exact look, height and body type for Bruce Wayne.

Matt Bomer is a tenor. He has a good voice for Superman -- having just played the role in the DVD movie Superman Unbound -- but not for Batman.


How about Peter Capaldi?

And Sean Connery plays Alfred. Let's go "full Scottish".

 

[Captaindemotion]

"Sins?" B&R wasn't good (though for the self-mocking romp it is, it isn't horrible either), but Clooney's performance wasn't at all lacking, given the context.

Well, my post wasn't entirely serious but I do think his performance was pretty horrible in it. But nobody could have saved that dog of a movie, IMHO.

 

[Christopher]

^Clooney's performance in B&R suffered from the script and direction he had to work with. But there were glimmers of a really good performance in there trying to get out. And he did come closer to the image of Bruce Wayne, square-jawed billionaire playboy than any other actor to play the role in live action.