I feel like we talk about this all too frequently. Entertainment reporting has this new trend that seems to be capturing headlines, and frankly, it’s a bit annoying. You’ve seen them before.
“[Insert Actor’s Name] Says He’d Love To Play [Insert Superhero’s Name] In New Film”
But over the last couple days, we’ve reached a boiling point with this seriously ridiculous reporting. Look, at The Playlist, we’re guilty of running rumors and speculation that turns out to be false. But we only do so when we hear from multiple sources, or the trades, that something is in the works. (We’re looking at you, Henry Cavill.) But we do our best not to fall victim to these other tactics.
A couple days ago, we jokingly predicted that Ryan Gosling was up for the role, after his super awkward interview, where the journalist asked him “Would you want to play Batman?” But apparently, that was just the beginning of the big Batman rumor mill explosion.
So, let’s break down what has happened over the last 24 hours, shall we?
Since there’s been no word on Ben Affleck’s status for the upcoming “The Batman,” directed by Matt Reeves (even though everything points to Affleck being out), the hot ticket item around the superhero film world is “who will take over the role as Batman?”
The latest contestant in this seemingly never-ending game show is Jon Hamm. The former “Mad Men” star was interviewed recently and was asked if he’d want to play Batman in a film. As you might imagine, he said he would love to. I mean, who is going to turn down a billion-dollar franchise? However, instead of the headline being “Jon Hamm Would Play Batman, But No One Has Asked Him So This Is Probably Not Very Newsworthy,” the headlines read “Jon Hamm Eyes Batman Role” or “Here’s What Jon Hamm Could Look Like As Batman.” Ugh.
Let’s look at exactly what Hamm said in the interview with THR (Our bolding, not theirs). “I have had rumors about that since probably season one of ‘Mad Men,’” he said. “I have never had a conversation with anybody about it, literally. And I’ve sat in the room with all these guys. I have never been offered anything. I think the internet wants what it wants. But, I mean, a lot of people have to sign off on that, obviously not just the internet.”
He concluded, “And if they wanted to tap me on the shoulder and ask me to do it, why not?”
So, sorry Internet, but Jon Hamm isn’t Batman, has never been asked to play Batman, and will probably never be asked to play Batman. But that’s not all…
There was also rumors of “Game of Thrones” star Kit Harrington being sought for the iconic role. Where did this come from? Revenge of the Fans posted a piece about Warner Bros. commissioning an artist to mock-up Harrington as Batman. They say, “Yup, in June Warner Bros. was keen to see what he’d look like in a Batman suit so they requested some digital mock-ups of the ‘Game of Thrones’ star as The Caped Crusader. As mentioned earlier on, my source on this has no idea if that was the end of it (or the start of it). It’s just something interesting that happened, and I thought my fellow news-starved DC fans would find this noteworthy.”
So basically, and no shade pointed at Revenge, but one unnamed source told a guy that WB wanted to know what Harrington looked like as the hero. End of story. And to their credit, Revenge says so much. But that story got picked up and was reported as “Batman solo movie ‘Game of Thrones’ Kit Harington being considered for Dark Knight.” It spread so much that EW’s James Hibberd tweeted, “The first time Kit Harington heard about this Batman rumor is when I called his rep yesterday to ask. So no (unfortunately!)”
The saying goes “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” The saying isn’t “Where there’s smoke, there’s a hungry-journalist-turned-arsonist, looking to burn down a forest.” Long story short, tread carefully, readers.
So, who’s the next Batman? Personally, I’m not available for the role, but thanks for asking. More importantly, I’m not even a huge Batman fan because I think the truest form of the character would be a guy who has way too much money and is on the verge of a mental breakdown at every moment, with extreme PTSD. But yet, he’s dubbed the “World’s Greatest Detective” and a hero of Gotham. I mean, the guy routinely endangers children by making them his ward, which has led to multiple deaths. But I digress. My boss likes Frank Grillo, but hell, who knows?
Maybe they’ll ask you next?
Also, if Jon Hamm is reading this, Josh Gad supports your new role as Batman:
#JonHamm I’m waiting. pic.twitter.com/k6G8GW8ga2
— Josh Gad (@joshgad) September 13, 2018
The first time Kit Harington heard about this Batman rumor is when I called his rep yesterday to ask. So no (unfortunately!) https://t.co/Z6g8eSJvYD
— James Hibberd (@JamesHibberd) September 12, 2018
