Without naming names, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn is talking up that high-profile actors are reaching out privately in the hopes of playing the DCU’s iteration of Bruce Wayne/Batman for “The Brave & The Bold” and is going out of his way to downplay the connections between “Clayface” and the Matt Reeves projects after some confusion based on photos from set dressings/props.
During a recent interview with the folks over at IGN, Gunn claims that he’s getting interest from a heap of big-name actors seeking to play the next version of Batman after being directly asked if they would be specifically courting actors in their 30s as the film was expected to see Bruce Wayne’s biological son Damian Wayne suiting up as Robin (something that may or may not change).
“No, I think you have to wait to see the movie. Some things have changed. Plenty of things are in flux on what his situation is with his parentage and all that stuff, so I wouldn’t take any of it – Yeah, I mean, the actor who wants to… Listen, first of all, I can’t tell you the amount of big actors that have told me they want to be Batman,” Gunn said of casting the next version of Batman. “I think you’d have a harder time finding actors who don’t want to be Batman. He’s the one character everyone wants to play. That’s the truth.”
As it stands now, we don’t know about a writer for “The Brave & The Bold” along with the project’s current status, and not too much of a surprise given that announced director Andy Muschietti has been busy with his “IT” prequel series at HBO Max with “Welcome To Derry” (expected to get two more seasons). However, we wouldn’t be entirely shocked if the DCU Batman and the actor ended up being introduced elsewhere before the solo film debuts in theaters.
Gunn is also clarifying to IGN that what fans are seeing on the set of “Clayface” in Liverpool isn’t exactly a smoking gun of the film connecting to “The Batman” or DCU side of things (we have to mention a lot of set items and dressings might not even make the final cut of the film, or audiences will not even be able to make them out).
“You really have to take it as something that an art department put together because I never… First of all, there’s a couple of things that I don’t even think were on the set, like that bat insignia. I think somebody put that there afterwards. But I haven’t seen all those things, but they weren’t something that came across my desk. And also, we have a guy, Phil, who is now in charge of the DCU Bible of keeping everything consistent and making sure that the cities are the same and the maps are the same, and the celebrities are the same, all the stuff that they need to keep consistent. And I don’t think he’s OK’d all the art department stuff on that movie,” Gunn said when asked about “Clayface” seemingly saying it’s more of the departments having a bit of fun.
Without doing a point-by-point of everything spotted by fans on the set, one of the bigger things shown on a prop Gotham newspaper made references to Bliss, the fictional designer drug created for “The Penguin” that Colin Farrell‘s Oz Cobb was masterminding in the hit HBO Max series. Many fans have assumed that, and other little nods confirm that the body horror flick from director James Watkins (“Speak No Evil”) and screenwriter Mike Flanagan (“Doctor Sleep”) connects to “The Batman” universe (confirmed to be Elseworlds projects by Reeves, not part of the mainline DCU).
We’ve already seen a DCU version of Clayface (voiced by Alan Tudyk ) in the “Creature Commandos” animated series (alongside a teasing shot of a hulking new Batman, that previously alluded to a new actor playing him), so it’s been established by Gunn that we’ll be seeing multiple iterations of these characters in and outside of the DCU. Patience is going to be key, and Gunn is certainly mindful of keeping fans abreast of how all these DC projects fit alongside each other.
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
