Backlash. Something that plagues the internet movie world when our childhood heroes get skin and bones on the big screen. But backlash has been around long before information could be received instantly, and I would say the first little backlash of a superhero cast was Michael Keaton in the original 1989 Tim Burton Batman. I mean that was some serious off the wall casting for the Dark Knight, but now many would consider Keaton to be the best all-time Batman on-screen. Now we come to present day, and Batman Vs. Superman got its Batman, Ben Affleck, and the backlash was staggering even though Affleck fits the look of Batman way more than Keaton.
Producer Michael E. Uslan spoke to EP Daily recently and he discussed the casting of Ben Affleck as the Caped Crusader.
It starts with this, I’ve lived this in the past before and I’m speaking now really more as a Bat-fan than as the Bat-producer. We went through it all with Michael Keaton. I lead the charge from the first time I heard Tim (Burton) was thinking of hiring Michael Keaton to play Batman. I’d go, ‘Oh my god, all the work, I’ve put in all these years to do a dark and serious Batman, he’s going to hire a comedian!’ I could envision the posters: ‘Mr. Mom is Batman,’ but then he explained his vision, he had a vision, and he was right. This is all about Bruce Wayne, it’s not about Batman, it’s all about Bruce Wayne. If you’re trying to do a serious, dark superhero, people have to believe in Bruce Wayne as that obsessed driven guy, to the point maybe of almost being psychotic. A guy who would get dressed up as a bat and do what he did. So we went through the hoopla with Michael Keaton. The fans were the same reaction that I had initially, except I had the benefit of hearing a vision right away. Then when they actually went to see the movie they never wanted anyone else to play Batman, never. A number of years go by, and then all of a sudden the torches and the pitchforks go up, ‘Oh my god, the guy that played the gay cowboy is going to be The Joker? They’re going to destroy the greatest super villain in history.’ And then after Heath Ledger’s performance, when they actually went to see it, nobody ever wanted The Joker played by another actor again. So here we are, with an Academy Award winning filmmaker. You look at his last bunch of movies, Hollywoodland, he had me convinced he was George Reeves. The Town, Argo, just really, really great quality of work. Again, I’ll go back to what Tim said in the beginning, it’s all about Bruce Wayne, and when you focus on it, Bruce Wayne, maybe in his mid-forties, what’s he going to be feeling? What’s he going to be thinking? What does he have on his plate to deal with? I just couldn’t be more excited about it.
He then spoke about Zack Snyder and his vision of the movie.
I feel great. First of all, Zack is a fanboy, and he loves these characters as much as any of us do. Everybody grows as filmmakers, as actors, all of us in life, if we don’t continue to evolve something is radically wrong, and it’s so interesting to see the evolution for everybody involved and to see the evolution of Batman, it’s exciting and everybody is pumped up about it. Its a chance for a new direction, and it’s going to be something that people I think will be just so excited about.
Like the words spoken by Mr. Uslan, and it would’ve been awesome if it was accompanied by the PICTURE OF THE BATSUIT! Soon my friends. Soon. Let my know your thoughts about what he said.
Source: EP Daily