Posted in the DCEU thread first and forgot this thread existed. Woah. Says he can't perform both duties (actor/director) at the levels they require, so he's stepping down so he can fully focus on the performance. Currently looking for a director. Ben Affleck Will Not Direct ‘The Batman’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Oh, wow, dang. That is a monumental bummer. Hopefully this decision really is due to the workload of both directing and starring in this kind of massive blockbuster. If he's still working on the script and will be able to pick the director he thinks can best bring this film to life, then cool. But, this certainly is a troubling update.
Kind of disappointing news, but good at least by the statement he still seems committed to making this the best that it can be.
Live By Night was bad, but I was still interested in him being the authorial voice behind his Batman movie. I don't know who I'd want to see helm this. Just throwing out names: Karyn Kusama, Matthew Vaugh, Ryan Coogler, or Doug Liman would be intriguing. Vaugh and Liman would at least remember to be fun, which the DC films keep fucking up. David Fincher, Darren Aronofsky, and Nicolas Winding Refn are auteurs who can do a lot of dark, neo-noir shit, but they're such specific filmmakers that I doubt they'd attach themselves to a comic book movie.
Fincher was my first thought. Not sure how he'd handle the action, but his style and tone fits Batman.
Haven't seen Pallbearer (heh), but Reeves is 3/3 with his other movies, so I could dig that. Hoping War for the Planet of the Apes is good.
Aronofsky did nearly make a Batman movie with Frank Miller, and also worked on The Wolverine before jumping ship to work on Noah, so he's been attached to two comic book movies. Based on how he was gonna tackle Batman, though, I doubt he'd have any interest in this project, lol.
That is a bummer for sure. Curious how much more grueling it is than any of his other movies where he's the star. Though I am glad he is still producing.
But everything we loved about Batman in BvS was from him. I'd be so happy with it. I always thought they should take him off JL and just give him Batman instead, as we can all see from BvS all he really wanted to do is make a Batman movie.
I posted in the DC thread, but I think it's just an excuse. I'd buy it more if we hadn't heard of all the script drama, the studio didn't mess with the other 2 DCEU movies so bad too late into production or this was the first director we lost....
I wouldn't be too upset with Gavin. I liked most of his movies and just working with Ben on the Accountant would help. That movie had a good mix of serious story telling and really good action. Besides the Apes movies, I don't know what is appealing about Reeves. Under Siege 2 is a so bad, its good movie though If Logan ends up being as good as the trailers look and hits the perfect amount of dark/serious tone with brutal action, I could see James Mangold maybe. I liked Copland, Identity, Walk the Line and 3:10 to Yuma enough to give him a shot.
Only Gavin O'Connor film I've seen is Warrior, but I REALLY liked Warrior, so that'd be cool. One of the names in that article is George Miller, which I highly doubt, but would be super cool. It'd be pretty cool if someone who wasn't a white dude could be in consideration, but hey, why would that happen?
My person short list is weird, but I think each could bring style and action to the table and make it work: Rian Johnson, Mel Gibson, Antoine Fuqua or honestly, David Ayer (Fury, End of Watch and his admitting of where SS went wrong would give me hope.)
Didn't Batfleck say that he'd only direct after the script was where he wanted it to be? Since he isn't directing, I don't have high hopes for this at all. Then again, Batman will never be the same since Nolan did what he did for 3 movies.
Was that who directed War Zone? That movie was good, but I don't know what else she's done. I'd be down just based off that movie though. My thoughts exactly. And you mean 2* movies
Warrior was great, you should also watch The Accountant and I liked Pride and Glory too. I listed Antoine Fuqua! Magnificent 7 and Equalizer were both movies with good story and action!
Well, yes. Batman was good in TDKR, but the supporting characters were completely wasted. I've always complained that how Bane was portrayed as this overpowering force, he was defeated in such a stupid way. The whole thing was just weird.
Batman/Cookie monster was not very good at all IMO. Retiring over a girlfriend for 8 years was so unbatman like. Then having his magic leg brace that made him go from limping to kicking in brick walls was terrible. He was a dick to everyone, including poor Alfred and even after having his back punched back in, he didn't even learn is lesson and fought Bane the same way except getting lucky that time. If I dive into all the other issues this movie had, we'd be here all day lol.
Yep. She doesn't have much other movie work (between being a woman with one flop and being super vocal about Hollywood critiques), but she is attached to direct an upcoming Chris Benoit film, which should be interesting. She also directed an episode of Arrow and an episode of Supergirl. Her Arrow episode was fantastic in spite of being in the midst of a terrible season. At this point, she has such a strong cult following that literally EVERY time a comic book franchise seat opens up, people give her a shoutout, lol. I'm proudly part of that following. Ha, I meant in the alleged list of directors they're considering.