Warner Bros. has begun production on The Batman, the next installment in the ongoing DC Comics cinematic universe. Christian Bale is back as Batman and will be joined by Michael Keaton, who will play the Joker. The film also stars the incredible Robert Pattinson as the Penguin, with Rosie Perez as Catwoman and Ben McKenzie as Officer Dixon. In this early installment of the production blog series, we take a look at how the talented actors behind these iconic roles were chosen and what each is bringing to the series.
Who Will Play The Batman?
It has been almost two decades since Christian Bale donned the cape and cowl for the first time in the movie Batman Begins, reinventing the character for a new generation. Since then, he has continued to play the Dark Knight in three more films and gained a reputation as one of the finest actors of his generation. Now, at age 46, he is returning to the role he made famous for in a new installment of the Batman cinematic universe. While this newest Batman may be very different from the one we have come to know over the past two decades, Christian Bale promises that fans will not be disappointed.
Christian gave the following statement about his return:
“I have so much respect for the fans who have supported me over the years, and I can’t wait to give them something new to cheer about. As for the character, he’s a man of his time, and I feel I’ve never really played a part that’s entirely consistent with his comic book origins. But who knows? Maybe the character will evolve in a way that I’ll find surprising. For the moment, I just have to do my best and trust in the character and the project itself. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate being given the opportunity to tackle such an iconic role. It’s an honor,” he said.
Michael Keaton, Who Is Replacing Christian Bale As The Joker?
It is no secret that Heath Ledger’s tragic death last year left a huge void in the world of acting. The Joker, who is known for his performances in various Batman films, will not be appearing in the upcoming Batman installment, The Batman. However, that doesn’t mean that the role will go unfilled. One of the greatest living actors has decided to step into the dark knight’s shoes and will be playing the iconic character of the Joker. Michael Keaton, who you may know from films like Joe’s Café and Birdman, has been chosen to play the madman formerly known as Heath Ledger.
Keaton is no stranger to playing crazy characters. He has a long history of portraying crazy, comedic and sometimes even tragic characters in a variety of films and has been celebrated for his performances in both comedic and dramatic roles. Known for his incredible body of work, Keaton will be appearing in The Batman alongside some of the greatest actors of our time. This will be the fourth time that Michael Keaton has played the Joker, following in the footsteps of Jack Napier, Harvey Dent and now, Ledger. He will be challenging himself physically and mentally to embody the character of the Joker for which he is being paid $10 million and will be using the services of Dr. Eugene Shinick, a movement specialist, to help him prepare for the role. Michael Keaton has said that he is honored to be playing such an iconic role and that he is looking forward to putting his own spin on the character.
Robert Pattinson Will Play The Penguin
We all had high hopes for the upcoming The Great Gatsby. Baz Luhrmann is certainly no stranger to reinventing classic texts for the big screen, and the potential for this film was evident even before the trailer was released. Unfortunately, the hype did not live up to the film itself, which received mixed reviews from critics and audiences alike. Still, there were a few gems to be found in the cinematic adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel: some incredibly stylish visuals, a wonderful performance from Leonardo DiCaprio and one of the most intriguing cameos we have seen in a while. One of the film’s villains, The Penguin, was immediately recognizable even if you had never seen a Disney cartoon. The five-time Golden Globe nominee and Twilight star Robert Pattinson was chosen to play the part of the famous flying rodent and will be appearing alongside Michael Keaton, who is playing the Joker, in a film directed by Tim Burton.
According to Variety, Robert Pattinson has signed on for a lucrative role in Tim Burton’s The Batman, where he will be playing the Penguin, a character he is already familiar with from his previous collaboration with the director, Burton’s Edward Scissorhands. In the film, which is currently in pre-production, Pattinson will be playing against-type casting opposite Michael Keaton as the vicious gangster Joker.
Pattinson is no stranger to playing villains, having portrayed a variety of them in both films and TV shows. The actor has recently completed filming on the futuristic dark comedy Extinction, which also stars Kate Winslet, Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes. Besides Burton and Scissorhands, he has also worked with the director Joe Versus the Volcano, Sleepy Hollow and Sweeney Todd. On the small screen, he portrayed a serial killer in The Lost Boys, a schizophrenic in the horror series Gravedale and the vampire Barnabas Collins in the hit show, The Vampire Diaries. He is also set to star in the upcoming horror film The Darkness, which is directed by John Carpentier and will be released in theaters this fall. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Burton said of Pattinson, “He’s just a badass. You watch him work and you’re like, ‘Damn, that guy is scary.'”
Rosie Perez As Catwoman
From the very beginning, fans knew that Disney’s take on the classic Batman mythos would be different from previous adaptations. That difference is immediately apparent in the film’s stunning opening sequence, where a young girl discovers a makeshift batcave and is drawn in by the promise of discovering Batman’s secrets. It might not sound like the most conventional way to start a movie, but it is absolutely unforgettable.
What is perhaps most surprising about this adaptation, however, is not the way it diverges from the comics so much as the character Rosie Perez has been chosen to portray. While most know her from comedy series In Living Color, with a long history in film and on TV, Rosie Perez most recently starred in the Netflix series, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. She is also well known for her role as Carmen Cortez in Quentin Tarantulin’s True Romance, and prior to that, she played a small role in Tarantulin’s Reservoir Dogs. She will be reuniting with Tarantulin for The Batman and is looking forward to bringing her unique voice to the role of the world’s greatest detective’s girlfriend.
However, Hollywood has a way of forgetting about the ladies once the cameras stop rolling. While Michael Keaton is being honored for essentially playing the role of the Joker, Christian Bale is receiving the most credit for reinventing the Batman character for a new generation. That is probably because Bale, as we mentioned above, is returning to the role, while Keaton is replacing the role of the Joker. Still, it is interesting to see Hollywood acknowledging that they are not solely responsible for the rebirth of Batman, but are just continuing a trend that began with the cinematic universe and continued with Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy.
The film is set to be released in theaters on May 25, 2021, so let’s meet the amazing people who are bringing the Dark Knight back for another round of crime-fighting.