It looks as though the new Batman may have been found in Jack O’Connell, the British actor that co-starred in the acclaimed Netflix miniseries ‘Godless’, for which he was nominated for Best Actor in a limited series by the Broadcast Television Journalists Association. He also had a major role in Jodie Foster’s ‘Money Monster’ opposite George Clooney and Julia Roberts and starred in the Angelina Jolie-directed ‘Unbroken’. His most recent movie, in which he also played the starring role, is Edward Zwick’s ‘Trial By Fire’, the true story of Cameron Todd Willingham, a man executed in Texas for killing his three children, after evidence that proved his innocence was suppressed. That movie recently premiered at the Telluride Film Festival.
The road to Matt Reeves’ ‘The Batman’ has been rocky. The film was originally meant to be a continuation of other films, ‘Batman V Superman’, ‘Justice League’ and ‘Suicide Squad’ with Ben Affleck starring and directing, possibly with Will Smith reprising his role as Deadshot, and with Joe Manganiello making his major debut as Deathstroke. But Affleck dropped out of directing, and once Reeves took over, it was soon learned that this movie would not continue the stories from the prior DC movies, but would be a prequel, focusing on a younger Batman, early in his crime-fighting career. Now there is buzz that ‘The Batman’ won’t connect to the existing DC Universe of movies at all, and that it might, instead, be a follow-up to Todd Phillips’ ‘Joker’.
O’Connell’s involvement is strictly a rumor at this point, but several sources have reported that Affleck, who will produce ‘The Batman’ despite his lack of involvement in any other capacity, visited the Warner Brothers lot last week to meet with executives and, reportedly, with O’Connell. But there is some speculation that O’Connell may be up for a different role, with some suggesting Dick Grayson/Robin/Nightwing. (Chris McKay was attached to direct a ‘Nightwing’ movie, but reportedly WB has put on the back burner.)
Are you familiar with O’Connell’s work? How do you think he would fare as Batman?
Source: That Hashtag Show
