With Ben Affleck officially stepping down this week as the director of ‘The Batman,’ the DCEU has taken a major blow, as a film directed by such an acclaimed director would surely have brought some legitimacy to their highly criticized pantheon of films. However, all hope is not lost, as Affleck is still on board to produce and star in the stand-alone film starring everyone’s favorite Dark Knight, with his official statement claiming that “I have decided to find a partner in a director who will collaborate with me on this massive film.”
So the next question is, who could they get to replace him?
Originally when the story broke, Variety had reported that Matt Reeves was on the short list held by Warner Bros, and recently rumors have stated that such big names as Gavin O’Connor, Denis Villeneuve, and George Miller were potential candidates, which of course does not even get into all of the names thrown out there by fans that could work.
One interesting suggestion thrown into the mix was made by James Gunn of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ fame, interesting because it is not every day you see someone from the opposite camp give a thought out and somewhat helpful suggestion to their comic counterpart. (Of course, this is Marvel going toward DC, so far no one on DC has yet to reciprocate, as so far DC has a track record of Jason Mamoa autographing a 12-year old boy’s poster of ‘Aquaman’ with “F#$% Marvel” and David Ayers shouting the same thing at the ‘Suicide Squad’ premiere). Anyways, James Gunn suggested during a recent Facebook Q&A that Jeremy Saulnier (of ‘Blue Ruin’ and ‘Green Room’ fame) would be a good fit for ‘The Batman:’
“If Jeremy Saulnier was interested he’d be a good choice.”
Saulnier is best known for work that showcases some extreme violence and produces some amazing thrills, not to mention the kind of tension he is able to build in a scene, and if tweaked correctly, I could definitely see those elements working very well in a ‘Batman’ movie. Of course, the man’s last project, ‘Green Room,’ only had a budget of about $5 million, and I am not sure Warner Bros is prepared to let someone that, well, “green” handle such a big budget blockbuster at this point, even if they had Affleck on hand to help out. Still, the possibility is there, and we could get a very different, and potentially amazing ‘Batman’ film out of it.
What are your thoughts on the future of ‘The Batman?’ Is the project dead in the water at this point? Is the DCEU cursed? Or is this just a temporary setback? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Source: Screen Rant
Nick is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles, who belongs to the privileged few who enjoyed the ending to ‘Lost.’ For more of Nick’s thoughts and articles, follow him on Twitter.
