Ben Affleck is no longer directing Warner Bros. and DC’s in-development solo Batman movie. The actor is still set to star and produce the picture at this time, plus he’s contributing to the script, but he will no longer helm the project. According to the news yesterday, both Affleck and the studio are already compiling a short list of potential replacements as development goes continues on the film. Matt Reeves is a name that has already been floated by sources, with more undoubtedly to come over the next few weeks and/or months.
With all that in mind, let’s have some fun! Let’s speculate as to whom might get tapped to take over the director’s chair on a film that is still rumored to be titled The Batman. I’m not going for pie-in-the-sky choices here, however. You will not find fan favorite suggestions like Kathryn Bigelow, George Miller, Edgar Wright, Gareth Evans, David Fincher, or Matthew Vaughn on this list. Nor will you find names like Mel Gibson (who has poo-poo’d the genre lately), Antoine Fuqua (he‘s booked), or John McTiernan (who is having trouble getting gigs in general). I guess I should say let’s have some “realistic” fun…
MATT REEVES (Cloverfield, Let Me In, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes)
This one is a bit of a cheat, as he‘s already on the short list. Reeves is currently fine tuning Fox’s War for the Planet of the Apes in post-production ahead of its July release. That means he‘s not really available to focus on much of anything else at this time, but given that Batman still doesn’t have a completed script that all are happy with, that’s fine. It gives them time to get at least one good draft in place while he‘s off finishing his latest blockbuster effort. Beyond War, Reeves’ only immediate project is the pilot for Fox’s “The Passage“. That should film sometime this spring or summer. After that, while he has a few other projects in development, I don’t believe he has anything ready-to-go just yet. Reeves was previously in the running to direct 2013’s Man of Steel, so he’s game for this world or at least was at one point.
LEXI ALEXANDER (Green Street Hooligans, Punisher: War Zone)
This option ticks a lot of boxes. Alexander is a fan favorite, she would bring some diversity to the mix, and she‘s an experienced action director. Furthermore, she‘s familiar with comic book adaptations, having not only helmed a Punisher film, but also episodes of DC’s “Arrow” and “Supergirl” TV shows as well. She’s currently gearing up to shoot a film about the tragic life of pro-wrestler Chris Benoit, but if all goes well, that’s a project that she should be finished with by the end of the year. Since no official production timeline is in place for this Batman movie, I don’t see why they couldn’t better hash out the script as they wait for her to become available.
GAVIN O’CONNOR (Miracle, Warrior, The Accountant)
O’Connor is the filmmaker whose name immediately popped into my head when I first received the news that Affleck had departed the project as director. A seasoned journeyman, O’Connor is a working director who is no stranger to picking up a project that’s lost a director and he‘s also worked with Affleck very recently. Furthermore, he recently signed on to direct a new Green Hornet adaptation for Paramount, so he clearly would like to play in the superhero sandbox. Could he be persuaded by Affleck and Warner Bros. to leave that masked hero project in favor of this one? It won’t surprise me in the slightest if that’s what ends up happening.
JOE CARNAHAN (Narc, Smokin’ Aces, The A-Team, The Grey)
Carnahan has had his name in the trades a lot lately, primarily due to his work over at Sony. The filmmaker has written scripts for both Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Bad Boys For Life for the studio, with an eye on directing the latter. While things seem to be going well with the Shawn Levy-directed Uncharted, the road is a bit rockier on the subject of Bad Boys. It seems that the film, which was originally expected to shoot this summer, now might not happen at all. Star Will Smith is currently deciding between doing it or Tim Burton’s Dumbo this year. Word is that if he chooses Dumbo, Bad Boys will not just be postponed. It will be cancelled. In the event of that, Carnahan will then be wide open to direct something else. The director worked with Affleck briefly when the latter had a small role in Smokin’ Aces, so a familiarity is already in place. Plus the director has flirted with comic book movies in the past, having come close to getting a new Daredevil movie off the ground at Fox before the rights reverted back to Marvel. The real question is whether or not WB would allow Carnahan to have creative input, should an offer to direct Batman arise? If not, I doubt he would be interested. Still, he makes for a fun and believable “what if” choice.
ANNA FOERSTER (Underworld: Blood Wars, “Outlander“)
Longtime cinematographer and second unit director Anna Foerster made her feature-length debut earlier this month with an action-packed genre sequel. That, coupled with her extensive experience in both film and television, makes her a good candidate for this gig. Underworld: Blood Wars was well-directed and brought some new life to a series that has floundered a bit visually sense its first outing. She’s an underdog choice to be sure, but one that I think could work well within whatever confines that WB, DC, and Affleck himself devise for the project in the coming months.
GUY RITCHIE (Snatch, RocknRolla, Sherlock Holmes)
While success eluded Ritchie on his last Warner Bros. project (The Man From Uncle) and is likely to do it again on his latest (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword), the director has been working with the studio for years now. They clearly seem to like having him around, with Ritchie also being attached to a handful of other projects at the studio in the past decade. With the third Sherlock Holmes movie still waiting for star Robert Downey Jr. to have some free time away from Marvel, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that WB would like to have someone that they know they can work well with on this. Someone who will, when pushed, give the studio what they ask for. I’m honestly surprised they haven’t already attached him to one of the numerous DC films they have in the works right now.
TIM MILLER (Deadpool)
Since exiting Fox’s Deadpool 2, Miller has actually yet to set up an immediate next project for himself as a director. Sure, he‘s producing a Sonic the Hedgehog movie and is tentatively attached to do some sort of amorphous Terminator film on down the line, but his schedule is otherwise wide open. Might he be willing to trade a Marvel hero for a DC one? After all, part of what supposedly caused a rift between Miller and the rest of the Deadpool 2 creative team was that he wanted to go huge with the sequel when they wanted to stick to a smaller scale. He could certainly go big with Batman. Were Miller to hop over to WB, it would also be shades of Bryan Singer leaving X-Men 3 for Superman Returns. Whether he is willing to go down that road or not, he seems exactly like the kind of fan favorite name that WB might be considering right now.
KARYN KUSAMA (Girlfright, Jennifer’s Body, The Invitation)
Kusama is a director who has yet to truly get her due outside of genre circles, despite directing a number of good films. While some may not be fans of the film, she‘s also no stranger to big budget studio work due to her Aeon Flux adaptation. Kusama is coming off of the horror indie darling The Invitation and, as far as I know, has yet to set up a follow-up project just yet. As with Foerster and Alexander, I think she would make a fine choice as a Batman director.
GARETH EDWARDS (Monsters, Godzilla, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story)
I’ll be surprised if this isn’t another name near that top of WB’s list. edwards previously worked with the studio on the 2014 hit Godzilla and had been developing its sequel with them for a long time. He ultimately bowed out, citing fatigue from doing Star Wars right after Godzilla. The director has since expressed a desire to do something smaller and more original next, making him a somewhat unlikely candidate. Still, could he resist the opportunity to play in this sandbox? After all, the studio could entice him with an overall deal that would allow him to make another film of his choosing for them. Despite production issues on both Godzilla and Star Wars, he remains a director that would likely excite fans enough to help them get over their disappointment in Affleck leaving the director’s chair behind.
MICHELLE MACLAREN (“The Walking Dead“, “Breaking Bad“, “Game of Thrones“)
A veteran TV director, especially when it comes to genre and action entertainment, MacLaren would be coup for this production. She was previously attached to direct WB’s Wonder Woman film, but bowed out early on in pre-production due to creative differences. That admittedly presents a bit of a roadblock when it come to the prospect of her directing Batman. Since the script is still in flux, however, perhaps she would be willing to give it a shot if she is included in the process. That’s a lot of “ifs”, especially on a project that both WB and Affleck will likely have final say on, but stranger things have happened. She has a couple of directorial gigs in the works elsewhere, including a project at Sony, but it’s unclear if any of them might clash with whatever production plans that WB might have for Batman.
Of course, there are numerous other names that would make for good options. For one thing, there‘s the rest of the roster that were up for Wonder Woman, such as Catherine Hardwicke, Mimi Leder, Rachel Talalay, Julie Taymor, and Tricia Brock. There are also loads of other choices that would be fan favorites and also make good choices, like Neil Marshall, Jennifer Kent, Carl Franklin, and Justin Lin. The point is that there are plenty of insanely eligible directors out there that we should be championing for this gig beyond the usual fancasting choices.
What do you think? Who would you like to see take over the project, be it a pie-in-the-sky choice or a realistic one?
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caseymoore
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RoboDouche