Our friends at Forbes seem to have a direct line into what is happening over at Warner Bros. currently concerning the replacement of Ben Affleck as director of The Batman.
Yesterday, Variety mentioned that Matt Reeves was on a shortlist to direct the project and now Forbes is adding a couple more names into the mix. They include rumored candidates like Blade Runner 2049 director Denis Villeneuve (Oscar-nominated for Arrival), Mad Max: Fury Road’s George Miller, The Accountant’s Gavin O’Connor, and Captain Fantastic’s Matt Ross.
For the most part, the shortlist looks great on paper but Denis Villeneuve is already committed to directing Legendary’s Dune reboot and had been talking about making multiple sequels to Blade Runner. Then again, Denis is a workhorse director and could possibly jump into making The Batman between the release of Blade Runner 2049 and the development of Dune, we’ll have to wait and see.
George Miller is the bigger longshot of the bunch, considering he confirmed turning down an offer from Warner Bros. to direct big projects like Akira and Man of Steel 2. There had also been chatter that Green Lantern Crops. was also on the table but looks like he also turned that down too. Miller stating he wants to make a smaller film before jumping into the two Mad Max sequels he is planning on doing in the near future.
WB also notoriously pulled the plug on his Justice League film years back.
Gavin O’Connor might seem like a good fit because he just worked with Affleck on The Account, but like Live By Night the film didn’t do very well at the box office and could make the studio nervous right off the bat. However, O’Connor recently signed on to direct a new feature film based on The Green Hornet, so he already had comic book crime fighters on the brain.
Matt Ross doesn’t really have experience with larger filmmaking but we’ve seen the trend of indie filmmakers making the jump to massive blockbusters turn out great or crash-and-burn.
I’m sure we’ll be learning more names as the days go by.
Production on The Batman was said to begin around April-May yet it’s now unknown when or if the film will be shot within this year at all.
SOURCE: FORBES