“Interstellar” director Christopher Nolan is excited to see actor Ben Affleck take on the role of Batman.
During an interview USA Today, Nolan explained he’s discussed the “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” production with director Zack Snyder and is looking forward to seeing a new interpretation of the iconic DC character.
“Zack’s a great friend,” he said, “and I know Ben and he’s just an extraordinary guy. I’ll be the first in line to see what they’ve done.”
While some DC fans may not share Nolan’s excitement to see Affleck as Batman, producer Charles Roven recently explained why the “Batman vs. Superman” production wanted to cast the actor as the superhero.
Roven explained to “The Hollywood Masters” series at Loyola Marymount School of Film back in October that they needed the perfect counterpart to Henry Cavill, someone who could easily intimidate the Man of Steel.
"[Affleck] was the first guy we went to, that's who we wanted,” Roven said. “We knew that we wanted a very mature Batman, because we wanted to juxtapose him with this very young Superman.
“So we wanted a guy, who was tougher, rugged, who had signs of life, who had lived a hard life, and we wanted the guy to have chops for sure. So when we went down that list, there just weren't a tremendous number of guys who could carry that. We also wanted a guy with big stature. Ben is 6-4. Henry [Cavill] is a 6-1.”
Roven also explained why a DC character crossover couldn’t have worked with Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy, but is easier to set up with Snyder’s “Man of Steel” universe.
“When we embarked on Man of Steel…one of the things we were doing was we were created a universe that had a superhero in it, because Superman is clearly a superhero, he has superpowers,” Roven said. “So once we did that, it was with the knowledge that, if the movie was successful and we expanded the universe, we were going to expand it and populate it with other, like characters.”
“Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” is slated to hit theaters on March 25, 2016.
