“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” director Zack Snyder says that he wanted to cast Christian Bale in his upcoming film, though Bale wouldn’t have reprised his role as the caped crusader.
“This is a total and opposite reality from the Chris Nolan movies,” he told Australian publication Film Ink. “It’s another universe, so we couldn’t hire Christian Bale if we wanted to, because he doesn’t exist in our world. Maybe we could hire him to play another part. We did talk about that briefly. I just wanted to hire Christian to play another part to make that obvious. Christian could play, like, Alfred with age makeup.”
Wait. Did he really want to cast Bale as Alfred? “No! Of course not,” Snyder clarified. “But you know what I mean.”
He added that many studio executives were probing him on which actors he would get from previous films, but Snyder kept reiterating that this was “a different world.”
“In the Batman universe that Chris Nolan created, Superman would have a hard time existing,” he continued. “That that’s why we did a reboot on the universe, so we could allow these characters to exist together. We needed to do that to have Batman exist in this world.”
In the article, Snyder also elaborated on why he chose Ben Affleck to play the role of Batman in the film that sees the caped crusader leading a crusade against Superman, believing that the Kryptonian is too powerful to be trusted.
“I really wanted an old Batman – not, like, decrepit!” he said. “I wanted a world weary Batman… someone who has had experiences, and Ben has really hit that. He’s a movie star now in the greatest definition of the word. He has gravitas. We’ve greyed his hair a little, and we’ve made him look a bit rough and rugged, in a good way. He’s a great actor, and he’s a big person. He’s 6’4″, and in the boots, he’s 6’6″. I don’t like a small Batman…I like my Batmen bigger!”
The movie also includes Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Amy Adams as Superman’s girlfriend Lois Lane, Diane Lane as Superman’s Earth mom Martha Kent, Laurence Fishburne as Daily Planet editor Perry White, Holly Hunter as a crusading anti-Superman U.S. senator, and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to have Wonder Woman in the film,” Snyder added. “We haven’t had a female superhero of that magnitude, and it’s an amazing opportunity for the world to get behind an amazing, powerful female character. I’m happy that we have the opportunity to do that. Half of my movies have female leads…maybe that’s because I have so many strong women in my life. I’m not in the least surprised by a strong female superhero. I’m shocked that it hasn’t happened sooner.”
“Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice” will hit theaters on March 25.