Once upon a time, there was a lot of hope for Zack Snyder‘s vision for the DC Universe. “Man of Steel” was primarily well-received, and upcoming plans for a new actor to play Batman in a big-budget crossover film, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” had fans excited for a Marvel-like plan that was about to unfurl. Back in 2013, actor Josh Brolin was in the mix to play Snyder’s Bruce Wayne after previously portraying DC western hero, “Jonah Hex.”
Appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast (listen below), Brolin said that Snyder eventually passed on him, leading to Ben Affleck nabbing the part.
“That was interesting to me. That was [Snyder’s] decision; that wasn’t my decision,” Brolin said of not getting the Batman part, which it sounds like he would have gladly taken. “It would have been the older, the more raspy, for lack of a better word…Honestly, that would have been a fun deal. And maybe I’ll do it when I’m 80.”
Meanwhile, anyone who has read the “Dune” novel or watched the original David Lynch film knows that Brolin’s character Gurney Halleck survived the massive Harkonnen attack in the first film and is part of the returning cast for Denis Villeneuve‘s “Dune: Part Two” that begins shooting this summer.
The actor recently called the return a “proud moment” during a chat with Collider and given the film’s awards consideration, the second installment might have another chance at collecting more Oscar statues in 2024.
There is also an expectation we’ll see Brolin show off more of his character’s legendary fighting skills as there will be a lot more action scenes and skirmishes in the next installment of the sci-fi epic. Potentially making a case for Brolin playing an older version of Batman in the future, Warner Bros. Discovery is looking to overhaul the DC side of things by pursuing more mature projects like “The Joker.” This could potentially open the door for an authentic adaptation of Frank Miller‘s adult graphic novel “The Dark Knight Returns” as a smaller self-contained standalone feature with new actors, maybe? One day? Fingers crossed?
Barring any production hiccups, “Dune: Part Two” is set to be released in theaters on October 20, 2023.