“The Batman” universe might be in flux — multiple projects in development without it being entirely clear which of them will actually be shooting anytime soon, and the general creative vision potentially shifting away from what Zack Snyder established in “Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice” — but that’s not going to stop any rumor-mongering, particularly when it’s fueled by a big-name actor.
Actor Josh Gad, who broke through in “Book Of Mormon” on stage before starring in films including “The Wedding Ringer,” “Beauty And The Beast” and, most notably, “Frozen” as the voice of Olaf The Snowman, posted something cryptic on his Twitter. Well, we say cryptic: it was a comic-book panel of Batman villain The Penguin, understandably sparking some speculation as to whether Gad might have been cast as the dapper character in a future Bat-film of some kind.
This sort of thing wouldn’t be unprecedented: Deathstroke was announced as a villain in Ben Affleck’s “The Batman” after Affleck posted a video on his Twitter last year (though with the film being retooled, that casting might not actually come to pass). But it could also be Gad publicly lobbying for a role that he, admittedly, wouldn’t be a bad fit for, at least physically.
That said, it’s unclear which of the upcoming films — not just “The Batman,” now being helmed by Matt Reeves, but also David Ayer’s “Gotham City Sirens,” Chris McKay’s “Nightwing,” the “Suicide Squad” sequel, and Joss Whedon’s “Batgirl” — Gad might be up for, and it’s entirely possible that the actor is talking about one of those straight-to-VOD DC Animated Movies or something instead: Gad’s level of stardom is one that he could conceivably be doing either. With Reeves and Whedon early in the process and likely not casting yet, and “Suicide Squad 2” still without a director, we suspect there’s not much to this, but we’re sure it’ll become clearer in the near future.
READ MORE: Joss Whedon’s ‘Batgirl’ And The Lie Of The One-Size-Fits-All Cinematic Universe Model
In more solid Bat-news, Reeves was talking about his upcoming “War For The Planet Of The Apes” to the LA Daily News, and shared a little of his vision for “The Batman,” saying that he was attracted to the superhero movie in part because Batman is just a guy in a suit. “It’s a strange thing to be involved in the two franchises which were the two that I was connected to most as a child,” Reeves told the paper. “I just was obsessed with Batman when I was a kid. What I find so interesting about him as a character is that, as far as a superhero goes, he’s not superhuman, he is a person. And he is a tortured soul who is grappling with his past and trying to find a way to be in a world that has a lot that’s wrong with it and trying to find a way to reconcile all of that. That is a really powerful character, in the same way that Caesar is such a powerful character.”
It’s a breath of fresh air to hear someone talking about the character in thoughtful terms like this, and makes us even more psyched to see Reeves’ take on the character, whenever it lands (and word is Reeves won’t be actively starting work until ‘War’ is out in a few months). In the meantime, the director’s been talking to Entertainment Weekly about some of the influences of his latest Apes movie, and they sound literally epic. “We watched ‘Bridge On The River Kwai,’” he told EW. “We watched ‘The Great Escape.’ We watched Biblical epics, because I really felt like this movie had to have a Biblical aspect to it. We watched ‘Ben-Hur,’ ‘The Ten Commandments.’ We didn’t go, like, ‘Let’s take a little bit of this, a little bit of that.’ When you surround yourself with something that feels emotionally right, there are connections that make sense to you that somebody else might not see…[the films] informed the vibe we felt about this thing.” That movie opens on July 14th.
— Josh Gad (@joshgad) May 2, 2017