Rumor: Armie Hammer may play Batman in Justice League movie

Once again, Armie Hammer is Warner Bros.' top choice to play Batman in a still-hypothetical Justice League movie.

According to a recently published report on Digital Spy, actor Armie Hammer (pictured above at right) is being strongly considered for the role of Batman in Warner Bros. inevitable film based on DC Comics’ Justice League superhero team. 

If that sounds familiar to you, it’s not because we’re reprinting old stories in some kind of ill-conceived “Digital Trends Greatest Hits” initiative. Hammer was originally the top candidate for the Batman role back when Mad Max director George Miller was attached to the Justice League project. That attempt to get this movie made fell apart a few years ago, yet Warner Bros. is determined to pick up a slice of that sweet superhero team movie cash generated by The Avengers earlier this year, and will not rest until someone, somewhere is filming a big-budget Justice League feature film.

As for why Hammer once again leads the list of names vying for the Bruce Wayne/Batman role in this film, Digital Spy’s unnamed insider source claims that Hammer’s recent ascent to the fringes of the Hollywood A-list has put him “back on WB’s radar.” Hammer will next appear as the titular lawman in Disney’s Lone Ranger feature film alongside Johnny Depp, which is undeniably a pretty major role (even if Depp’s silly, borderline-racist crow hat will inevitably overshadow Hammer’s performance).

In case you’re wondering if Hammer’s hypothetical Batman might officially replace the fan-favorite Batman portrayed by Christian Bale in Christopher Nolan’s recently-concluded Batman trilogy, don’t worry: According to the anonymous source, Hammer’s version of the character will only be used in this initial Justice League film and any sequels it might spawn. Unless plans change, Hammer won’t be appearing in any solo Batman adventures.

Finally, Digital Spy claims that the Justice League film will include a relatively standard roster for the superteam. Though the Justice League (and its innumerable spin-off groups) has seen hundreds of members over its half-century-plus in existence, this initial Justice League movie will focus on the core group of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and The Flash. No, we have no idea which iterations of The Flash or Green Lantern Warner Bros. plans to use, but we’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything more concrete than just “our shadowy informant said…”.

Working under the assumption that these rumors are all true, this news doesn’t so much fill us with joyful anticipation as it raises questions in our comic book-addled brains. As much as we like Hammer — other than the Trent Reznor score, his work as the Winklevoss Twins in David Fincher’s The Social Network was easily our favorite part of that film — he simply seems too young and soft to properly portray Batman. Yes, Bruce Wayne grew up in a mega-wealthy family and has never wanted for money, but there’s a certain edge to the character that seems minor but is, in fact, one of his defining traits. Christian Bale was able to pull this off flawlessly, but so far Hammer has yet to do anything that suggests he might have that certain killer instinct that makes Bruce Wayne more than just your average playboy.

More crucially, if Hammer is cast, and his Batman is used solely in Justice League movies, what happens when The WB wants to start churning out new Batman films? Will they go back on their plan? Will they find another actor? Assuming the latter, won’t the public be confused by two entirely separate Batmen coming from the same production studio? Objectively speaking, one of them has to be better than the other, so in that case the studio would be running the risk of overshadowing its own projects and cannibalizing any potential audience either franchise might attract.

Whatever happens, this film isn’t scheduled to hit theaters until at least 2015, so Warner Bros. certainly has lots of time to figure things out. In the mean time, as usual, we invite you to visit the comments section below to either vilify this rumored news, or figuratively clap like one of those wind-up cymbal monkeys. Whichever more accurately conveys your current emotional state.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Rumor: Brett Ratner, McG join Justice League short list

We hate to break it to you, but that Justice League movie might be directed by the guy responsible for Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.

We’ve recently spent a large amount of time discussing who might possibly be tapped by Warner Bros. to helm its upcoming movie based on DC Comics’ Justice League superhero team. A quick search reveals no less than three separate articles on Ben Affleck’s non-involvement with the project, and we were also quite pleased to hear that the WB has the Wachowski siblings on its short list of possible directors. Unfortunately, the latest rumors swirling around this film aren’t quite as rosy. According to Den Of Geek, Warner Bros. has added two more names to the list of candidates: Brett Ratner and the annoyingly pseudonymous McG.

Den Of Geek reports:

… the names that were or are on the shortlist are Ben Affleck (who has said that he’s not involved), The Wachowskis (Warner Bros is reportedly impressed with their work on Cloud Atlas), Brett Ratner, Ruben Fleischer (presumably Warner Bros is happy with his upcoming Gangster Squad), McG, and Zack Snyder (a logical addition to the list, given Man Of Steel).

Alright, forget Fleischer and Snyder for a moment. Not because we have anything against either man, it’s just that they both seem potentially capable of creating a solid, entertaining Justice League movie. We aren’t as excited by their names as we were for Affleck or the Wachowskis, but it wouldn’t upset us if either of these auteurs was handed the reins to the WB’s next big tentpole feature. We would however, be appalled if either McG or Ratner were to be tapped for the gig.

Let’s take a quick look at IMDB to remind ourselves of the work these two men have done in the past. McG (née Joseph McGinty Nichol) has been behind the camera for such shining cinematic gems as the Charlie’s Angels films, Terminator Salvation and the music video for Sublime’s “Santeria” — which, as you can see, isn’t exactly “Thriller.” Ratner on the other hand, has been attached to such films as the Rush Hour series, 2011′s disappointing Tower Heist, and the third, objectively terrible X-Men movie. The really depressing bit though is that we didn’t have to cherry pick films that might make these two directors look bad. Aside from that Sublime video these are the most prominent, fiscally successful films these guys have created to date, and the most positive thing we can say about any of them is that Jackie Chan was pretty entertaining in the Rush Hour movies (though, in fairness, that’s probably more the result of Chan’s massive charisma and borderline-superhuman martial arts skills than anything Ratner might have done).

The good news here is that all of this is technically still a rumor. Granted, the sources on these rumors do have a pretty solid track record of being right about this kind of thing, but until we get official confirmation that either Ratner or McG will be directing The Justice League, we’re going to keep our fingers crossed that this has all been a horrible dream.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Ben Affleck: ‘I’m not working on the Justice League’

Ben Affleck is not going to be directing Warner Bros.' upcoming Justice League movie. He said so himself.

If you’ve been following our ongoing coverage of Warner Bros. upcoming, still-hypothetical movie based on DC Comics’ Justice League superhero team, then you no doubt know that Ben Affleck was rumored to be assuming the role of the director (and possibly one of the stars) for the movie. Likewise, you also probably know that other, separate rumors claim that Affleck will not be directing. With so many conflicting reports, who is a person to believe?

How about Affleck himself?

“I’m not working on the Justice League,” Affleck recently told Vancouver, BC news organization 24 Hours Vancouver. “One of the problems with entertainment web sites is that they need to fill pages, and that’s how rumours get started. Justice League sounds really exciting, but it’s not something I’m working on.”

24 Hours then attempts to work around Affleck’s own words by saying that just because the man is not currently working on Justice League, that does not mean that he wouldn’t be up for it in the future. This movie is still a ways away from entering production, so why couldn’t Affleck sign on later? Or so the site’s reasoning seems to go.

We however, are done with this. If Ben Affleck says he’s not directing Justice League, then as far as we’re concerned he’s not directing Justice League. Until an official press release contradicts this idea, we think it would be more prudent to speculate on other possible directors than to constantly flog this “Affleck as Justice League director” idea to death. Intriguingly, there are new rumors circulating that the Wachowski siblings are among Warner Bros.’ prospective auteurs, and despite their middling success since The Matrix, you can’t deny that a Wachowski-helmed Justice League flick would, at the very least, be a massive visual spectacle — and call us shallow, but we kinda dig Wachowski-brand spectacle, even if it’s severely lacking in complementary substance.

Excitement aside, and as much as this is quite literally our job, can we place a moratorium on Justice League director rumors? We aren’t going to get Christopher Nolan to helm this project, Affleck is presumably out and that Wachowskis thing I just mentioned is as likely to be entirely made up as it is to be legitimate. Maybe those other sites mentioned by Affleck that desperately need to pad out their page views can’t see what’s going on here, but we’re growing tired of reporting on what is effectively a lack of information. We’d convey the same meaning and ramifications by telling you all kid’s fairy tales. You know the Three Billy Goats Gruff, right? Not only is that a great story, it’s also exactly as likely to come true as any of these rumors. Let’s make a pact here: You won’t read any of this stuff, we won’t write about it, and instead we’ll all focus on something more important (like, literally anything else). Deal?

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Ben Affleck may not direct Justice League after all

Despite earlier reports, it seems that Ben Affleck is most likely not going to be directing the WB's Justice League film.

As much as we hate playing into the “he said, she said, his or her people said” game of entertainment journalism, since we already told you guys yesterday that Warner Bros. was keen to have Ben Affleck helm its inevitable movie based on DC Comics’ Justice League, it seems that Affleck himself isn’t really in support of this plan. At least, that’s the case assuming you believe Deadline over Variety.

Yesterday, as you’ll recall, we reported on a piece Variety had published claiming that Affleck had become the WB’s first choice for director after Dark Knight Rises director Christopher Nolan made it clear that he was out of the superhero movie biz. That seemed reasonable for a number of reasons, outlined in our previous article. However, this morning, Deadline posted a piece claiming that it had been in contact with people close to Affleck who say that the man has no intention of joining the production.

Now, it makes sense that Warner Bros would offerAffleck the project. Chris Nolan is top man over there, but after three Batfilms and after producing the Superman reboot Man of Steel, he’s gotten spandex-clad protagonists out of his system. After Nolan, the studio then offers everything else to Harry Potter director David Yates (who is now keen on Tarzan) and Affleck, who has become a major director with Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and the upcoming Argo. Just because the studio wants Affleck doesn’t mean he will do the movie, and several sources tell me he might take a meeting, but that’s it.

While Deadline seems sure of its claims, it offers scant few reasons why Affleck would refuse the opportunity. It does point out that Affleck likely would only want to take on this project if he has figured out a clever way to create a film that might possibly top Joss Whedon’s mega-successful Marvel Studios flick The Avengers, but beyond that Deadline’s entire piece hinges on the site’s anonymous sources who don’t see Affleck’s involvement with Justice League to be very likely.

In the end, it basically comes down to who you trust more: Variety or Deadline. We don’t want to take sides here since we can’t even claim to have insider information on this topic, so it looks like we’ll have to wait and see what happens with this film when/if Warner Bros. gets around to making official personnel decisions. In the meantime, we’ll again point out that Affleck would be a perfectly reasonable choice for the project — the man both has superhero movie experience and is a surprisingly competent director — but that at the same time Deadline does make a good point: Why would Affleck want to attach himself to such a high-profile project when it inherently brings with it such a massively high expectations?

We fully expect to see the Justice League movie hit theaters at some point in the near future, but as much as we’d like to offer you guys some solid info on the flick, thanks to Variety and Deadline’s disagreement, we’re back to knowing absolutely nothing useful about this production. Apologies to any of you who got prematurely excited.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com