Fanboys may have flipped their lids when Ben Affleck was announced as the new Caped Crusader in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," but according to the film's producer, the actor was filmmakers' first choice for the part.
During a discussion with The Hollywood Reporter, producer Charles Roven revealed that Affleck was at the top of the list for the role from the very beginning of the planning stages for the "Man of Steel" follow-up.
"He was the first guy we went to. That's who we wanted," Roven told THR. "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."
Affleck's towering 6-foot-4 frame also played a part in his casting, Roven added, telling THR that filmmakers wanted "a guy with a big stature ... to tower over Superman. ... Superman needed to 'look up' to Batman." With star Henry Cavill standing at 6-foot-1, the juxtaposition with Affleck made sense, Roven said.
The producer added that before Affleck accepted the role, he spoke with director Zack Snyder about the direction in which filmmakers planned on taking the character, looking for assurance about how this version of Batman and Bruce Wayne would differ from previous incarnations. Roven insisted that the Batman in "Dawn of Justice" would be "completely different."
"He's much more of a social animal in the Bruce Wayne incarnation, but he's also an extremely rough guy in the Batman incarnation - very, very, very rough," Roven told THR.
For more from Roven, check out the full discussion here. "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" hits theaters on March 25, 2016.
[via: The Hollywood Reporter]
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