As well as taking up the mantle of the Dark Knight, Ben Affleck will direct the next Solo Batman Movie, it has been confirmed.
It has long been rumoured that the actor, who won a string of awards and world wide recognition for his directing, particularly for the film Argo, in the past, would be the man for the job, and the folks at Warner Bros. finally confirmed it this weekend at San Diego Comic Con.
If you missed that announcement amongst the avalanche of trailers that Warner Bros. released during their panel, then there’s a very good reason why; the announcement was barely an announcement at all, and was in fact confirmed by chat show host Conan O’Brien who, acting as the moderator for the Warner Bros. panel, introduced Affleck as not only the star of the upcoming Solo Batman film, but the director too, meaning that the official confirmation of the longstanding rumour was missed by many!
Understandably, there was some confusion as to why Warner Bros. where so willing to hand over the reigns of the Batman movies, the biggest star of one of their biggest franchises, to the movies lead actor, but it is important to remember that not only is Affleck an established film maker, but a very highly award one, too; his last directorial effort Argo beat out Les Miserable, Zero Dark Thirty and The Life of Pi to walk home with the Academy Award for Best Picture, the top award in the biggest and most prestigious award show in the industry.
Still, Affleck will have a tough job taking over from Christopher Nolan, the man behind Memento, Inception and Interstellar, and the man whose Batman Trilogy (consisting of Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises) has set the tone, and a very high standard, for all the films to follow, and Affleck will have to be on his A-game if he hopes to compete with one of the most revered directors of our time.
Although Nolan is currently shooting his latest film Dunkirk, a war movie staring Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy and Harry Styles, it is possible he may still be involved in Affleck’s film, as he somehow found the time to serve as executive producer on both Man of Steel and Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, the first two films of the DC Extended Universe and the one from which Ben Affleck’s Batman was born.
Ben Affleck’s Batman can next be seen taking a leading role in Zach Snyder’s Justice League: Part 1, the trailer of which debuted yesterday and we covered (and can be seen!) here, although we’ll have to wait a little bit longer to see him in his first solo outing, as neither DC nor Warner Bros. have even given a speculative date as to when that will be released just yet.
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