Article: Batman 5 In The Works
Date: 30th January 2003
Contriutor: ComicBookMovie
I always think its interesting to look back at news stories from the past and look at how accurate they were when we look back now - this feature is really meant to get people thinking about how news is reported in a way that is usually as dramatic as possible - and sometimes entirely incorrect with the benefit of hindsight. Anyway - here is the article from 2003:
With all the success of superhero films in recent box office history, one celebrated masked man will be heading back to theaters once again.
"Memento" and "Insomnia" director Christopher Nolan has agreed to take the helms for the fifth installment of the "Batman" series. Signing a deal with studio giant Warner Bros., Nolan hopes to make the latest edition of the caped crusader more of a success than the previous two "Batman" films. With Val Kilmer and George Clooney playing the role of Bruce Wayne, "Batman Forever" and "Batman and Robin" were flops at the box office when compared to the other blockbuster superhero films.
There is no word on who will play the leading role in "Batman 5", but Nolan doesn't seem to concerned about that right now. "I grew up with Batman. I've been fascinated by him and I'm excited to contribute to the lore surrounding the character."
With his passion for the character and successful track record,
Nolan seems to be a trustworthy candidate to take over as the
man behind the bat.
Interesting reading given the fact that
Batman Begins went on to become one of the highest grossing movies of 2005. Right back in 2003 Batman fans across the world were still wincing from what Joel Schumacher did to the franchise so news that a gritty new director who "grew up with Batman" and was "fascinated by him" seemed to excite fans the world over.
As the article says back in 2003 Nolan was not concerned with who would play Batman, and this was true for most of 2003, but on September 3rd 2003
MTV News reported:
Have all of those years battling Dawson over Joey prepared Joshua Jackson to face off against someone like the Joker or Killer Croc? Well, that's just one of the questions Warner Bros. hopes to answer in the quest to cast the next Batman.
Producers and "Memento" director Christopher Nolan are meeting with a short list of would-be Dark Knights who are all hoping to put on the cape and cowl last worn by George Clooney in 1997's critically panned "Batman & Robin." Christian Bale ("American Psycho"), Cillian Murphy ("28 Days Later"), Henry Cavill ("I Capture the Castle"), Eion Bailey ("Fight Club") and former "Dawson's Creek" star Jackson are all in the running for the title role, according to various sources, including a report in Wednesday's Hollywood Reporter.
The list of actors lining up to test for the role also includes Jake Gyllenhaal, star of the cult indie flick "Donnie Darko" and Jennifer Aniston's love interest in last year's acclaimed "The Good Girl". Gyllenhaal nearly put a superhero suit on once before, when "Spider-Man" sequel negotiations with Tobey Maguire briefly went sour.
In the end, the role went to Christian Bale - who has become this generations Batman, but it was interesting to see that Henry Cavill was being touted for the lead role, and now eight years later he is putting on the suit of DC's 'other' mass market superhero Superman.
As we know Cillian Murphy went on to portray Dr. Jonathan Crane aka Scarecrow in the Nolan movies.
I find it to remember how I felt when it was announced Batman Five was in production, but given how much I hated the Schumacher era I think I was probably very worried about what direction the movie would take, but I do remember how happy I was when Nolan was announced to be the man to reboot the franchise. I was a huge fan of Memento in particular and it turned out that this article was right, Nolan was worthy of our trust to take over as
'the man behind the bat'.