Last November I attempted to make a script for a movie called "Batman Decadence" and I was pretty darn proud of it. Soon after posting the first part I realized I did not have the time or effort to finish it out. After recently reading an editorial of someone (BatsFan) telling their idea, I was inspired to give it another try in a shorter form. Some changes have been made, mostly in cast, from my original script.
Cast:
Richard Madden as Bruce Wayne/Batman
I originally had his Game of Thrones co-star Kit Harrington in the role, but Richard just screamed Bruce Wayne to me. Not only does he look the part, but he's also a solid actor just waiting to break big. It also helps that (spoiler alert) Rob died, so he won't be too busy. He is also young enough to play the role as long as WB likes.
Robin Wlliams as Hugo Strange
Hugo Strange is perhaps the most challenging of any Batman villain to portray on screen because he is just as insane (if not more) than the others, but he is walking a line between a real life insanity and comic book insanity. That is why we need one of the greatest actors of all time to play this him, and Robin Williams is in my opinion the perfect choice. He's played real life insane in One Hour Photo, but he is great at giving off a slightly out of this world flare in movies such as Mrs. Doubtfire or Good Morning Vietnam. He also said he wanted to play The Riddler in a sequel to The Dark Knight, and I bet he would welcome the opportunity to Hugo. Out of any of my castings this is the one I feel most strongly about, and I very much hope it happens.
Mila Kunis as Pamela Isley
The most popular actress in Hollywood is also really good at it. She's destined to be in a CBM eventually, and this is the ideal part. It seems that throughout the years Poison Ivy has became purely a sex appeal villain , but in my idea she is just as smart and as passionate about plants as she is sexy.
Viggo Mortensen as Carmine Falcone
That facial hair would be a nice touch for The Falcone wouldn't it? I really don't have a ton to explain on this one, he just seems like a good fit to me. He's the right age, and is commanding on screen without being too loud. Again, it just seems like a good fit.
Geoffrey Rush as Alfred Pennyworth
Another seemingly logical choice to me. Geoffrey would provide a nice change up for Alfred, by making him sassy and outspoken. He doesn't have a ton of upcoming movies on his plate, and anybody who saw "The King's Speech" can attest that he is at the top of his game, and hasn't gotten rusty with age.
Bryan Cranston as James Gordon
It's odd to be one of the most talked about stars in Hollywood at 57, but Bryan Cranston has somehow pulled it off. At 57 he is probably to old for studios to be wanting him to star in their big summer blockbuster, and this is the reason a fan favorite like Commissioner Gordon would be great for him. As seen on Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston can still kick butt, and will likely be looking for something to do once it ends. Another plus is that he already stole the show plating the Commissioner in the Batman Year One animated movie.
Other crap you should probably know:
In my story Batman is established, and is mostly revered but somewhat a mystery. All the crime in Gotham is being run by Carmine Falcone, but Batman has put a dent in it. The tone is somewhat dark, but not as much as the Nolan series. Everything is a bit more stylized than the Nolan series too. Think of it as being directed by Alfonso Cuaron. Remember this is just a few paragraphs for an outline, but if you want to read the script for the first part feel free to.
Batman Part One
The first scene is Bruce Wayne speaking at Gotham University and somebody asks him about what he thinks of Batman, and he doesn't see any reason to dislike him. Afterwards, he visits Pamela Isley's room at Gotham University, and asks her to dinner to talk about starting a botany department at Wayne Medical. Next he is supposed to visit Dr. Hugo Strange, who Alfred says is the most gifted scientist at Gotham University, but has a reputation for being wacky. Once in the room Bruce realizes Hugo was the one who asked him about Batman. Hugo shows Bruce an amazingly strong growth hormone serum which Hugo dipped a piece of skin in, and it makes it thicker and stronger. Hugo explains to Bruce that the serum had no affect on animals, so there is know way of knowing how humans would react. Hugo says that with Wayne Enterprises resources he could make human kind advance greatly. Bruce says he is intrigued, but it is too risky and has no place at his company. After Bruce leaves we follow a disgruntled Hugo to a room full of Batman pictures and newspaper clippings and says, "I will be you."
Next we are at the layer and Bruce is looking at Carmine Falcone's profile is up on the monitor. Bruce talks to Al about how he is running all the crime, but he has a deal with the mayor so nothing is being done about it. Al reminds Bruce that Carmine was saved by Bruce's father after he was shot by Sal Maroni, and told Bruce at his father's funeral that he could always ask a favor of him. Bruce tells Alfred to invite him over for dinner. An alert of a jewelry store robbery appears on the monitor, and Batman heads out on the Batcycle.
Cops and civilians are surrounding the Jewelry store including Commissioner Gordon telling the thugs to let the hostages inside go, and that there is no way out. Batman appears inside the building, and defeats them by making it pitch black and striking when they can't see. After the altercation Batman meets Gordon where the bat signal is located and Batman pleads with Gordon to arrest Falcone, but Gordon explains he can't due to Falcone's ties with the mayor.
Inside a mansion Carmine Falcone is in a heated meeting with the mayor, telling him to tell the police to take down Batman, or else Carmine will spill the beans about the mayor's involvement cocaine issue. The mayor explains that if he does that he will not get reelected which would not be good for either of them, and he is dismissed. the next person to walk in for a meeting with Falcone is Hugo Strange who shows him the growth hormone, and says this is the key to defeating Batman.
Bruce goes to dinner with Pamela Isley, where she goes on and on about plants. Finally Bruce offers her a job at Wayne Medical, studying what less studied plants could do for medicine. Pamela accepts the job gleefully, and promises that this will lead to big things.
At dinner with Carmine Falcone, Carmine acts extremely friendly to Bruce. Carmine talks about his "shipping company," and how recalls the story of how Bruce's father saved his life. Eventually an awkward argument breaks out about Batman, but the subject is quickly changed by Alfred. Carmine reminds Bruce that he can ask him for any favor, and Bruce promises someday he'll take him up on it.
Batman rides on his Batcycle towards a abandoned factory that oddly shows up on his radar. Once he walks in the doors lock and he hears a man screaming inside with a bomb attached to him. Batman figures out how to deactivate it right before it goes off. He goes to Gordon's house to ask why he was sent there, and Gordon says he has no idea and somebody must have tapped into his radar.
Bruce visits Pamela's lab to see what she has discovered. She believes she has found a plant that can give off a great amount of cells after chemo. Bruce says he is impressed and would like to put more money towards it.
Hugo brags to Carmine about tapping into Batman's radar, and says the next step is to trust him enough to give his serum to one of his thugs. Carmine reluctantly agrees, and sends in a large tough looking man. Hugo injects the serum and he turns into a ten foot tall, strong, ugly troll like creature. The monster man goes insane, but Carmine eventually calms him down, and says he will be rewarded heavily.
Pamela is at a hospital studying a extremely weak patient who had gone through chemo recently. During her interview with him the patient starts throwing up and screaming. Pamela looks for somebody to help him, but nobody is there. She takes the plant she is working on out of her pocket, and feeds it to him. The man turns green and starts growing leaves, but eventually dies. Bruce rushes to the scene once he has heard what happened, and tells Pamela the project is off and that they have to stop seeing each other (they would develop a relationship in a full version). He leaves Pamela crying.
Gordon calls Bruce, and tells him that some sort of monster is roaming the streets smashing everything. Batman quickly heads to the scene, and gets into a battle with the monster man, eventually winning. After the monster is defeated people appear in the streets surrounding Batman cheering and chanting his name. Soon a line of twenty or more of these monsters heading in his direction all coming from Carmine Falcone's mansion. Batman tries to fight them on his own, but the people of Gotham join in and help fight. Batman decides it is best for him to head for the source.
Once at Carmine's mansion there are even more Monsters, whom Bruce realizes resemble Carmine's henchmen. Batman defeats them, but becomes very beat and weak. Batman finds Carmine in his office sitting in a chair, and says he's been expecting him. Carmine puts on brass knuckles, and him and Bruce get into an all out fist fight. Carmine eventually becomes to weak to fight so he takes out a bottle of the serum. Batman says he would like to get his favor now and says it is for him not to drink it. realizing Batman is Bruce Carmine becomes shocked and flustered, and in his daze drinks an entire bottle of the serum. The wast amount of serum he drinks causes him to grow until he mildly explodes and dies.
Everything eventually gets squared away, and they find a way to bring the beaten thugs back to normal, but it still a mystery where the serum came from in the first place. A beaten Bruce takes a break from Batman for a few months to rehabilitate, and get over the emotional toll of this last situation. Alfred reminds Bruce of the serum Dr. Strange showed him.
Pamela Isley walks into an apartment and sees a turned around chair behind a desk. She asks why she was asked here, and the person behind the chair says he believes they can help each other, she asks why. The man turns around his chair and it is Hugo Strange wearing a full on Batman costume, and he says "I'm Batman, I can do anything."
THE END
First scene of Batman Part Two
There is a party in a large swanky room at Wayne Enterprises. Bruce is talking to business man Jack Drake, his wife Janet, and teenage son Tim. Bruce asks the Tim if he would like to see some of the new technology Wayne Enterprises is working on, and Tim happily agrees. Bruce takes Tim to a different floor, and into a room where a hover board is being worked on and they play around with it for a while. They eventually head back to he party only to see everybody hung from their necks on green vine, dead.
Notes: This ended up being longer than I expected, so it should give a pretty good idea of what I'm going for. I am not currently planning on writing any follow up to this, but it could happen. If this was a full script, some things I would like to touch on more would be Bruce's relationship with Pamela, Carmine's back story and relationship with the Wayne's, and Hugo's obsession with Batman. Thanks for reading, and please comment!