The cast for the upcoming film The Batman is rounding into form. Director Matt Reeves has already assembled a stellar team including Robert Pattinson (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Zoe Kravitz (Catwoman), Jeffrey Wright (Jim Gordon), and Paul Dano (The Riddler) and he may have now found his Alfred and Penguin.
As was revealed yesterday, Andy Serkis is in talks to play Bruce Wayne’s trusted butler, Alfred, while Colin Farrell is also in discussions to take on the role of the Penguin. But what do the fans think of these names? Superhero casting, particularly when it comes to the Batman universe, has always been a polarizing subject for folks and they’ve never been shy about expressing their opinions about certain actors entering the DC world.
And it goes all the way back to Michael Keaton’s out-of-the-box casting as Bruce Wayne/Batman in 1989. Fans were less than enthusiastic about the comedic actor donning the cape and cowl, but they eventually came around. The same goes for Heath Ledger as The Joker. Even Ben Affleck got some love after an initial backlash.
Continuing in that tradition of skepticism, fans are a bit mixed on both Serkis and Farrell potentially joining the film, and you can check out their comments below.
Robert Pattinson
Andy Serkis
Jeffrey Wright
Zoe Kravitz
Paul DanoYAS.
— Andrew (@mylifedotnet) November 5, 2019
https://twitter.com/Ranryu/status/1191838864417153024
https://twitter.com/kellyfromthek/status/1191908431759921153
Have to be honest, I'm not a huge Andy Serkis fan. He does great motion capture, but as an onscreen actor he's not very good. I can't see him as Alfred but who knows maybe he'll do a good job.
— TexasGuy (@Texasguy1016) November 6, 2019
https://twitter.com/Putovinski/status/1191848441191600128
https://twitter.com/BeachChairNY/status/1191870248565256192
I'm completely cool with this as long as Colin Farrell's Penguin doesn't turn out to be Johnny Depp in the end.
— Erin O'Riordan (@ErinORiordan) November 5, 2019
A common theme in these reactions and others is that Serkis is too villainess to play Alfred with many wanting him to portray the Penguin rather than Farrell. Serkis has certainly played his fair share of villains over the years, but with Pattinson and Kravitz being cast, this could be an interesting new interpretation of Batman and the characters around him. Even Farrell is an inspired choice for the Penguin. If you’ve seen The Lobster, you know he’s fully capable of transforming into a character we’ve never seen him play before.
In any case, we’ll see how it all works out when The Batman hits theaters on June 25th, 2021.