Fans Rally Around Kevin Smith to Direct THE BATMAN and the Filmmaker Responds
Last night news broke that Ben Affleck stepped down as the director of The Batman for the good of the film. I was kind of disappointed with the news because I was looking forward to seeing Affleck take on the challenge.
The director's chair is now wide open for someone to come in and lead the film into glory or failure. After Affleck dropped out, some fans immediately started to rally behind Kevin Smith for the job. The guy has a long history with comic books and even wrote the limited series Batman: The Widening Gyre. He has also recently been directing episodes of Supergirl and The Flash for The CW.
Smith also already shared two ideas for what he'd like to see happen with the Batman solo film saying:
"I'm going to give you two versions. I was going to say Hush, because you get all the characters. In a world where DC is trying to launch the DC cinematic universe, this would be a way to do it and introduce all of Batman's rogues' gallery in one movie. So naturally, that's your money decision right here. But I'm not going to go studio, I'm going to go from the heart."
He then went on to say that he'd like to see a big screen adaptation of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and that it should be directed by Mad Max's George Miller:
"Now, this is a great combination of material and filmmaker. The man can direct....Give the story of the old Batman to the 70-year-old director who made the amazing-looking Fury Road. It's a no-brainer."
He's obviously got his own vision of what The Batman film should be, but what does he think about taking on the challenge? He took to Twitter to give three reasons why it's impossible for him to direct it. He said:
"I'm flattered. But 3 things make me directing Batman impossible: 1) Haven't spoken to Ben in years. 2) I made @YogaHosers, 3) Common sense."
All valid points, but I would be curious to see what Smith would do with a big budget Batman movie. I doubt Warner Bros. shares that curiosity, though, and would never risk that kind of money on him. The thing is... what if he gave fans a completely badass Batman movie? I guess we'll never know.