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New Batman 5 rumor.... (1 Viewer)

todd s

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This was posted at www.cinescape.com

As development continues on the fifth BATMAN movie, one of our friends from across the Atlantic Ocean wrote in to tell us of a juicy casting rumor making the rounds over in England. According to our informant, there's talk that BATMAN director Christopher Nolan is seeking to cast an actor for a villain role at the beginning of the film. This character is known to fans of Batman lore, and at one time was rumored to be the main villain in a fan script known as THE FRIGHTENING: none other than The Scarecrow.

According to our source, the film's primary bad guy will remain R'as al Ghul, the immortal whose vision of a world without chaos reaches through centuries of time. But the idea is to introduce the Scarecrow early in the film to show audiences that this BATMAN movie is different than its predecessors; namely, that it's darker and scarier, and that the rogues that Batman face in Nolan's vision of Gotham City are far more dangerous than the ones seen in Joel Schumacher's BATMAN movies.


Our agent tells us that the idea is to show the Scarecrow terrorizing Gotham so Nolan's version of Batman (played by Christopher Bale) can be introduced. After bringing down Scarecrow the plot would then move on to Batman having to leave Gotham City, possibly as a result of the actions of this opening segment, and travelling to London where al Ghul is located. There the majority of the film's story takes place.


The part is small and isn't like the previous three BATMAN films which have seen the Dark Knight face two villains throughout the picture. There may be a possibility that Scarecrow could return in a future BATMAN movie but for now it's meant to be a one-time appearance and that's all.


"The person in mind to play [Scarecrow] is Christopher Eccleston," writes "Lucky Ace", our scooper. Eccleston is British and was most recently seen in Danny Boyle's post-apocalytic zombie movie 28 DAYS LATER as Major West. Curiously, one of Eccleston's co-stars in 28 DAYS LATER was also rumored to be under consideration to play the new Batman before Bale was announced in the role, Cillian Murphy.


The production is also looking to cast the role of R'as al Ghul sooner rather than later and have been considering actors from around the world. Unlike the Scarecrow gossip, our Ace in the hole didn't have any names to report at the present time but they did mention the talk is "of people like a younger Anthony Hopkins-type".


Production on BATMAN 5 is still scheduled to begin in the early months of 2004.

I still cannot believe Jason Isaacs isn't signed for the role of R'as.
 

TheLongshot

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Well, that's good to know that they aren't going for the "double the villans, double the fun" thing that kinda hurt the Batman franchise. I'm sure fans of The Scarecrow will be disappointed, but that's fine. I'd rather have Ras.

Jason
 

Bill Williams

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Well, you never know. ProWrestling.com had a report a few weeks back in which WWE Smackdown! wrestler Adam (Edge) Copeland was among those mentioned for the secondary villain part of "Egghead" (the Vincent Price character from the 60's TV series). Seriously.
 

Garrett Lundy

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Whatever. I gave up on Batman movies being any good years ago.The seven minute fan film BatMan : Dead End was better than the last three movies put together. And even that short film was pretty lame (Batman vs. the Xenomorph vs. the Predator...c'mon really. enough shark jumping).
 

Robert Floto

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Well, just my opinion, but...

Personally, I think it's a bad idea to use R'as al Ghul as the villain in this film. He is well known to readers of the comic (and viewers of the animated series), but not one of the "famous" Batman villains that the general public will be familiar with. Also, the un-natural aspect of R'as al Ghul may turn off a lot of movie-goers. If you try to explain to someone who doesn't read the comic or watch the animated series that the character is immortal because of their use of the Lazarus Pit you usually get a lot of eye rolling.

Until they go ahead and team up Batman with Superman in a live action film, I think they should try to keep this new wave of "serious" Batman films more grounded in reality.
 

Steve_Tk

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Wait, why would Batman and Superman be good? Superman would squeeze his head and it would bust all the juices out, the end? Anyone that is actually a match for superman could smear the floor with batman right?
 

John Doran

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Wait, why would Batman and Superman be good? Superman would squeeze his head and it would bust all the juices out, the end? Anyone that is actually a match for superman could smear the floor with batman right?
perhaps if it was a fist-fight. but it wouldn't be a fistfight.

you should check out frank miller's "the dark knight returns", and some of the recent Justice League of America (which includes batman, superman, the martian manhunter, and wonder woman in its membership), where it's revealed that batman has a way of taking out eah of the other members of the group, just to be safe...

batman is known as much for his intelligence as for his physical prowess.
 

GrantM

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This is the first I have heard of R'as al Ghul, have I missed anything here ?
Yep, you have. al Ghul is my favorite Batman villain. I've been hoping for a good movie with him for a long time. He's been able to acheive a long life (at least 600 years or so - does someone know for sure?) by periodically bathing in a "Lazarus Pit", which is a pool of toxic and deadly chemicals precisely placed on a Ley Line node (a concentration of the earth's energies). The most fascinating thing about him is his daughter, Talia. She has been betrothed to Batman in the past and truly loves him. The split devotion she has to both Batman and her father is a compelling subject. I really hope she is included in the movie.
If you want to find out more about him, read the graphic novels "Son of the Demon", "Bride of the Demon", and "Birth of the Demon". That's the order they were published in. However, "Birth" contains his origin.

And on the Batman vs. Superman subject, check out Dark Knight Returns (as previously mentioned), or the recent "Hush" story line. Given some sort of way to level the field (Kryptonite, technology, etc), Batman can definitely hold his own against Superman for a limited time.
 

Paul_Scott

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choosing a villan like Ra's to be the antagonist, implies that the filmmakers are labouring with the intention that this will be a plot/story driven film and not a costume driven one like...oh, the last four.
 

Gary Seven

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Personally, I think it's a bad idea to use R'as al Ghul as the villain in this film. He is well known to readers of the comic (and viewers of the animated series), but not one of the "famous" Batman villains that the general public will be familiar with
Yeah... they should use Egghead instead. :rolleyes
 

Patrick Sun

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I'd like to see the Hugo Strange/Silver St. Cloud storyline get the big screen treatment, but I doubt that would be possible. That was a great run of stories by Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers in the 1980's.
 

Robert Floto

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Yeah... they should use Egghead instead. :rolleyes:
No, I think that would be a bad idea as well. Of course I was referring to the famous Batman villains from the comic book. Wasn't Egghead just made up character for the Adam West TV series? I don't ever recall him from the comic.

I still think they should ground the story in reality. Bringing it into the real world would give it a real edge, make it seem more dangerous...and hopefully put steam back into the franchise.
 

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