For several years, the Dark Knight’s utility belt has been left in an inconvenient knot after Justice League failed to impress, but not anymore. Matt Reeves’ The Batman has been coming together over the past year, with news of casting leaking to fans on what seems like a weekly basis, ahead of the film rolling cameras at the beginning of 2020. The writer/director looks like he’s having a blast confirming the talent filling these iconic roles.
Just take a look at how he shared who is playing Alfred Pennyworth on Twitter:
Get hyped! Andy Serkis is officially playing Bruce Wayne’s trusted confidant and butler. The actor, who is best known for bringing Gollum to the big screen through motion capture in the Lord of the Rings movies and playing Caesar in the most recent Planet of the Apes movies, has joined The Batman. Considering that Matt Reeves directed him in 2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes, the collaborators were likely itching to find a way to work with another again.
The casting news of Andy Serkis as Alfred did hit news channels a week ago, but they shouldn’t be considered fact until the studio, or in this case, the writer/director, confirms it to be true. Actors drop out of projects all the time or could be head-to-head with another actor. Thankfully, we get Matt Reeves' clever gifs and cryptic words to get us officially pumped for The Batman. He’s been taking to Twitter to confirm casting rumors for a while now, such as this one a couple weeks back:
Yes, Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner James Gordon, too! It’s a fun way to ring in his all-star Batman cast, isn’t it! He also confirmed Paul Dano as the Riddler and Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman via gifs – oh, and it’s how he did Robert Pattinson too! Take a look:
Now the only casting rumor left he has yet to comment about is whether or not Colin Farrell is playing Penguin. Last week, reports indicated the actor was in talks to join the rogue’s gallery as the infamous Oswald Cobblepot. I guess it’s time to wait for a gif of the Dumbo actor to pop up on our timelines to be sure it’s for real.
Ahead of filming beginning soon, Robert Pattinson is currently training in the art of jiu jitsu with the same trainer who worked with Keanu Reeves on the John Wick movies. This type of combat will give Pattinson’s Batman a realistic and gritty fighting style fit to take down a number of villains. And it seems he is outnumbered! Thankfully, we know for sure he’ll have Andy Serkis’ Alfred Pennyworth by his side for The Batman, coming to theaters on June 25, 2021.
