Producer Charles Roven talks BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE

I’m cautiously optimistic for the upcoming Man Of Steel sequel, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Just Juice. While I consider Man Of Steel to be a technical masterpiece, it was lacking a certain heart and soul, something which I hope the next film can capture properly. While filming continues on that movie, secrets are being kept tighter than Ben Affleck’s costume, but that doesn’t mean that nobody is talking about the film. Why, just ask producer Charles Roven, who had plenty to say recently about everything from casting to how Ben Affleck will make for a different caped crusader.

In discussing the casting of Ben Affleck as Batman, Roven said (via THR) that the actor fit a very specific type the studio was looking for:

He was the first guy we went to. That’s who we wanted. We knew that we wanted a very mature Batman, because we wanted to juxtapose him with this very young Superman. So we wanted a guy who was tougher, rugged, who had signs of life, who had lived a hard life, and we wanted the guy to have chops, for sure. So when we went down that list, there just weren’t a tremendous number of guys who could carry that.

That physicality also helped Affleck land the role, as this Batman was envisioned as a formidable presence in contrast to the Superman who stood in the light for truth, justice and devaluing property rates massively with a single battle:

“We also wanted a guy with big stature. Ben is 6′ 4″. Henry [Cavill] is 6’1″. We wanted Batman to tower over Superman. Not hugely, not like a basketball player. Superman needed to ‘look up’ to Batman. We wanted that dynamic, and Ben could do that, easily.”

Affleck wasn’t hesitant about taking the role, Roven said, but he wanted time to think about what he could do with it, how he could make it his own intepretation of the dark knight:

No, I wouldn’t say he hesitated. I think that what he did do was that he made sure that he understood what Zack was looking for,” adding that Affleck wanted “to know exactly how Zack planned on treating this Bruce Wayne that was going to make him completely different even though he was still Bruce Wayne, still Batman.

Roven also mentioned Affleck’s iteration of Bruce Wayne, as well as previous Batman helmer Christopher Nolan being involved in certain stages of production:

He’s much more of a social animal in the Bruce Wayne incarnation, but he’s also an extremely rough guy in the Batman incarnation — very, very, very rough.

Nolan wasn’t entirely removed from the Batman v. Superman development, though, Roven said, explaining that the Inception director was “certainly involved in different stages. I would say he has an advisory capacity” and that he also was involved in the casting of Affleck as Batman.

There was one other tidbit of news that was fascinating, and it didn’t have anything to do with any of those Y-chromosome vigilantes. Ever since she was revealed, people have been wondering if the Amazonian princess of power, Wonder Woman, was going to retain her mythical origins in the new grim, gritty and realistic DCU. Turns, hell yeah she is:

Wonder Woman is in it. We know that. She has powers. She’s a goddess. She’s a demi-god. Her father was Zeus.

Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice is out on March 25, 2016.

Last Updated: October 14, 2014