When performers take on iconic roles, the audience is required to take something of a leap of faith – that this person will have done their homework. This pressure is never greater than for film versions of internationally recognized comic book characters, such as Batman.
The Caped Crusader has been a fixture in pop culture for more than seven decades, thanks to his long-running comic book series, and his adaptations into every other kind of media. He has been interpreted by over thirty different performers, which means that, most importantly, everybody in the audience already has a relationship with Batman. Now that we are just three months away from the release of Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice, anticipation is high to see the latest interpretation, by Ben Affleck.
The prospect of this movie is already exciting, because it promises something unusual in its presentation of The Dark Knight. While the most famous adaptations of the character – and certainly those we’ve seen on the big screen – have focused on a relatively young Bruce Wayne, steeped in grief over the loss of his parents, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice veers away from that well-trod landscape and instead gives us an older, battle-weary Batman, as Ben Affleck recently explained to USA Today.
“[This Batman is] a guy who had been through that [grieving] experience already for many years and was kind of burnt out and asking himself what the point of it all was and going through an existential crisis.”
For his part, Affleck is, in effect, delivering his homework early, by detailing the way in which he approached his character, and highlighting the fact that, for him, it is the difference between Bruce Wayne and the mythology of Batman – the man and the myth, as it were – that is the key.
“Batman is covered up by a suit and sometimes a car and sometimes a lot of vehicles and weapons, whereas Bruce Wayne is much more naked — it’s just you and a suit of clothes.
“You can’t really play Batman because Batman is different things to different people. We project our own things onto the mythology of what Batman is, and he has to be able to be projected upon. With Bruce Wayne, you have to bring something distinct and new and different.”
Between Ben Affleck’s insight into his new portrayal of this cultural icon, and early word-of-mouth about his performance in the film, all indications suggest that something truly special this way comes. For the final verdict, however, we will have to wait until Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice lands in theatres on March 25th, 2016.
