With Ben Affleck's future as star of The Batman up in the air, Gary Oldman suggested that Joaquin Phoenix would be the perfect actor to replace him.
Affleck, who played Bruce Wayne in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, and Justice League, reportedly said in the summer of 2017 that he wouldn’t appear in Matt Reeves' The Batman. The 45-year-old actor then shot down that rumor at San Diego Comic-Con International 2017, but backtracked yet again.
The matter remains unresolved, and Warner Bros. has stayed tight-lipped. But according to the media, Affleck will indeed hang up his cape and cowl. If he does, the next big question would be this:
Who’s going to replace Ben Affleck as Batman?
Discussing this with TooFab at the Seventh Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts International Awards, Gary Oldman (Commissioner Jim Gordon in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy) had an answer ready:
I would like to see someone like Joaquin Phoenix play it. This is no disrespect to Ben Affleck. I think it really depends on who is at the wheel that lifts it.
Oldman isn't alone in his belief that Phoenix would be a good fit as Batman. In fact, director Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan) stated that the Gladiator star was his first choice to star in his own Caped Crusader movie. That project was eventually axed, so we never got to see Phoenix as Batman.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Jon Hamm have also been named as potential candidates for the role of The Batman. Reeves recently revealed he had a storyline for the movie "worked out", but the script was still in process. It may be some time before there’s any official announcement about the project.
