The first standalone movie for the DC Extended Universe's Caped Crusader, The Batman, is "not the kind of movie that you fail quietly at". Ben Affleck, the movie's lead actor, as well as its director and co-scribe, knows that very well, and he is doing his best to get the script right.
Affleck claims that they will only move forward with The Batman when he feels confident about the script. But a couple of weeks ago, Deathstroke actor Joe Manganiello revealed in an interview that they will kick off production next spring.
Now, Jeremy Irons, the actor who portrays Alfred Pennyworth in the DCEU, has confirmed that they will be filming The Batman in summer 2017.
During a recent interview with Variety, the British actor is actually asked whether his character has more to do in next year's Justice League compared to what he did in this year's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. That's when he drops the precious bit of information:
Similar, but then, of course, Ben's going to make a Batman film next summer. He promises me there's going to be a bit more of Alfred in that. In the Justice League, we have seven major lead characters, and I'm the butler to one of them. It's clear I will not be dominating that film.
In an interview with Daily Mail back in May, Jeremy Irons described Batman v Superman as "sort of overstuffed" and "very muddled". But the 68-year-old actor seems to have changed his tune. When he is asked whether he was disappointed with the harsh reviews bagged by the Zack Snyder flick, he says:
Not at all. I was very pleased by the numbers. Zack seems to get a hard time from the press, which is strange. I don't know if it has to do with the sort of secrecy that surrounds the making of it all. But the audience liked it, which in the end is all that matters.
During the interview, Irons admits that big movies like Batman v Superman and Justice League are a little less fulfilling than the smaller projects like The Man Who Knew Infinity, because the former requires "70% of the time doing publicity, 10% of the time filming, and 20% of the time waiting". But he does add that he loves working with Ben Affleck and Zack Snyder, both of whom have been "fun".
