In some pretty massive superhero movie news, Warner Bros upcoming film The Batman may have found its Alfred and Penguin.
First up is Andy Serkis, who is in talks to play Batman’s trusty English butler Alfred Pennyworth, reports TheWrap. As well as serving Bruce Wayne, Alfred is also his friend and former legal guardian.
The character as been played on film by Jeremy Irons in the DC Extended Universe films, Michael Caine in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy and Michael Gough in the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher film series. Sean Pertwee recently portrayed him in the Batman prequel series Gotham, and Jack Bannon stars as a younger version of the character in Epix series Pennyworth.
According to Deadline, the film is also currently in talks with Colin Farrell to play villain Penguin. The character was last played on the big screen by Danny DeVito in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns (1992).
Penguin was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, and first appeared in Detective Comics #58 in 1941. He is a criminal mastermind, a master in armed and unarmed combat, and the supervillain of alter ego Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot.
Serkis is a best known for his performance capture roles, which include Gollum in the Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit films, Caesar in the Planet Of The Apes films, Captain Haddock in The Adventures Of Tintin, and Supreme Leader Snoke in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. He is also known for playing serial killer Ian Brady in Longford, Ian Dury in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll and Ulysses Klaue in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Farrell is an Irish actor known for his roles in Phone Booth, In Bruges, Minority Report, Miami Vice and Daredevil. More recently, he has starred in 2013 period drama Saving Mr Banks, Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster and the second season of HBO’s True Detective.
The pair will join a cast made up of Robert Pattinson (Twilight, The Lighthouse) as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Zoe Kravitz (Big Little Lies) as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Jeffrey Wright (Westworld) as Commissioner Gordon, and Paul Dano (Swiss Army Man) as the Riddler.
The film will be directed by Matt Reeves, who boarded the project following former director/star Ben Affleck stepped away. Reeves is co-writing the screenplay with Mattson Tomlin, and Greig Fraser is serving as cinematographer.
The Batman will be in cinemas from 25 June 2021. Get all the latest sci-fi news with every issue of SciFiNow.