DC Films head/Twitter support tech James Gunn shoots down George Clooney Batman rumors
Who knew the role of studio head could be so glamorous?
When contemplating the role of a studio head—a position that precious few people, even in the upper echelons of Hollywood power, have ever attained—there’s a certain amount of mystique that tends to crop up. You imagine backroom dealings, steely negotiations across expensive dinners, fortunes made and lost on little more than gut instinct and an uncanny knack for telling people what they want, before they even know they want it.
Fielding Twitter rumors from randos on a Saturday afternoon, not so much.
And yet, such is the strange tenure of DC Films co-head James Gunn, who hopped on to the social media site to toss out a cute dog pic (and it was!), only to find himself, per usual, quashing some random-ass rumor some “insider” huffed into existence earlier in the day about his and Peter Safran’s forthcoming plans for the revitalized DCU.
At least, for a slightly refreshing change of pace, this latest game of whack-a-fact wasn’t about Superman, who’s been at the nexus of so much DC-related confusion of late. Instead, the topic was Batman, with a rumor passing around online this weekend that the upcoming The Flash movie would feature a cameo from a former film Batman (in addition to Michael Keaton, who’s already set to return to the cowl for the movie)—so, presumably, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, or Christian Bale. Said rumor then spun itself off to the idea that this returned Bats might become the new DCU’s full-time Batman, since Robert Pattinson’s version of the character is sticking to his Elseworlds branding. This is the sort of thing people convince themselves of, see, if allowed sufficient free time and access to the internet.
Anyway, Gunn broke off at least one specific spoke of the rumor mill, flatly denying that 61-year-old, single-film Batman George Clooney would become the main Caped Crusader of the rebuilt DCU. And while Gunn didn’t address any cameo rumors, he did make it clear that the new actor playing the prime Batman in his universe won’t be anyone we’ve seen in the part before, stating “New actor” when someone raised the question.
So, yeah: Thanks, James! Now please put the phone down.