Zack Snyder Explains His Batman v Superman Influences and Why Ben Affleck Was the Right Choice

At a ceremony for Batman co-creator Bob Kane’s posthumous Hollywood Walk of Fame star (which is a separate issue all in itself, as co-creator Bill Finger got no such recognition), director Zack Snyder talked about the Batman inside all of us. Then, he talked about the Batman inside of him specifically, and what it was like bringing that to the big screen.

CBR reports that Snyder said,

Bob really had put him there in my mind, through years of TV shows, comic books, movies. I realized that we all—every single one of us—has a Batman, an imaginary Batman, in our minds, lurking in the shadows.

And that’s a pretty solid point. Batman is a lot of different things to a lot of people. Like any comic book character, what the “real” Batman is like has changed a lot over the years in his main storylines, adaptations, and reboots. Everyone’s ideas about the important traits that define the character are likely to be different—although for a lot of people, “not Ben Affleck” seems to be a fair definition.

I don’t personally fall into that camp, but I will admit that—despite being an Affleck fan since my high school years spent watching Kevin Smith movies way too much—I had a few moments of feeling a knee-jerk “that’s like if my dad were Batman” reaction. Then I figured they were probably going for an older Batman and I got over it (also my dad would be a great Batman), which is how Snyder explained it to CBR after the Walk of Fame ceremony:

I definitely wanted an older Batman. I wanted a war-weary Batman. That’s why, in a lot of ways, Ben was really perfect for me—we kind of aged him a little bit. It worked really great. I’m really excited about the Batman we created.

But we’ve all already guessed about and seen an older Batman in the movie. What of standing in the massive shadow of The Dark Knight Returns? Snyder said that while he talked to Frank Miller about the film, the classic graphic novel is only an influence on the movie—primarily in visuals—so don’t expect an adaptation if that’s what you were hoping for.

On the other hand, that means such an adaptation is still possible. So what do you think? Have you seen your inner Batman come to the big screen yet, or has no one quite … done it justice? (Sorry. Couldn’t resist.)

(via Geek Tyrant)

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