STACK #137 Mar 2016

CINEMA NEWS

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B en Affleck dons the cowl to take on Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel in the duo’s first big screen pairing: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice . When STACK meets with Zack Snyder, the director makes it quite clear that Christian Bale was never an option to play Batman in this comic book clash of the superheroes. “Our film is a total and opposite reality from the Chris Nolan movies; it’s another universe, so we couldn’t hire Christian Bale if we wanted to because he doesn’t exist in our world. Maybe we could hire him to play another part. We did talk briefly about hiring Christian to play another part just to make that obvious. Christian could play like Alfred with age makeup. No! Of course not. But you know what I mean.” While Nolan’s Batman movies are beloved by fans, Snyder is keen to explain the departure in style. “Superman would have had a hard time existing in the Batman universe that Chris created. That’s why we did a reboot on the universe, to allow these characters to exist together.” With Ryan Gosling and Josh Brolin both mooted to play Batman, news of Ben Affleck’s casting was originally met by angry protest from fans, proclaiming he wasn’t right for the role. However, Snyder believes Affleck will change everyone’s mind. “I really wanted an old Batman, and not like decrepit, but world-weary like he’s had experience, and I think Ben’s really hit that. He’s a movie star now in the greatest definition of the word. He has gravitas. And we’ve greyed his hair a little and made him look a bit rough and rugged. He’s a great actor and he’s a big person. He’s all of 6’4” and in the boots he’s 6’6”. I don’t like a small Batman. I like my Batmen bigger.” Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is in cinemas on March 24. Check out more Cinema news and reviews from page 16. BATMAN BEN

GUNN's BLAZING Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn loves the new Marvel movie Deadpool, but has also fired off a broadside against Hollywood’s no-risk approach to spectacle movies.

G unn's Facebook salvo was prompted by an article on Deadline , in which an unnamed studio exec praised the box office success of Ryan Reynolds’ R-rated superhero movie, saying no-one had ever poked fun at Marvel in such away before. Gunn is clearly a big fan of Deadpool , describing it as “hilariously funny” and saying it was “exactly what we need right now, taking true risks in spectacle film”. However, as well as pointing out it was not the first Marvel movie to take a self-deprecating approach to the source material, he feared that the success of Deadpool would just inspire a series of inferior copies. “ Deadpool was its own thing,” Gunn writes. “THAT'S what people are reacting to. It's original, it's damn good, it was made with love by the filmmakers, and it wasn't afraid to take risks. “Over the next few months, you'll see Hollywood misunderstanding the lesson they

should be learning with Deadpool . They'll be green lighting films 'like Deadpool' – but, by that, they won't mean ‘good and original’, but ‘a raunchy superhero film’ or ‘it breaks the fourth wall’. They'll treat you like you're stupid, which is the one thing Deadpool didn't do. “Spectacle films need to expand their definition of what they can be. They need the unique and true voices of the filmmakers behind them. They can't just be copying what came before them.” Gunn has commenced principal photography on the sequel to 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy , which is due in cinemas in May next year. On Twitter, the director shared a publicity photo of the intrepid space heroes, with the heartwarming sight of baby Groot, alive and well atop Drax's shoulder. Gunn has also revealed that Kurt Russell has joined the cast for Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 , with speculation that the screen veteran will be playing the father of Chris Pratt's Star Lord. In a BBC interview, Gunn also gave away that there will be more of Nebula (Karen Gillan), the wicked sister of Gamora (Zoe Saldana). Additionally, Melbourne-raised – and recent Victorian College of the Arts graduate – Elizabeth Debicki has scored a role, fresh from appearances in Guy Ritchie's The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Justin Kurzel's Macbeth . John Ferguson

CINEMA

James Gunn, Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana workshopping the script for Guardians of the GalaxyVol 2 .

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MARCH 2016

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