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Francis Ford Coppola said in 1992: "Batman was always my favorite. You know they originally came to me to do Batman."
Bob Kane: "Well that would have been wonderful..."
Francis Ford Coppola: "What I said to those guys, the one thing is that Batman is a dramatic thriller, it's not a funny [campy] show. And then they left and I got the message back, 'Well, they don't agree, they think it is a funny thing and not a dramatic thriller.' But I was happy to see Tim Burton [directing]."
Bob Kane: "He had kind of your vision..."
Francis Ford Coppola: "He brought the dramatic thriller thing, which is what's great about it. A kid sees his family get murdered!"
www.reddwarf.co.uk/features/in…
Toby Stephens has a younger Michael Keaton kind of look, and also looks like a younger Clint Eastwood, too, so much so that he was even cast by Clint Eastwood to play the younger Clint Eastwood in Space Cowboys. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m0NjJ…
While Toby Stephens is a British actor, he can do a believable Bruce Wayne-eque American voice. www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJUxpD… I'm sure he can do the Dirty Harry-eque Batman voice, like Michael Keaton could. Toby Stephens has the handsomeness, charm and cockiness of Bruce Wayne and displays the intimidation and ruggedness of Batman. Bill Finger explained in Jim Steranko's History of Comics volume 1 (1970), "Bruce Wayne's first name comes from Robert Bruce, the Scottish patriot. Wayne, being a playboy, was a man of gentry. I searched for a name that would suggest colonialism. Then I thought of Mad Anthony Wayne." Clint Eastwood has been a big inspiration on Batman since the 1970s.
In Batman Spectacular DC Special Series # 15 (1978) "I Now Pronounce You Batman and Wife" (reprinted in Batman: Tales of the Demon) written by Denny O'Neil, Bruce Wayne walks down the street in Gotham City and a woman says to her friends, "Ain't that Clint Eastwood?" Her friend says, "Naw...it's Bruce Wayne."
And like Dirty Harry, Batman called criminals "punks" in Detective Comics # 457 (1976) "There is No Hope In Crime Alley" written by Denny O'Neil and Detective Comics # 478 (1978) "The Coming of Clayface III" written by Len Wein, etc.
And Batman writer Frank Miller bases the Batman persona largely on Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry Callahan, and Michael Keaton based the Batman voice on Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry voice.
In 1989 film reviewer Gary Thompson described Batman in the Tim Burton film as, "Here, Batman is a brooding, driven vigilante. He's a free-lance Dirty Harry with a nifty costume and bottomless bank account." articles.philly.com/1989-06-23…
As Frank Lovece accurately described in 1992,"To put the character in perspective, the Batman of Tim Burton's two movies is actually a throwback to the bitter, traumatized child of violence that artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger created in 1939 for Detective Comics, in which a Dirty Harry-style Batman beat up thugs, occasionally used a pistol, and shot to kill."
www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20610…
iF MAGAZINE: Did you like the Tim Burton films at all? MILLER: "I liked the first one. I liked Michael Keaton. I don’t know how much I saw of the other ones. I know I had to tune in to see Michelle Pfeiffer play Catwoman because she’s Michelle Pfeiffer and she was playing Catwoman. How many fantasies of mine can collide at the same time? I just generally didn’t like the tone of the other movies. I didn’t agree with it."
Frank Miller described Batman in Comics Interview # 31 (1986), "Batman only really works as a serious character if the world is essentially a malevolent, frightening place. The same is true of Dirty Harry. There are a lot of similarities between the characters. Both are very decisive, they make crucial decisions, that dedicate their lives to fighting evil. But I feel Batman is a much larger character, a much larger hero inside - though not as he's published now. As of now, Dirty Harry is a much larger hero because of Clint Eastwood's screen presence. I've said elsewhere that I believe Eastwood has a better idea of what a vigilante hero is than virtually anybody who works in comics. Batman's motto is striking terror ("My disguise must strike terror into their hearts" - Bruce Wayne as written by creator Bill Finger in 1939). He is essentially a terrorist superhero. Batman has his roots in pulps, specifically the Shadow. Much of what he does to criminals is staged like a horror movie. He's the hero who acts like a villain - the epitome of the Dionysian hero." Frank Miller said on NPR in 2002, "I was channeling Clint Eastwood with the Batman rants. I love the hard boiled stuff and I like to bring it to the superhero." Frank Miller said on Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked, "Batman's the Dirty Harry out there. The guy nobody likes." Janas Kaunas said on the documentary Masterpiece: Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns in 2013, "Frank was very influenced by Dirty Harry, of detectives, of cop stories."
Robin has potential that most people don't realize (because they only know campy Robin). My choice for Robin is Asa Butterfield, a young actor that's shown an ability for difficult physical roles in Ender's Game (2013).
I'd like to see Robin portrayed faithfully to Bill Finger's vision by a young actor, which was as an aggressive reckless violent kid that loves to fight (the violent aggression makes sense since he saw his parents murdered which would lead to post traumatic stress disorder symptoms of aggression and violence), which was without campy whimsical "Holy" puns that make Robin into a buffoon.
Bill Finger explained in Jim Steranko's History of Comics volume 1 (1970), "Robin was an outgrowth of a conversation I had with Bob. Batman was a combination of Douglas Fairbanks and Sherlock Holmes. Holmes had his Watson. The thing that bothered me was that Batman didn't have anyone to talk to, and it got a little tiresome always having him thinking. I found that as I went along, Batman needed a Watson to talk to. That's how Robin came to be. Bob called me over and said he was going to put a boy in the strip to identify with Batman. I thought it was a great idea. I knew many homosexuals, but I certainly didn’t think of Batman in those terms. I thought of it in terms of Frank Merriwell and Dick Merriwell, his half-brother, who was the kid he was taking care of. Certainly there’s no homosexual relationship. It was just that the author realized that you’ve gotta have somebody to talk to. A sidekick. Sherlock Holmes had Watson—were they homosexuals? Baloney. You just can’t have your hero walking around thinking aloud all the time. He’d be ready for the men in white coats after a time. So we created a junior Watson and that’s all Robin was." noblemania.blogspot.com/2012/0…
David Warner is an Oscar winning actor born in England with an English accent has the look of Michael Gough's Alfred and is perfect for Alfred. Michael Gough's Alfred is in Tim Burton's two Batman films Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992).
Giancarlo Esposito looks like Lucius Fox from the comics, is a good character actor and would be perfect for Lucius Fox.
John Carroll Lynch is perfect for Detective Harvey Bullock. He's overweight, he's good at playing a gruff, cynical and low-class kind of guy and he's played cops.
Some fanboys are very anal retentive about actors ages insisting a Batman actor and a Superman actor must be in their 20s, which is ridiculous. Actual age numbers of the actors are not really important as long as they look like their role. Looks, height and acting skills are important. Society is too youth obsessed today. It's Batman, not a babyfaced Batboy, but Michael Keaton, etc. themselves are just too far aged now and Michael Gough and Pat Hingle, etc. have even passed away.
For a Batman film to be really faithful to the classic characters, creators and comics a Batman film should go for a retro fashion noir and timelessness like the Tim Burton Batman films, Batman: The Animated Series, Blade Runner fashion, the Sin City films and The Spirit. Making it so it has a slight period feel to it in some 1940s fashion. Not to limit it by saying this takes place in 1940 or this takes place in 2014. Even though the look of it has some elements of 1940, there should be some modern things and things that are contemporary so that there is a connection to contemporary audiences that they can recognize. Fashion from the 1940s mixed with technology of today. Takes the best aspects of the '40s and other eras. Mostly the '30s, '40s noir period where Batman's roots are. So we'd see some fedora hats, etc. classic cars, and we'd see modern computers, etc.