I'm sure by now most of you are sick of the news that launched a million memes and we're not going to report every opinion by an actor or actress about Ben Affleck as the new Batman, but Patton Oswalt has shared his views on the controversy and I think he makes some very good points. Plus, it's Patton Oswalt: he has a little bit more geek credibility than your average celebrity. This is what he posted on his Facebook page on Saturday:
No matter how many times you post your stupid "Fire Ben Affleck from Playing Batman" petition, I'm going to delete it and block you. Take a deep breath, and think for a second: Yeah, the dude's made some bad films. Every actor has. Every actor does. Every actor will. It's a huge, arcing career and NO ONE has control over where it goes. Movie to movie, year to year, you're collaborating and trying and risking and, sometimes, yes — failing.
sponsored contentPlus, everyone seems to forget that he had the world dropped in his lap when he was YOUNG. And, judging by how other suddenly-famous youngsters do in the same situation, he fared pretty well. Even when it went wrong, he seemed to keep a self-deprecating, long-view philosophy about the burning freak carousel he'd found himself on.
And then what happened? I mean, he'd fallen from a HEIGHT. You know what happens to 95% of people who weather a descent that steep? They come apart, fray at all of their sanity nodes, and give up.
But then there's the 5% who embrace crushing defeat and see it for the gift it is. And here's the gift: when you fail, and fail UTTERLY, you wake up the next morning and see that the world didn't end. And then the fear of failure is gone. And you're free. You're free to proceed on your own terms and pace — if you have the ego that permits you to.
Ben brushed himself off, realized he'd kept his eyes open on the movies he'd done, and started directing. And he's become a damn good one.
A Batman portrayed by someone who's tasted humiliation and a reversal of all personal valences — kind of like Grant Morrison's "Zen warrior" version of Batman, post-ARKHAM ASYLUM, who was, in the words of Superman, "…the most dangerous man on the planet"? Think for a second and admit that Ben Affleck is closer to THAT top-shelf iteration of The Dark Knight than pretty much anyone in Hollywood right now.
I'd write more, but I have to go work on my post about how an overweight 44 year-old comedian with bad feet and insomnia would be a bold choice for The Joker.
Patton Oswalt might seem like an unlikely person to defend Ben Affleck as Batman, but that's just another reason why I love the dude. He very easily could have come out swinging and be anti-Affleck, which would have been funny as hell and we all would have had a good chuckle about it. But he believes in Ben Affleck and has logical reasons behind his arguments for the actor. If (of all people) Patton Oswalt doesn't have a problem with Affleck as the new Dark Knight, don't you think you should give him a chance too? Or at least wait to see something, ANYTHING from the film before declaring him the worst Batman ever? Don't worry though, you can still be down with the news and enjoy the memes circulating because some of them are really hilarious.
You can also check out this piece by JoBlo.com's Ryan Doom about his thoughts on the casting.
The sequel to MAN OF STEEL (now with more Batman!) will be in theaters July 17th, 2015.
Patton Oswalt can't be the Joker: he's already Penguin!
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