Back in 2016, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice gave fans the long-promised cinematic meeting of DC’s biggest heroes. Ben Afflack took over the role of Batman, while Henry Cavill returned as Superman after starring in Man of Steel. But nearly 15 years earlier, those roles could have been filled by Colin Farrell and Jude Law, respectively.
During an interview with Collider, screenwriter Akiva Goldsman shares a look back at his original version of Batman v Superman. Director Wolfgang Petersen lined up Farrell as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Jude Law as Clark Kent/Superman. Andrew Kevin Walker wrote an earlier draft of the script. However, Goldsman revealed that the team up film went in some very dark directions with his draft.
“We were in prep and it was the darkest thing you’ve ever seen,” recalled Goldsman. “It started with Alfred’s funeral and Bruce has fallen in love and renounced being Batman, the Joker kills his wife, and then you discover it was all a lie. Just that the love itself was constructed by the Joker to break [Bruce].”
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However, Goldsman noted that it wasn’t easy getting those plot elements to come together.
“It was a time where you would be able to get these sort of stories together in script form, but they couldn’t quite land in the world,” admitted Goldsman. “Somehow, the expectations of the object — whether they be audience or corporate or directorial — it wasn’t landing quite in the way I think we imagined when we put them on the page.”
Goldsman went on to say that “it was really The World’s Finest, in a kind of dark and interesting way. I think it could have been lovely.”
Would you have liked to have seen Farrell and Jude Law in Goldsman’s Batman v Superman? Let us know in the comment section below!
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