I like this. I like it a lot. THR has reported that Westworld star Jeffrey Wright is currently in negotiations to play Commissioner Jim Gordon in Matt Reeves' THE BATMAN. Should he take on the role, Wright would be following in the footsteps of Gary Oldman, who played the role in Christopher Nolan's DARK KNIGHT trilogy, and J.K. Simmons, who unfortunately only got to play Gordon in Zack Snyder's JUSTICE LEAGUE.
If I'm being honest, I would have loved to have seen J.K. Simmons get another crack at the role, but Jeffrey Wright is a very exciting choice for this new Batman tale. As we know, Robert Pattinson is slated to play Batman/Bruce Wayne in what is being planned as a "grounded take" on the world's greatest detective. Matt Reeves (WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES) is set to write and direct, but we've still got a ways to go as the casting of Batman's rogue gallery is reportedly still in the early stages. Robert Pattinson reflected several weeks ago on what it was like to step into the Bat-suit for the first time. "I put it on. I remember saying to Matt, ‘It does feel quite transformative!’ He was like, ‘I would hope it does! You’re literally in the Batsuit.’ You do feel very powerful immediately. And it’s pretty astonishing, something that is incredibly difficult to get into, so the ritual of getting into it is pretty humiliating," Pattinson said. "You’ve got five people trying to shove you into something. Once you’ve got it on, it’s like, ‘Yeah, I feel strong, I feel tough, even though I had to have someone squeezing my butt cheeks into the legs.'" THE BATMAN is currently slated for a June 25, 2021 release.
Jeffrey Wright can currently be seen in THE GOLDFINCH, but he's got quite the busy slate in front of him. In addition to the third season of Westworld next year, Jeffrey Wright also appears in Steven Soderbergh's THE LAUNDROMAT, which will hit theaters on September 28th and Netflix on October 18, 2019, Wes Anderson's THE FRENCH DISPATCH, and he will also reprise his role of Felix Leiter for Cary Fukunaga's NO TIME TO DIE, Daniel Craig's final Bond film which will hit theaters On April 8, 2020 in the U.S.