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Jeffrey Wright circling Commissioner Gordon in The Batman; Jonah Hill in talks for undisclosed villain
Matt Reeves' new cinematic take on Batman is in negotiations to cast an integral member of the bat-canon. If talks turn to signatures, joining Robert Pattinson on his caped crusade through Gotham will be genre veteran Jeffrey Wright (Westworld) playing Commissioner Jim Gordon in The Batman.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news today, while also revealing that casting is in the "early stages" in terms of who will play members of Batman's famous gallery of rogues. One of those rogues could very well be played by Jonah Hill (Maniac), as Variety is reporting that Hill is in talks for an undisclosed role, and that producers of the film have been interested in him for a while. The Wrap is going all in on saying that Hill is up to play a villain, in which case the Penguin would be an obvious choice. Kite Man could also be fun. Hell yeah!
Of course, Jim Gordon is a mainstay in almost every Batman tale, with the role being a part of every cinematic take on the character. Pat Hingle played him for four movies, before Gary Oldman took over for Christopher Nolan's trilogy. J.K. Simmons played him in Justice League, but Simmons has seemingly left Gotham for the moment and gone back to being Spider-Man's nemesis, J. Jonah Jameson. Gordon is usually an ally and confidant of Batman, though their relationship can be somewhat tempestuous at times.
Wright is no stranger to genre storytelling — he currently plays a central leading role on Westworld. He's also due to return to the character of Felix Leiter in the next James Bond movie, No Time to Die. Aside from all of that, he's a Broadway legend, winning acclaim for his roles in Angels in America (among many other theatrical projects), roles that he reprised to great success in HBO's adaptation of the play.
This is cause for Bat-fans everywhere to celebrate! Wright brings a deft and talented touch to everything he touches, and we can't wait to see how he approaches Jim Gordon. As for Jonah Hill, we'll have to wait a little bit longer for his actual role to waddle into the light of day and disclose itself. Just the same, we're ready to help him start picking out umbrellas.
The Batman, written, directed, and produced by Reeves, debuts June 25, 2021.
