Paul Dini reveals Clint Eastwood almost starred as Bruce Wayne in unmade 'Batman Beyond' live-action film
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Batman is one of the most popular superheroes of all time globally. Over the years, the caped knight has gone through a lot of changes and several versions of Batman have been seen throughout the DC universe. And it has come to light that the 'Cry Macho' actor Clint Eastwood was almost in line to take on the caped crusader role in the live-action adaptation of 'Batman Beyond'.
According to the co-creator of 'Batman Beyond' Paul Dini, Warner Bros Studios almost starred the 'Million Dollar Baby' actor. From Christopher Nolan's novel and practical take on the character in 'The Dark Knight Trilogy', in which Christian Bale portrayed Batman to the recent Matt Reeves gritty and dark take on the 2022 'The Batman' adaptation with Robert Pattinson portraying the role, there were several options for the Batman role onscreen.
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Clint Eastwood's version of Paul Dini's 'Batman Beyond'
According to Collider, on his recent appearance on Kevin Smith's 'Fatman on Batman podcast', Paul Dini, the co-creator of the popular 'Batman Beyond' opened up on an unexpected detail regarding the then-potential 'Batman Beyond' movie with none other than the 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' star Clint Eastwood. According to Dini, he and co-creator Alan Burnett were approached to write the fan-favorite 'Batman Beyond' storyline to be made into a live-action movie. Boaz Yakin was roped in to direct the live-action movie. Dini said that the movie was supposed to be set in "Gotham’s future, but it didn’t quite have the fantastic, futuristic edge." The superhero movie was supposed to be an "amalgam" and Eastwood was supposed to play a rather older Bruce Wayne. Dini further added that "there was a little bit of The Dark Knight, there was a little bit of contemporary comics and there was Terry McGinnis and the suit and everything." Eventually, Warner Bros went to scrap the project and the disastrous 'Batman & Robin' made the studio move in a new direction with Batman.
What is 'Batman Beyond' about?
'Batman Beyond' is one of the most popular storylines of Batman. 'Batman Beyond' broke all the stereotypical storylines of Batman at the time. Created by Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, and Alan Burnett, the superhero show ran for three seasons from 1999 to 2000. 'Batman Beyond' takes place in the way future of Gotham City, after the events of 'Batman: The Animated Series' and 'The New Batman Adventures' animated series storyline. Batman is now in his 50s in the storyline. And Bruce Wayne (Voiced by Kevin Conroy) becomes the mentor to Terry McGinnis (Will Friedle), the young Batman. Bruce Wayne works with the young team members of Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, and more.
However, after DC scrapped the Eastwood Batman film, they went on with Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight Trilogy'. Paul Dini later went on to write the smash hit 'Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker'. As the DCEU is currently moving forward with new plans for 'The Brave and the Bold' and Robert Pattinson's 'Batman 2', it is highly unlikely that DC will bring back yet another Batman into the mix with Clint Eastwood's scrapped version of the Batman.
