UPDATE:

A couple of readers on our Facebook page pointed out something that I should’ve mentioned in the original report.

One of the reasons that this is all so shocking is because only a month ago, Scott said this to Digital Spy:

“Superhero movies are not my kind of thing – that’s why I’ve never really done one. [I’ve been asked] several times, but I can’t believe in the thin, gossamer tight-rope of the non-reality of the situation of the superhero.

I’ve done that kind of movie — Blade Runner really is a comic strip when you think about it, it’s a dark story told in an unreal world. You could almost put Batman or Superman in that world, that atmosphere, except I’d have a fucking good story, as opposed to no story!”

These quotes are part of what makes this report such a fascinating turn of events. The Hollywood Reporter doesn’t traffic in rumors or gossip, so if their sources are saying Scott is a possibility to replace Affleck on The Batman…then he’s a possibility to replace Affleck on The Batman.

ORIGINAL REPORT:

When Ben Affleck stepped down as director of The Batman, you might have thought that all of the erratic reporting about this film would’ve come to a close. While Affleck played a relentless game of cat-and-mouse with the media and with fans for the last two years- a game that ultimately ended with him not directing the film- it would appear that the game lives on without him!

Over the weekend, the big news was that Variety was reporting that Matt Reeves (War For The Planet of The Apes) was set to replace Affleck as the director of The Batman, assuring people that it was only a matter of finalizing the deal. But then The Hollywood Reporter stepped in and revealed something that seems to have flown under everyone’s radar:

While Reeves is, indeed, close to signing on the dotted line, Warner Bros. has two other directors “waiting in the wings,” and one of them is Ridley f’n Scott!

Yes, the visionary director of Alien, Blade Runner, and The Martian is apparently also in the mix to direct The Batman. To hear THR say it, he’s not merely just a name on a Wish List, but someone they’re actually courting in case the Reeves deal falls through.

And he’s not alone in this conversation: The studio is apparently also discussing the job with Fede Alvarez (Don’t Breathe, the Evil Dead remake).

While it’s entirely possible that the studio is floating these names out there in order to put the screws to Reeves and get him to sign on sooner rather than later, it’s still incredible that a director like Scott could potentially helm The Batman. I don’t think anyone would’ve seen that coming if it ever became a reality. 

Coincidentally, they were also interested in the man directing the Blade Runner sequel, Denis Villeneuve, but the Canadian filmmaker ended up attaching himself to a reboot of Dune.

What do you think? Did you ever expect that an iconic filmmaker like Scott would be in the conversation for a comic book movie? 

SOURCE: THR