It’s not often you hear a cast member from a major blockbuster film come out and say it wasn’t very good. It happened last year when several members of the FANTASTIC FOUR reboot cast basically took turns crapping on the movie. Now there’s the case of Jeremy Irons who, for many, was one of the bright spots to be found in BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE– alongside Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne. Word got back to the veteran thespian that critics really laid into the film, and his candid response is very telling.
The Daily Mail caught up with Irons, who says he considers himself semi-retired these days, and they brought up the very negative critical response for the DC epic that was meant to get the world buzzing for a whole series of movies set within that universe. “Deservedly so,” said Irons of the lashing BATMAN V SUPERMAN took. “I mean it took £800 million, so the kicking didn’t matter but it was sort of overstuffed,” Irons added. “It was very muddled. I think the next one will be simpler. The script is certainly a lot smaller, it’s more linear.“
When he says “the next one,” he’s referring- of course- to JUSTICE LEAGUE Part One. He’s set to appear in that film, and then again in a solo Affleck Dark Knight film for which he may have also confirmed the long-rumored title. “I’m tied into THE BATMAN at the minute, which is nice because it’s a bit of income… Not that I need a bit of income but it’s nice to keep ticking over.”
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That certainly doesn’t do much for the suspicion some folks may have that actors of his caliber only appear in films like these for the paycheck, does it?
Still, whether he endorses BATMAN V SUPERMAN, or seems genuinely enthused about his future outings as Alfred Pennyworth, the fact remains that people loved what he did with the role. So where did it come from? What inspired his much more badass portrayal of Bruce’s butler?
“I had dinner a few times with Paul Getty, who was a neighbor of mine in Oxfordshire. You’d arrive for dinner and there’d be a very nice man to open the gate, a very nice man to park your car, another very nice man to take your coat and another very nice man to give you some champagne. They were all ex-SAS. So the whole place was surrounded by this level of threat, and I thought, ‘Yeah, that’s Alfred.’
“If I was Mr. and Mrs. Wayne and I had a young son I thought could be kidnapped, killed or whatever because of his wealth, I’d make sure his guardian – his tutor, his mate – was somebody pretty capable.”
Now that’s pretty cool, and makes a ton of sense.
What do you make of the actor’s remarks about the “muddled,” “overstuffed,” and deservedly-ridiculed BATMAN V SUPERMAN? Did you like that little bit of backstory about how he built his portrayal of Alfred? Looking forward for more of the Irons and Affleck dynamic in future DC movies? Sound off below!
SOURCE: Daily Mail