DC Comics' Alfred Pennyworth isn't really one to hold back and it looks as if his latest big screen counterpart isn't either. Check out what Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice's Jeremy Irons had to say about Zack Snyder's film. Cue Sad Affleck.
A phenomenal opening weekend followed by a drastic fall, bashed by the critics to the point where fans started accusing Disney of paying for negative reviews, many still enjoyed Batman v Superman (not our Drew McWeeny though). I personally didn't love it but I didn't hate it with a passion either. However, I did feel like it was three messy movies in one.
In a larger feature on the actor The Daily Mail got to talking with Irons, who played Alfred, about Batman v Superman and boy, he had some things to say:
‘Really, ambition has gone,” he insists. ‘I look for things that tickle my fancy. You begin to see the end of life on the horizon. You think, “It”s not going on for ever, this. Let”s make the most of what time I have left.”” That gives him the freedom to be entertainingly frank, starting with his most recent film, Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice, in which he played the loyal British butler Alfred. It was popular at the box office but got an absolute kicking from the critics. ‘Deservedly so. I mean it took £800 million, so the kicking didn”t matter but it was sort of overstuffed…” He lets those words hang in the air, then laughs at the thought of a film described by one critic as the most incoherent blockbuster in years. ‘It was very muddled. I think the next one will be simpler. The script is certainly a lot smaller, it”s more linear.” There”s no getting out of it now. ‘I”m tied into The Batman at the minute [the next installment, Justice League Part One, is due next year], which is nice because it”s a bit of income…”
Spoken like an established actor who isn't afraid of being fired I guess. Or maybe he's annoyed he barely got anything to do in the film. Regardless, it's nice to hear Justice League will be simpler, right? Irons also told The Daily Mail he put a lot of thought into the kind of Alfred he'd be.
His Alfred was the highlight of the movie: not the passive butler of the past but a bodyguard and ally in battle. This turns out to be based on a real-life encounter with an oil billionaire and the men who made up his domestic staff. ‘I had dinner a few times with Paul Getty, who was a neighbour 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.”
Ben Affleck, who will of course also be starring in Justice League, will executive produce the film while DC Entertainment's Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns will take a larger role in Warner Bros' superhero films going forward.