The director of The Whale, Darren Aranofsky, may have reignited his interest in one of the DC Universe’s weirder superheroes: Plastic Man.
As it stands, Darren Aranofsky has his hands full with Caught Stealing, his upcoming drama starring Austin Butler and Zoe Kravitz. The project is currently in pre-production with reports emerging today that Matt Smith and Liev Schreiber have been added to the cast. Announced back in March, the film sounds like a pretty straightforward narrative setup, at least by Aranofsky’s standards: the film follows ‘follows Hank Thompson, a burned-out former baseball player, who’s unwittingly plunged into a wild fight for survival in the downtown criminal underworld of 1990s New York City.’
That one is expected to shoot imminently, but a new listing on Production Weekly may point to Aranofsky’s next project: a take on the oddball DC superhero, Plastic Man. This isn’t a new story – six months ago, the website DCU Leaks reported that Aranofsky was in negotiations to helm a Plastic Man movie but nothing was made public. Since then, the filmmaker has been busy on Caught Stealing and whilst it’s entirely possible that the listing is an error, there are other pieces of the puzzle that also fit quite neatly.
James Gunn, the incumbent DC Universe boss tried to pitch his own take on Plastic Man a few years ago, featuring Matthew Lillard in the role. That take was rejected but it suggests that Gunn – who also appreciates the sometimes goofy nature of comic book source material – would like to add Plastic Man to his stable of characters.
Plus, World Of Reel is also reporting that it has a source that confirms this listing is legitimate. That outlet (like DCU Leaks) has a pretty decent track record, so when you add it all up, there’s every chance that this is happening. FOr those of you not familiar with the character, Plastic Man is Patrick ‘Eel’ O’Brian, ‘a crook who gets doused with a mysterious chemical during a botched heist. He awakens to find himself imbued with the power to shape-shift and stretch his body into almost anything.’
The character previously had his own cartoon series, whilst several attempts have been made to get a feature film going, including rumours of a gender-swapped version and a period movie set in the 1940s. Should Aranofsky’s appointment prove to be true, then the character’s inherent weirdness should remain intact given that this is the filmmaker behind films such as mother! and Black Swan.
Aranofsky famously tried (and failed) to get a Batman: Year One film into production many years ago with Warner Bros ultimately choosing Christopher Nolan to reinvent the Dark Knight instead. It’s now looking increasingly likely that Aranofsky will finally get to play in the DC sandbox with a character that is perfectly suited to his sensibilities as a filmmaker. We’ll bring you more on this one as we hear it.
