Jeffrey Wright Claps Back At Racist Backlash To His 'The Batman' Casting

Backlash against casting choices, especially when it comes to comic book movie adaptations, is nothing new in the entertainment industry, but sometimes the reactions can go too far and become outright offensive. It's one thing to not have wanted Michael Keaton to portray Batman in the classic 1989 film because he was known mostly for comedies; it's entirely different, however, once an actor's race is fodder for complaints.

via: CBM

Academy Award winner Jeffrey Wright found himself in exactly this position when he was cast as Commissioner Jim Gordon in Matt Reeves' The Batman, and responded to the backlash.

During a recent interview with Collider, the Academy Award-nominee discussed the negative reaction from some fans who felt that the Dark Knight's longtime friend and ally should be played by a Caucasian actor, since the character has always been depicted as being white on the page.

“I really find it fascinating the ways in which there’s such a conversation, and I think even more of a conversation now, about Black characters in these roles,” Wright said. “It’s just so f*cking racist and stupid. It’s just so blind in a way that I find revealing to not recognize that the evolution of these films reflects the evolution of society, that somehow it’s defiling this franchise not to keep it grounded in the cultural reality of 1939 when the comic books were first published. It’s just the dumbest thing. It’s absent all logic.”

Wright then noted that one of the reasons Batman has endured as such a vital part of popular culture for some many years is because he was created to be “open-ended,” allowing for various different interpretations of the character and his world.

“I feel that I own these stories as much as anyone. Perhaps now, because I’m a part of them, I have the most skin in the game,” he added. “[Batman creators] Bob Kane and Bill Finger are two Jewish guys up in the Bronx, imagining heroes and villains in a city that looked like the city around them at the time, but I think what they imagined was open-ended. I think that the success and the longevity of these stories and characters are owing to the openness of their imaginations and what they created.”

Though there is always a certain amount of backlash when any role is "race-swapped" and we're sure Wright did experience some negativity when he landed the part, we actually don't recall seeing that much outrage online when it was announced that he would be playing Gordon.

Wright is set to reprise the role for The Batman - Part II, and recently revealed that he had received the script.

We still know very little about The Batman - Part II, but there have been rumors that plot rumors that Hush and/or Mr. Freeze could end up being the villains. There doesn't seem to be much to these reports, but based on previous comments from Reeves, there is a good chance that the movie will have a winter setting.

In addition to Robert Pattinson, everyone from the first film (with the likely exception of Paul Dano's Riddler) is expected to return, along with some characters from The Penguin.