Heston as Bruce irony

[nightwing_38116]

Batman is very anti gun, however, Heston is the head of the NRA.

[Salvor]

Yeah, it'd be a bit ironic indeed... I just can't stand this guy.

[DR. BELCH]

Caroll O' Connor was a bleeding-heart liberal, yet played America's most lovable right-wing bigot in one of the greatest and most groundbreaking shows of the 1970's. Not irony, bub, just good acting.

Useless fact. To help quicken blood circulation in his body, O'Connor recently had his big toe surgically removed.

[James Harvey]

....I think it should be Clint Eastwoord as ol' Bruce! The resemblance is there. The irony is nice, and meant to point it out plenty of times but good ol' nightwing_38116 beat me to it! I wonder -- would this put the must diehard fans at odds? I mean, some may be pissed Bruce is being played by a gun-toting actor. Some fans go insane over the most trivial things.

[Nightwing]

Good point. I agree about the issue of when an actor plays a part completely opposite to their own personality, it's great acting. And it is. It's just that I don't LIKE this particular actor. I guess my beef is, if Heston were to play a man against guns, violence and so driven to help people, to him that would be "acting." But if he can do the best job I'd accept him if I saw him in the role.

[Maxie Zeus]

In casting an elderly Bruce, you can either go for the unknown who fits it perfectly (like with Reeve in Superman ) or for the iconic (like with Brando in the same film). Of the suggestions for an icon, I think Heston has been the best. He's very good as the man-of-adamantine-principle (like Moses in The Ten Commandments ) and as the man-of-barely-suppressed-rage (like Taylor in Planet of the Apes ). Put the two together and I think you've got the old Bruce Wayne perfectly.

As for the "irony": I don't see how personal politics has anything to do with it, particularly since none of the movies have made a big deal about Wayne's anti-gun views. Anyway, unlike Tim Robbins or Jane Fonda or Richard Gere or Warren Beatty, Heston has never been one to cut and mold his acting choices around his political views. If you didn't already know he was associated with the NRA you'd never be able to guess it from his career. I think the good Doctor's allusion to Carroll O'Connor is exactly appropriate, and exactly analogous to Heston.