What's a DC Movie Featuring Batvillains Bane and Deathstroke Without Batman Himself?

Happy Sunday, folks!

The other night, I rewatched The Hand That Rocks the Cradle for the 50th time after yesterday’s news about Maika Monroe (Longlegs) starring in the remake, and if you haven’t seen this movie yet, you must. It’s so fucking good — Annabella Sciorra delivers the best asthma attack in history — though you could never get away with Ernie Hudson’s mentally challenged character these days. Hell, I’m not sure you could get away with a bunch of stuff that’s in this movie — it’s that wild.

On Friday, the trades ran a story insinuating that Aaron Pierre and Stephan James are the finalists for John Stewart in HBO and DC’s Lanterns series, though no offers have been made yet.

I wasn’t surprised to hear about Pierre, given the heat he has right now coming off of Rebel Ridge. He’s certainly the guy who the fans are pushing for. But just because he looks like John Stewart doesn’t mean he’s the right fit for John Stewart, and frankly, I think he could do better. He should hold out for Batman — if a new Batman is being cast soon — or a cool Marvel role, as he doesn’t need a glowing green ring to project power.

The big surprise to everyone — except me, of course — was Stephan James, who no one had mentioned until I put him on my list. Granted, I named 18 young Black actors, so my chances of success were high, but still… I know what I’m talking about, and I think he’d be great as John Stewart. I can picture him alongside Kyle Chandler more easily than I can Aaron Pierre, whose size may be a detriment at times, though I acknowledge that Pierre’s stock is currently higher within the industry.

Regardless of who is ultimately cast as John Stewart, I hope a Civil War doesn’t break out among the trades over who beat who to the scoop. The update to this post about Deadline’s Life of Chuck acquisition scoop will go down in the history books for me:

“Variety ran a story three minutes behind Deadline’s scoop, and then changed their time stamp to 11:53, to appear that they had broken this story. We at Deadline are not here to bend time; it seems enough that our readers who rely on us to break virtually every festival deal story know that the other side fudged it.”

Of course, the original version of the post ended with, the other side “cheated,” which is even funnier — as if changing timestamps isn’t standard operating procedure at the trades. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black… but at least Mike Fleming had some fun with it. “We at Deadline are not here to bend time…”

Careful, Mike, or that will be Jay Penske’s next request!

In tonight’s newsletter, you’ll read about the latest rumors swirling around James Gunn’s DC Universe, from a Bane-Deathstroke movie to a Mr. Freeze project — all of which beg the question, where does Robert Pattinson’s Batman factor into this, and if he doesn’t, then… why the hell not?

There are also stories about Oscar winners Meryl Streep and Hilary Swank lining up new gigs… on TV. Plus, items about Dave Chappelle potentially returning to host SNL, Saoirse Ronan possibly reteaming with Greta Gerwig, the pro wrestler who is joining Adam Sandler in Netflix’s Happy Gilmore sequel, the cancellation of the Chucky TV series, and Lionsgate’s action-packed trailer for Ballerina.

And finally, I pay tribute to Maggie Smith, Kris Kristofferson, and Beverly Hills Cop star John Ashton, all of whom passed away over the weekend, though they’ll live on in our hearts.

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