Nightwing director Chris McKay on Saturday shot down a rumor The Greatest Showman star Zac Efron had “been confirmed” as the superhero.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Asked by a fan for clarification on Twitter, McKay responded with a simple, “Not true.”
Not true
— Chris McKay (@buddboetticher) May 13, 2018
Efron first got big with Disney Channel Original Movies High School Musical before taking a dramatic turn with roles in crime drama The Paperboy and JFK assassination drama Parkland.
The actor has since proved his comedic chops in raunchy comedies Neighbors and Baywatch. He recently starred alongside Hugh Jackman and Zendaya in family-friendly musical The Greatest Showman and next plays notorious serial killer Ted Bunny in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.
The LEGO Batman Movie director has yet to announce an actor for the coveted lead role of Batman protégé Dick Grayson, the former Robin, who sets out as a solo hero upon reaching adulthood.
The director took to the social media site in February to poll fans about their most desired trait in a potential Grayson actor: a recognizable movie star, an actor skilled in martial arts, an actor who is of Romani descent, or an actor capable of playing “vulnerable” and “emotional.”
McKay said the script is expected “very soon,” but the movie will be a “long process.”
“Don’t expect casting news any time soon,” McKay wrote in a tweet dated February 8. “We are taking our time.”
In September, fans took notice of the Twitter activity of American Horror Story star Finn Wittrock after McKay followed the actor on Twitter.
Power Rangers and Stranger Things 2 star Dacre Montgomery expressed interest in the role in November when he posted a photo of Nightwing, sans caption, on his Twitter and Instagram accounts. Montgomery quickly deleted both posts.
More recently, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle star Nick Jonas told ComicBook.com he would be “super down” to play Dick Grayson.
“I didn’t know there was people vying for me to play this role,” Jonas said, telling fans to “keep the chatter alive.”
“If you vote for me, maybe they’ll cast me in it,” he said. “And then, I don’t know, I’ll thank you all later.”
A subset of fans have since nominated Power Rangers HyperForce star Yoshi Sudarso for the role.
Bill Dubuque, who penned Ben Affleck’s The Accountant, is the sole screenwriter credited on the project. McKay boarded Nightwing in February 2017 after helming the animated The LEGO Batman Movie for Warner Bros. Animation. The movie has yet to set a release date.
As Warner Bros. prepares to bring Dick Grayson to the live-action DC Extended Universe, the character will appear as Robin in big screen animated comedy Teen Titans GO! to the Movies, in theaters July.
The studio is also readying another Batman underling, Batgirl, for the DCEU: the character will reportedly make her debut in Birds of Prey before spinning off into her own movie.
