The Batman movie has pulled in a lot of mainstream attention during its production, thanks in large part to the high-profile cast that director Matt Reeves has pulled together. Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman was a definite conversation-starter (to say the least), and DC fans have generally approved of castings like Paul Dano as Riddler, Colin Farrell as Penguin, and (definitely) Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman. However, there’s also been one big mystery staring us in the face: actor Peter Sarsgaard’s role as D.A. Gil Colson. Now Sarsgaard has a nice little tease about how “Gil Colson” fits into The Batman.
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Speaking to Observer, Sarsgaard teased the following about his role in The Batman:
“My part is very intense. On a big show like that my main concern was that I would have to do it 150 times—this intense scene and then that intense scene. My character is at nine out of ten for a lot of it. That was going through my head a lot, like ‘How do I maintain this?’”
“Gil Colson” isn’t a character that exists in DC Comics lore, and many fans have become suspicious that it’s really just a smokescreen. “Gil Mason” was a character who appeared in an arc of Batman: The Animated Series – a hot-shot D.A. who turns out to a patsy for Two-Face’s takeover of Gotham’s legal system. Mason frames commissioner Gordon and dates his daughter Barbara, who discovers Gil’s criminal connections and becomes Batgirl to save her dad.
Fans speculate that Matt Reeves is either borrowing elements of the Gil Mason character for Sarsgaard’s Gil Colson – or the character name is an outright fake. So who would Sarsgaard be playing? Harvey Dent himself. The secrecy could be due to mounting evidence of The Batman’s storyline being based on “The Long Halloween” – a mystery that hinges on Harvey Dent’s tragic fall in becoming Two-Face – and his dark connection with his wife. We’ve broken down in detail why Harvey Dent/Two-Face is the most important Batman villain for these times, so hopefully, we’ll get to see him.
We’ll have to wait and see if that pans out. In the meantime, Peter Sarsgaard praised the level of skill and dedication that’s going into The Batman‘s production:
“The bigger something is the harder it is to keep it pure in terms of vision,” says Sarsgaard, who was shooting The Batman in London earlier this year when the lockdown was put in place. “And honestly, with Matt Reeves, on The Batman, he can do it… It’s just such a spectacle. Even on set it’s kind of amazing to see the total professionalism of everyone in their jobs. It’s all the best people at everything. We were there when all the Academy Award stuff was happening and so many people on that movie were up for or received an Academy Award. It was kind of preposterous. You feel like you’re in great hands.”
The Batman arrives in theaters on October 1, 2021.
