Jeremy Irons Was A Shining Light In The Darkness of BvS

Jeremy Irons is a fantastic actor that has a vast filmography and so many awards he most likely has a room dedicated to them, I always hope there is a celebrity out there that keeps them all in a bathroom I just think it it would be funny. When it was announced that Irons would be playing Alfred it was solidified that I was going to enjoy the Batman aspect of Batman V Superman. Irons did not disappoint, he was a different Alfred then we have seen on the big screen, fixing the Bat-mobile and wiring the head set of the cowl. Previous to now we have seen a very proper Alfred portrayed by first Michael Gough in Batman-Batman & Robin, Gough may have been the best parts of the later two films as well! Michael Caine then put on the butlers uniform for the Dark Knight series, his wit and wisdom grounded the some times irrational Batman.

In a recent sit down with The Daily Mail Irons discussed a multitude of things including that he would not want to be Knighted, and his semi retired status. Inevitably Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was brought up.With it’s monetary success and terrible reviews it would be tough to avoid that during an interview. Irons responded in the most honest British way possible in my mind, he just laid it out. He didn’t excuse the mistakes, but didn’t dismiss the movie as a whole saying that the film was overstuffed. Which I don’t disagree with, to jam the meeting of the Man of Steel and the Caped Crusader, Doomsday and the formation of the trinity, along with how it ended was a lot even for a 2 and 1/2 hour movie. Though I think to get them to where they needed for The Justice League they needed to go that rout, a singular big event to join the forces of the worlds greatest. Irons reassured our fears that this is how all the DCCU movies would be,

‘It was very muddled. I think the next one will be simpler. The script is certainly a lot smaller, it’s more linear.”

In Snyder’s DCCU the world is a tough some what terrible place, it makes sense that Alfred would be less proper and more of an ally in battle there for more than just moral support. This isn’t the first time we have seen this Alfred in the comics, but it was refreshing to see on the big screen. Irons had a little inspiration for this kind of “butler” who is more body guard than anything else,

‘I had dinner a few times with Paul Getty, who was a neighbour of mine in Oxfordshire. 

‘You’d arrive for dinner and there’d be a very nice man to open the gate, a very nice man to park your car, another very nice man to take your coat and another very nice man to give you some champagne. They were all ex-SAS. So the whole place was surrounded by this level of threat, and I thought, “Yeah, that’s Alfred.”

‘If I was Mr and Mrs Wayne and I had a young son I thought could be kidnapped, killed or whatever because of his wealth, I’d make sure his guardian – his tutor, his mate – was somebody pretty capable.’

That idea is the best to me, we are seeing that Alfred in Gotham and now on the big screen, this does not take away how awesome Michael Caine was as the character. In fact I think it was the best possible solution to take the character in such a different direction, as why would you try to recreate something that was do so dang well? If you haven’t seen the film and are now worried that he are going to see a buff old man kicking butt, its more subtle than that. He still is full of sarcastic wit, but he is more willing to lay it out and tell Bruce how far off base he is even before things go completely to hell.

Irons is set to return for The Justice League Part 1 and presumably the solo Batman film at least, with a multitude of movies that would be completely plausible for him to show up in, as everyone in the DC universe loves Alfred!

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