Sam Rockwell Cast As Batman, Josh Hamilton As Superman, And Leslie Bibb As Wonder Woman...in New James Duffy Short Film

Today's This month's most bizarre casting news has broken: Sam Rockwell is going to play Batman, or at least The Bat-Man. Joining him will be Josh Hamilton as Superman, Leslie Bibb as Wonderwoman, John Hodgeman as The Penguin and Justin Long as Robin. All together now: Wha???

Didn't see this coming? Well, I did... kinda...

This casting is from Robin's Big Speed Date, what sounds to me to be a sequel to the original short. It's going to be one of the many comedy episodes in the as-yet-untitled, upcoming anthology film that has already announced a strong line up of stars and segment directors, from Kate Winslet and Hugh Jackman to Peter Farrelly and Bob Oedenkirk.

Here's the original film, to give you some sense of what we're in for:

I don't know what you'd think if Rockwell was cast as Batman "for real", but I think I'd be pretty happy. And John Hodgman as The Penguin sounds wonderful. I don't think we'll ever see another Batman film that has that kind of tone, of course. Well, except for when it's played entirely for laughs like this. I suspect this could well be one of our last chances to see a 2D "superhero" movie too.

I'm not entirely up on the gossip but Sam Rockwell may well be dating Leslie Bibb (heck – they might even be engaged, but I'm pretty sure they aren't married). I do know that they're both players in the Iron Man universe, however, and judging from his behaviour in Big Date, Rockwell's Batman is going to be pretty darn keen on Bibb's Wonder Woman in this new short.

Josh Hamilton, who will be playing Superman, appeared in the original short as Tony. Has he got the stuff for The Man of Steel, do you reckon?

The casting news was tweeted by Production Weekly.