18 EW.COM FEBRUARY 24/MARCH 3, 2017A TALE OF TWO BATMANS
Warner Bros. has dueling Dark Knights: one human, one plastic. And asThe LEGO Batman Movie
scores with critics, the future of Ben Affleck’s crusader grows murky.BY JAMES HIBBERDBen
Afflec
Batm v
Sup
man:
Daw f
Jus iRachel Lindsay will be
handing out the roses (and
making history) when the
reality series returns in May.
BY SAMANTHA HIGHFILLThe
Bachelorette
Gets Woke
•••
It’s about time, Bachelor Nation.
On Feb. 13, ABC announced
the franchise’s first black Bache-
lorette. Rachel Lindsay, the
Dallas attorney who landed
the First Impression Rose during
Nick Viall’s season ofThe
Bachelor, will get a second shot
at love when the next season
ofThe Bachelorette premieres on
May 22. “I’m happy to represent
myself as a black woman in
front of America, and to have
America rally behind me on my
journey to find love,” Lindsay told
EW’s sister publicationPeople.
After 33 combined seasons,
ABC has earned criticism for
its lack of diversity in both
suitors (there’s also never been
a black Bachelor) and contes-
tants, and Lindsay admits she
was surprised to be asked.
“It had never been done before,
so I really wasn’t expecting it,”
she said. And now that Lindsay
has made history, she’s not
looking to reinvent things when
it comes to finding love. “Hon-
estly, it’s not going to be that
different from any other season
ofThe Bachelorette,” she said.
“Just because the color of my
skin is different, it doesn’t mean
my journey for love has to be
any different. I’m still just a
woman trying to find the one.”
Something we know for cer-
tain: Host Chris Harrison will
claim it’s the most dramatic
season ever.“I’m Batman.”
“No.I’m Batman!”
Well, which is it? Is Batman
Ben Affleck’s brooding rage mon-
ster who was somewhat dubiously
praised by critics as being the best
f an
f e nd
rJ s
L b d s i a
d l , h s he
f n
n
ff f er
d h n
er
f f ise
ff ons
f s f s t
,possibility of Affleck’s so-serious
version being creatively outshined
by a comic doppelgänger voiced
by Will Arnett may be the least of
the live-action hero’s problems.
In the past few weeks, insider
reports have somewhat conflict-
ingly declared the following:
Affleck is not going to directThe
Batman as originally announced
and Matt Reeves (Dawn of the
Planet of the Apes) will take over;
the script Affleck wrote with Geoff
Johns needs to be entirely rewrit-
ten; the scripthas been rewritten
by Chris Terrio (Argo), and Affleck
and the studio are “very happy”
with it; and finally, that Affleck
wants to quit the movie altogether.
An insider denies that last bit
Ben
ck in
man v
uper-
man:
wn of
sticepraised by critics as being the be
part of the otherwise grimBatma
v Superman: Dawn of Justice—an
is expected to anchorJustice
League in Novemberandd star in a
stand-alone,The Batman? Or is h
the self-mocking LEGO version
who just stacked up $92.6 million
at the global box office for Warne
Bros. duringThe LEGO Batman
Movie’s opening weekend? Neve
before has a major studio franch
had two distinctly different versio
of the same character in films at
the same time. In this case, the© WARNER BROS./EVERETT COLLECTIONLINDSAY: RANDY HOLMES/ABC; AFFLECK: