Jeremy Irons, never one to shy away from controversial statements, just broke one of Hollywood’s cardinal rules: He admitted to starring in a bad movie, just for the money.
Usually, this kind of sentiment comes to light with a wry comment ten or twenty years after the fact. Over the weekend, Irons was happy to agree that Batman v Superman “deserved” its negative reviews. The movie has been out for only two months.
Speaking to Event Magazine, Irons said that the DC Comics movie got “a kicking” from critics. “Deservedly so. I mean it took £800 million, so the kicking didn’t matter but it was sort of overstuffed.”
“It was very muddled,” he said. “I think the next one will be simpler.”
It’s refreshing to hear an actor come out and say something like this, although Jeremy Irons is on a very short list of people who seem to get away with it. As a 67-year-old British character actor with a rather eccentric public persona, he appears to have a lot more leeway than stars like Henry Cavill or Amy Adams.
Irons even went on to imply that he took the role of Alfred Pennyworth because it paid well, which we probably could have guessed anyway. “I’m tied into The Batman at the minute, which is nice because it’s a bit of income,” he said. Irons is expected to reprise his role in future Justice League and Batman movies, alongside Ben Affleck.
Like Michael Caine and Anthony Hopkins before him, Jeremy Irons is getting his money’s worth from the superhero franchise trend. His job is to show up, film about ten minutes of dialogue scenes with young action stars, and collect a huge paycheck. Then if the movie bombs, no one is ever going to blame him. A nice deal, if you can get it.
