Armie laments lost Batsuit

Armie Hammer admits he has only memories of his time working with Weta Workshop.

The 30-year-old star of The Social Network, The Lone Ranger and now Cars 3 was cast as Batman in a proposed Justice League film directed by Mad Max’s George Miller. Known as Justice League: Mortal, the film was all set to shoot in Australia in 2008 when production was abandoned just days before they were due to shoot.

Mystery surrounds the reason for the shut-down, but speculation has been that was a combination of the then Hollywood writers’ strike, the movie not reaching the threshold for an Australian tax brake and the studio Warner Bros being concerned about having multiple Batmans and Supermans around multiplexes (The Dark Knight hadn’t been released yet and a sequel to Superman Returns was still being considered).

"I would love to have a picture." Armie Hammer

Although he wouldn’t be drawn on his understanding for the reasons for its demise, Hammer says he was enamoured of Weta’s work on his costume. ‘‘It was a fullfunctioning Batsuit that they’d put together – there were pistons and gears and springs [in the story, Batman had been injured] – it was amazing.’’

When asked if he’d managed to hang on to anything from the project, he laments, ‘‘no’’. ‘‘I would love to have a picture – I hear there’s something floating around out there.’’

A new Justice League movie, featuring the work of Weta Workshop and its sister company Weta Digital, is scheduled to open in New Zealand cinemas on November 16. Rumours still persist that Hammer may yet play the Green Lantern in that film, although he would not confirm that. – James Croot