Actors Ready to Get Their Bat On

For the next few days, Tinseltown will be channeling Gotham City. And by the time the Bat signal comes down, there could be a new Caped Crusader on the beat.

A handful of Hollywood's hottest young stars are gathering at the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, California, for the chance to wear the tights in an updated version of Batman, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Touted as frontrunners heading into the auditions are Jake Gyllenhaal, who's earned a rep for brooding characters thanks to stand-out performances in Donnie Darko and The Good Girl, and Billy Crudup, an indie darling for his role in Jesus' Son and probably best known for playing a rock god in Almost Famous.

Among the other actors expected to try out are Dawson's Creek's Joshua Jackson and a bevy of Brits, including hunky American Psycho Christian Bale, Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later), Henry Cavill (I Capture the Castle) and Eion Bailey, whose credits include two high-profile HBO projects, 2001's Emmy-winning Band of Brothers and the upcoming And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself.

But an unnamed insider privy to the casting process tells the Reporter that Black Hawk Down thesp Hugh Dancy might also test for the part if he's given the okay to shave the beard he's currently sporting as Sir Galahad in Disney's King Arthur, which is now shooting.

On Wednesday, Warners refused to comment on the Hollywood Reporter story, preferring to keep the casting call hush-hush.

This newest, still-untitled Batman is being readied by filmmaker Christopher Nolan, the mastermind behind such stylish noirs as Memento and Insomnia, and is the studio's latest attempt at reviving its floundering billion-dollar franchise.

Nolan is also writing the screenplay, which apparently features a more youthful Bruce Wayne--as evidenced by the number of twentysomethings trying out for the role of the vigilante hero. Studio executives are hoping that a fresh face might help duplicate the blockbuster success of Sony's Spider-Man, which starred Tobey Maguire and ended up being last year's top-grossing film. (Gyllenhaal, coincidentally, was the lead candidate to replace Tobey for the sequel before the latter rehabbed his ailing back and reportedly stopped sniffing for more money.)

Given that Warners is aiming for a younger Bat guy, it's highly unlikely Robin will appear in the latest incarnation--especially considering the Batman series started its downward spiral when the Boy Wonder was finally introduced in the Joel Schumacher-helmed disasters Batman Forever and Batman & Robin of the mid-1990s.

Warners has been trying to relaunch its key comic-book characters for years, with at least three other Bat projects on the drawing boards.

There's a live-action version of the WB Kids Network animated series Batman Beyond, which is set 40 years in the future when the Batster's about to retire and passes his cape and cowl on to a younger successor.

Another project in development is Batman: Year One, a big-screen feature based on Frank Miller's graphic novel explaining the Dark Knight's origins, how he got his wings and started battling Gotham's bad guys.

Finally, there's Superman vs. Batman, an epic battle that pits our pointy-eared hero against the Man of Steel. But that would-be blockbuster stalled when director Wolfgang Petersen opted to do film another epic, Troy.

Warners is ready to roll cameras on the Batman spinoff Catwoman, with Halle Berry in the title role.

Meanwhile, as the Bat Franchise is ready for its big-screen comeback, Warners' long-in-the-pipeline Superman revamp is still idling after the studio has been unable to find a suitable actor to essay Supes or lock down a name-brand director.