Mariah Carey will be lending her voice to the anticipated new animated spinoff, The Lego Batman Movie. And while the casting of the aging pop star with the silvery soprano pipes had garnered plenty of attention for her gender-bending role, it appears it’s not as exciting as we expected. While Deadline reported that Carey will be playing Batman’s stalwart accomplice, Police Commissioner Gordon, other outlets, including The Hollywood Reporter, are now saying Carey will be playing the mayor of Gotham City instead.
While it was intriguing to imagine Carey taking on the gruff cop at the core of Batman’s inner circle — including the question as to whether she’d play Gordon as a man or woman — the role as mayor makes a lot more sense. Much less of a DC Comics icon, Gotham’s mayor in the new feature is essentially a fill-in role, easily conforming to whomever might take on the job. In a way, it’s too bad the first reports have (apparently) been debunked. It would’ve been cool to see a different take on Gordon; would he/she sing a song, for instance?
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That said, Carey’s more traditional casting shouldn’t put a damper on what’s sure to be a fun follow-up to the surprisingly brilliant Lego Movie.
The first film in the series introduced audiences to Lego Batman, humorously portrayed by Will Arnett as a sort of brooding, heavy metal-loving bad boy who didn’t quite have the crime-fighting skills he thought he did. The new film is looking to capitalize off the success of that venture, which starred Chris Pratt as the protagonist Emmett, along with Elizabeth Banks as his love interest Lucy, while Arnett made his way into the picture as Lucy’s former flame, aka Batman.
Also starring in The Lego Batman Movie will be Michael Cera as Robin, Rosario Dawson as Batgirl, Zach Galifianakis as The Joker, and Ralph Fiennes as Alfred the Butler.
Known more for her talents in music, Carey has taken a stab at acting before, including the panned 2001 film Glitter, as well as more recent roles in Precious, and The Butler.
In addition to this voice acting role, she has also aligned herself with a Christmas-themed movie pitch, though there are no concrete details on it just yet. Chances are, however, it will be a musical of some sort, allowing the songstress to show off her vocal talents.
And since the first movie was no stranger to characters breaking out into a song or two, we won’t be surprised if Carey’s character packs in a tune as mayor. The Lego Batman movie is slated for release in February 2017.
Updated 11/9/15 by Ryan Waniata: First reports that Mariah Carey would play Police Commissioner Gordon appear to have been incorrect, as THR is now reporting Carey will play Gotham’s mayor.
