Citizen Wayne?

Fact: Orson Welles was a genius. The man was responsible for the greatest media prank of all time. He made what critics call the best movie ever made (Take that, Shawshank Redemption). He also had an impressive and useful beard. What I didn't know until recently was that he had planned the ultimate Batman movie. As much I love Christopher Nolan's current Bat-universe with it's lack of saucer sized Bat-Nipples, I was shocked to learn today of just how awesome Orson Welles' unmaterialized plans for his own Batman movie were. Click here to read the full story written by Mark Millar.

To the right is an early design for the proposed Welles production. Possibly the greatest genius of the project was it's confirmed casting: I'm all for Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent, but how about George Raft as Two-Face? Then there was James Cagney as The Riddler, Basil Rathbone as The Joker, Marlene Dietrich as Catwoman and... wait for it... Gregory Peck as Bruce Wayne/ Batman? This was a film that deserved to be made. Dammit, I don't see why it still can't be done.

Update: I've just read that most of the confirmed cast were hit by a small case of death. That's a shame. It would've been perfect with a Prince soundtrack too.

In honor of Charles Foster Kane and the Batman movie that never was, I present to you two Mercury Theatre radio plays: "Dracula", because of the bat thing, and "War of the Worlds" because it's an Orson Welles post. More MP3s and streams can be found at Mercury Theatre on the Air. Links:

Mercury Theatre "Dracula" (mp3)

Mercury Theatre "The War of the Worlds" (mp3)

"Nana nana nana nana Leader! I mean Batman!"

(credit to am.fm.pm) for discovering this apparently old news.