If you haven’t checked out the new feature article on THE BATMAN in MOVIEMAKER MAGAZINE, you should…like ASAP! It’s very good and very enlightening when it comes to what director Matt Reeves is going for in the film.
Below you’ll find a few highlights from the piece that stood out to me. Enjoy! – Bill “Jett” Ramey
Matt Reeves on writing the script with Robert Pattinson in mind for Bruce Wayne/Batman…
In writing, from the beginning, I was imagining the character in my head. And I started watching movies of actors in the age range. And [Robert Pattinson] just really kind of captivated me, and I started writing for him at a certain point. I had no idea if he ever would want to be in the movie.
It was a kind of almost fated thing,” says Reeves. “Of course, at that point, we were still working on the script. And so there was nothing to share. But I met with him probably about eight months later, and I shared the script, and we just really connected.
Robert Pattinson on wanting the part of Batman very early on…
I’ve never auditioned for any comic book movies before. And at the time, even my agents thought it pretty out of character to just suddenly get fixated on Batman. And I didn’t even really know the status of the project.
Pattinson on goofing around during an interview and saying he wasn’t working out for THE BATMAN…
That really came back to haunt me. I just always think it’s really embarrassing to talk about how you’re working out. I think it’s like an English thing. Unless you are in the most unbelievable shape, where people are just genuinely curious, going, ‘How have you achieved, like, physical perfection?’ or whatever. You’re playing Batman. You have to work out [laughs]! I think I was doing the interview when I was in lockdown, as well, in England. I was in a lower gear of working out.
Personally, I knew he was doing a bit from the get-go. I don’t know how anyone took him seriously. I mean, fans and even online pundits were having meltdowns over it! ANYWAY…
There’s an element in the other iterations of the story where Bruce goes off, does his training, masters himself, and then comes back to Gotham as a fully realized character and the delineation between Bruce and Batman — the public Bruce, the private Bruce, and the Batman Bruce — are very contained and he can control them more easily. And in this, the lines have totally blurred. His self as Bruce is sort of disintegrating.
Reeves on how THE BATMAN is a detective story, first and foremost…
This idea of a place that is corrupt, and you try to swim against the tide in order to fight against it and make a difference, is quintessential Batman. And at the center of those noir stories is almost always the detective, right? And that’s why he is the world’s greatest detective. And so this story is, in addition to being almost a horror movie, and a thriller, and an action movie, at its core, it’s also very much a detective story. It’s very narrative.
Pattinson on THE BATMAN being a detective movie…
In the first meeting, [Reeves] was saying, we want to lean into the ‘world’s greatest detective aspect,’ and be a detective noir movie. And, you know, normally when directors say that, they just do like a mood board, and it’s just about the imagery. But I read the script, and it is! It’s a detective movie. It happens all the time in the graphic novels, but it’s always kind of on the backburner in the movies.
THE BATMAN hits theaters on March 4, 2022. Follow BOF’s Everything About THE BATMAN Page. Make plans to attend BOF’s THE BATMAN Watch Party.
