Matt Reeves visited with Josh Horowitz/MTV on the Emmy Awards red carpet. They talked a bit about THE PENGUIN — which had been nominated for and won in several categories (Congrats Cristin Milioti!) — and, of course, THE BATMAN PART II. Here are a few things he said…
On the villain for TB2…
And so picking the right villain that digs into what that does, that goes into his past and his life, that was what drove that discussion. I won’t tell you where we ended up, but we’re super excited about it. And I will say it’s never really been done in a movie before. So we’re excited.
Whenever I’m asked by fans and BOF’ers who I want to be the villain of TB2 — or any Batman film for that matter — my answer is always the same: “Whichever villain and characters make sense to the story that the filmmaker is telling.” With TB2 being another detective story (per Reeves) and the second film installment of THE BATMAN EPIC CRIME SAGA, it’s got to be a character that fits…not the other way around.
On creating the story for the film, and how it will focus on Bruce Wayne…
I had a lot of ideas, and then Mattson Tomlin, who’s my writing partner, we began the process of this by doing another deep dive into the comics, exploring the ideas that I had had.
“He gave me some ideas that he had had. And we sat together and we watched a lot of movies, honestly, and not all movies that are from the realm of Gotham, just to explore where this story…because I knew that the way the movie ended it was leaving us on the precipice, and also the way events sort of happen within the show [THE PENGUIN], that there is an exploration to be had. And one of the explorations for me was to do something that pushes even further into the character of Bruce Wayne, because the first story is so much about the Batman.
Since both The Batman and Bruce Wayne had character arcs and enlightening moments that would change each, it was obvious to me that Bruce (Rob Pattinson) would grow and become a more prominent public figure in Gotham. I don’t think Reeves and Pattinson are going to go down the route “public playboy Bruce Wayne” ala THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY, but I do see Bruce doing more for Gotham and within Wayne Enterprises.
What about Robin?
Well, sure, you talk about everything. There is probably not any character that we didn’t talk about. What could this be? What could that be? That’s part of the beginning of anything.”
Of course, they talked about Robin and how to do the character. Personally, I 100% believe that Reeves’ version of “Robin” will show up at some point in THE BATMAN EPIC CRIME SAGA because Reeves is a Batman fan and knows the importance of the character. Now, will Robin show up in TB2? I don’t know. When he does, will he be a 12-year-old kid? Doubtful. But Reeves will definitely include his version of Robin, and one that will fit in the world of the SAGA.
Reeves also mentioned that Cristin Milioti’s Sofia Falcone will not be in “this one” (TB2) because they were too far along writing the story when THE PENGUIN came out. He also said there are many potential spinoffs like THE PENGUIN he’d love to do, so we’ll see down the line if any come to fruition.
We’ll be talking more about the latest THE BATMAN PART II news this weekend on the BOF Social Hour Podcast. Make sure you check it out! And for the full interview with Reeves, the video is included below. – Bill “Jett” Ramey
