Thanks to a variety of filmmakers, fans have seen a myriad of takes on Batman and the world of Gotham. There’s the flamboyance and camp of Joel Schumacher’s films. Tim Burton brought a more gothic, adult take on the hero. Christopher Nolan grounded the hero in realism. And Zack Snyder? Well, he made Bruce Wayne do lots of crossfit. But for Matt Reeves and the version that fans will see in “The Batman,” this version of the hero is going to have a take rooted in emotion and psychology.
Speaking to Nerdist, Reeves not only talked about his inspiration for “The Batman” but also detailed the idea for the pitch that he gave Warner Bros. that helped land him the job. And for the filmmaker behind the recent ‘Planet of the Apes’ films, he wasn’t completely sure WB was interested in the Batman story he had in mind.
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“I’m going to pitch the version of Batman that I would do, which is going to have a humanist bent,” said Reeves. “And who knows if they’ll have any interest? If they don’t, then I won’t do it. And that’ll be okay. I was really lucky that they said yes.”
He added, It’s not even like that’s an approach that I take, like it’s some kind of idea of, ‘Wouldn’t it be great?’ It’s sort of the only thing that allows me to understand how to do it. I can only understand where the camera goes and how to talk about the story, how to write the story, how to talk to the actors, if I understand emotionally what it is I have to do. Otherwise I’d be lost.”
And thankfully for fans of the character, “The Batman” isn’t a new origin tale, according to the filmmaker. Instead, Reeves is interested in taking the tragic origin story of the hero and seeing how that situation informs who Bruce Wayne turns into and why he embraces his “shadow self.”
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“I wanted to do not an origin tale, but a tale that would still acknowledge his origins, in that it formed who he is,” explained the filmmaker. “Like this guy, he’s majorly struggling, and this is how he’s trying to rise above that struggle. But that doesn’t mean that he even fully understands, you know. It’s that whole idea of the shadow self and what’s driving you, and how much of that you can incorporate, and how much of it you’re doing that you’re unaware of.”
He continued, “There’s something in there that feels very psychological, very emotional, and it felt like there was a way of exploring that along with the corruption in this place, Gotham. That feels very current. I think it always does. There’s almost no time when you can’t do a story about corruption. But today, it still seems incredibly resonant and maybe, from my perspective, maybe more so than maybe at other time.”
Unfortunately, it appears that fans will likely have to wait longer than anticipated for this new take on the character. “The Batman,” like so many productions, is currently in the middle of an unplanned hiatus thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving its June 2021 release date in question.
