We know Matt Reeves brings empathy and humanity to his films – none more so when the movie doesn't even focus on humans, but on apes – but how might he bring that sensibility to his latest task, The Batman? Turns out, he already had an idea for that.
Talking with Nerdist, he explained his plan as: "I’m going to pitch the version of Batman that I would do, which is going to have a humanist bent. 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."
As for his story intentions, there has already been word that it'll find Batman established but still early in his vigilante crusade, still tinkering with his tactics, gadgets and more. Which means our fingers are crossed that this means we might actually escape seeing Bruce Wayne's – Robert Pattinson, in this case – parents die yet again. "I wanted to do not an origin tale, but a tale that would still acknowledge his origins, in that it formed who he is. Like this guy, he’s majorly struggling, and this is how he’s trying to rise above that struggle," Reeves says. "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."
Reeves, of course, had been busy making the movie when all film production shut down in the face of the current world pandemic. One of those who was working on it with him was Jeffrey Wright, who was Reeves' choice as Commissioner Gordon.
Chatting withCollider ostensibly about Westworld, he also tackled how he's approaching the role. "What I do is going to be very specific to Matt Reeves’ vision of Gotham, and it’s going to be reflective of what Robert Pattinson’s Batman is going to be. To pluck one character out of the whole, is a forced idea. All of us are working together to create a tone and a language and an energy and a vibe that is specific to our film. That’s what we were in the middle of doing when the alarm sounded that at least we Americans needed to get the hell out of there, so that we could get back home. That’s where we are right now, very much in the middle of things.
The Batman remains scheduled for 21 June, 2021, though with the continued shutdown, that date looks likely to change. We're still itching to see this one, no matter the wait.