The Batman's Matt Reeves Talks 'Humanist' Take on the Caped Crusader

During an interview with Nerdist, The Batman filmmaker Matt Reeves discussed how his take on the famed caped crusader needed to have a “humanist bent,” as we’ve seen in Reeves’ other works such as in Let Me In or in his new Amazon series Tales From the Loop, and felt he was “really lucky” that his pitch for the version of Batman he wanted to tell was accepted.

Regarding his humanistic approach to his projects, Reeves explained, “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. Some people are incredible choreographers and they know how to create an incredible visual dance or all of that kind of stuff. And I love that kind of stuff. But at the end of the day, I have to understand it emotionally.”

The director also shared what he was excited to explore when it came to Bruce Wayne: “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. 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.

“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.”

Starring alongside Robert Pattinson’s Batman/Bruce Wayne is Zoë Kravitz (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Mad Max: Fury Road) as Selina Kyle; Paul Dano (Love & Mercy, 12 Years a Slave) as Edward Nashton; Jeffrey Wright (the Hunger Games films) as the GCPD’s James Gordon; John Turturro (the Transformers films) as Carmine Falcone; Peter Sarsgaard (The Magnificent Seven, Black Mass) as Gotham D.A. Gil Colson; Jayme Lawson (Farewell Amor) as mayoral candidate Bella Reál; with Andy Serkis (the Planet of the Apes films, Black Panther) as Alfred; and Colin Farrell (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Dumbo) as Oswald Cobblepot. Twins Max and Charlie Carver have also joined the movie in “sizable roles.”

Reeves and Dylan Clark (the Planet of the Apes films) are producing the film, with Simon Emanuel, Michael E. Uslan, Walter Hamada and Chantal Nong Vo serving as executive producers.

Plot details are still being kept under wraps but The Batman is reportedly set to explore the Dark Knight’s younger years with Reeves further hinting at the film’s connection to the iconic comic book story arc “Year One” by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli which was published in 1987.

Reeves’ behind-the-scenes creative team includes Oscar-nominated director of photography Greig Fraser (Lion, Dune); his Planet of the Apes production designer, James Chinlund; editors William Hoy (the Planet of the Apes films) and Tyler Nelson (Rememory); and Oscar-winning VFX supervisor Dan Lemmon (The Jungle Book); Oscar-nominated SFX supervisor Dominic Tuohy (1917, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker).

Also on board are Oscar-nominated sound mixer Stuart Wilson (1917, the Star Wars franchise); Oscar-winning costume designer Jacqueline Durran (1917, Little Women, Anna Karenina) and costume designers Glyn Dillon (the Star Wars franchise) and David Crossman (1917, the Star Wars franchise); hair designer Zoe Tahir (No Time to Die, Spectre); and Oscar-nominated makeup designer Naomi Donne (1917). As was previously confirmed, Michael Giacchino (Cloverfield, Let Me In, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) will be composing the score for the film.