“What’s black and blue, and dead all over?”
The Caped Crusader is back on the big screen, and if you have yet to see Matt Reeves’ take on the famous DC superhero, then you’re surely in for a treat! Aside from the promising performance of Robert Pattinson as the new Dark Knight, the superhero movie also doubles as a compelling noir thriller perfect for fans of the genre!
Whether you’ve seen the film or are still contemplating it, here are some offscreen facts about The Batman that you will surely find interesting!
1. Robert Pattinson auditioned in George Clooney’s Batsuit.
In an interview with Comicbook.com, The Batman actor Robert Pattinson revealed that he actually auditioned for the role wearing the infamous Batsuit of George Clooney from Joel Schumacher’s 1997 Batman & Robin film– yes, it’s the one with the nipples.
“It was incredible,” Pattinson said during the interview. “I mean, I remember when I was doing the screen test, because it was really fun and it was really, really long. I mean, I literally did a screen test in it for about eight hours and the entire time was just pouring sweat so much with Matt saying, ‘What can we do about this sweat?’ I’m like, ‘There’s nothing to be done. The only way past this is not drinking any liquids.'”
“I remember sneaking a little selfie in it when everyone left the room thinking if this doesn’t work out… I’ll always have this. I’ll always have a picture of me and my nipples!” added Pattinson.
2. Paul Dano’s Riddler is based on the Zodiac Killer.
While the common depiction of the Riddler is a grinning criminal who likes to throw taunts, Paul Dano’s Riddler in the film gives off a terrifying impression. This is because director Matt Reeves actually based his take on the character on the infamous and unapprehended serial killer Zodiac, who in real life taunted the authorities with ciphers and coded messages.
“I read Mindhunter. It made me think of the Zodiac killer, and how he actually wore this primitive costume that really is a primitive superhero costume… a rogues’ gallery costume,” director Reeves told Total Film, via Games Radar. “And I was like, ‘Oh, that’s really scary, the idea of people really wearing masks, and withholding their identities, and terrorizing people, and how scary that is.’ And so I started thinking, ‘Well, it could be an origin tale for the Riddler, and it could be an origin tale for some of these other characters.'”
3. Pattinson didn’t know that Batman was a detective.
Throughout his long history, Batman has been called many names like the Dark Knight, the Caped Crusader, and the Defender of Gotham, but Pattinson revealed that he didn’t know that the superhero was also called the “World’s Greatest Detective” before filming.
Pattinson shared with GQ that when Reeves told him that he wanted to do a ’70s noir detective story, Pattinson didn’t know that detecting is actually what Batman does.
“I kind of assumed that meant the mood board or something, the look of it. But from the first shot, it’s, ‘Oh, this actually is a detective story.‘ And I feel like an idiot because I didn’t even know that Batman was ‘the world’s greatest detective’; I hadn’t heard that in my life before—but it really plays. Just ’cause there’s a lot of stuff where he’s in amongst the cops. Normally, when you see Batman, he arrives and beats people up. But he’s having conversations, and there are emotional scenes between them, which I don’t think have been in any of the other movies.”
4. Matt Reeves tried to turn down the project.
As it turns out, while Matt Reeves has always been a fan of Batman, he wanted to say no to the project when Warner Bros. pitched it to him. This is because the original script, penned by Ben Affleck who was also supposed to play the role, was filled with action and rooted in Batman’s role as part of the DC Extended Universe.
“I read a script that they had that was a totally valid take on the movie. It was very action-driven. It was very deeply connected to the DCEU, with other major characters from other movies and other comics popping up. I just knew that when I read it this particular script was not the way I’d want to do it,” Reeves told Esquire.
“I said look, I think maybe I’m not the person for this. And I explained to them why I love this character. I told them that there have been so many great movies, but if I were to do this, I’d have to make it personal, so that I understood what I was going to do with it, so that I know where to put the camera, so that I know what to tell the actors, so that I know what the story should be. This take, I told them, pointing at the script, is a totally valid and exciting take. It is almost James Bond-ian, but it wasn’t something that I quite related to,” added Reeves. In the end, Warner Bros. allowed Reeves to have his own take on the film and it definitely delivered.
5. In the making of the film, Reeves was inspired by Nirvana & Hollywood films.
As both writer and director of the film, Matt Reeves takes a lot of credit for the creation of this new Batman flick. Sharing his many inspirations, Reeves cited Nirvana and even revealed how his Batman was inspired by the band’s Kurt Cobain.
Reeves told Esquire, “Early on, when I was writing, I started listening to Nirvana, and there was something about ‘Something in the Way’, which is in the first trailer, which is part of the voice of that character. When I considered, ‘How do you do Bruce Wayne in a way that hasn’t been seen before?’ I started thinking, ‘What if some tragedy happened, and this guy becomes so reclusive, we don’t know what he’s doing? Is this guy some kind of wayward, reckless, drug addict?’ And the truth is that he is a kind of drug addict. His drug is his addiction to this drive for revenge. He’s like a Batman Kurt Cobain.”
Other inspirations for the movie according to Reeves are the films The French Connection, Taxi Driver, All The President’s Men, and Klute.
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