The Batman director Matt Reeves spoke to The Hollywood Reporter’s Kim Master on “The Business” podcast about the upcoming film and how Warner Bros. pitched it to him.
“When they approached me, what they said was: ‘look, it’s a standalone, this isn’t part of the extended universe,” Reeves said.
You can hear it around the 24:00 minute mark.
[powerpress]
Reeves confirms he has a Batman trilogy idea already bouncing around in his head. He discussed the type of movies he would like to make and referenced his previous work with Planet of the Apes, “I do see this weird parallel to Caesar in that here is a tortured soul whose trying to grapple within himself to find a way to do the right thing in a world that is corrupt. A world that is imperfect. The stories would be about that struggle … Those stories were noir stories. They were very point of view driven. I think there is a great possibility to do something that is from that noir point of view, intimate perspective film making.”
He did note that he’s “totally fine not doing Batman. It’s not like I want to do any version of Batman, I want to do my version of Batman.”
He goes on to say “It’s been really good … and [Warner Bros.] are really excited about the perspective we’ve been talking about [The Batman].”
What’s really interesting about this is that the podcast was recorded on July 17 just before San Diego Comic-Con. Just four days later is when Kim Masters ran a piece hinting at Ben Affleck’s turn as Batman coming to an end.
What’s also interesting is the fact that this was pitched as a stand-alone movie and not part of the DCEU. It seems DC might be moving a number of their Batman brands to stand-alone films given the news from Deadline which revealed Martin Scorsese is involved in a stand-alone Joker origin movie.
I’d love to see a noir Batman that really showcases Batman’s detective skills. He is the World’s Greatest Detective after all!
Are you looking forward to seeing Reeves’ vision for the Batman? What do you think about the news that the movie may not be connected to the DCEU?