Matt Reeves caused quite a stir last year when he took over directorial duties over one of the DCEU’s most pivotal franchises i.e. The Batman. The film-maker finished with War for the Planet of the Apes by June 2017 and has since focused his efforts towards the first Batman movie. In the interim, save for some casting rumors and the movie’s place in the DCEU, news on the solo Batman flick has been few and far between. Today, Reeves shed some more light into where he is in the movie’s production process.
In a Q & A session with Jeff Goldsmith, Reeves was asked about The Batman and whether he’s still outlining the movie. Reeves revealed:
I am. I have the story worked out and I’m outlining.
While that’s a relatively small nugget of info, it’s still a good thing to hear given the numerous script problems The Batman had when it was being scripted by Ben Affleck with writer Chris Terrio. That script, which Ben Affleck turned in to Warner Bros. was something he was never truly happy with Eventually the pressure of directing a Batman movie got to him and resulted in bowing out of the movie as director. Matt Reeves took on the role later on and, over the course of promotional activities for the last Apes movie, gave several interviews explaining his intended take on the movie.
Reeves sees The Batman as an extremely personal story with a focus on highlighting the The Dark Knight’s detective skills and emotional journeys a lot more than big set pieces. Having seen War for the Planet of the Apes and how that movie ended, I can totally see where Reeves is headed and am on-board with his vision for now (assuming of course it doesn’t end up being butchered at the hands of executives). The only thorn in all this: there were rumors that Ben Affleck may not be playing The Batman in Reeves’ version of the story although that remains in a flux at this stage.
Reeves also remarked about how his last movie took in $490 million and brought Marvel movies briefly when discussing a film’s financial prospects. He had nothing but praise to shower on Marvel’s recent dream run which has seen every project of theirs attaining critical and commercial success. When asked about how difficult it is for movies to make money these days, he had this to say:
It’s interesting you know because I think we’re in a very interesting time. A lot of sequels are not necessarily performing in the same [manner]. The movies that are working for sure at that level are these comic-book movies. If you look at these Marvel movies, they’re actually delivering continually at that level and or Disney (but that’s also … by the way Marvel’s also Disney). But Disney, they’re in good shape right now. They’re doing great.
If you have some time on your hands, consider giving the Podcast a listen. It’s a great talk that covers a lot of aspects about Reeves’ previous movie War for the Planet of the Apes and the Planet of the Apes franchise in particular and Reeves is a delight to listen. The Marvel movie talk begins at the 1:38:50 mark while The Batman talk is at the very end of the Podcast at the 1:46:33 mark.
The Batman is currently without a release date.
