War for the Planet of the Apes Director Matt Reeves on his Vision for The Batman
We've been writing a lot about Matt Reeves' War for the Planet of the Apes, which is getting some of the best reviews of any summer blockbuster not named Wonder Woman in recent memory. What you might not be aware of is Reeves will be directing Warner Bros. stand-alone Batman film, The Batman, which is just now in the early days of the project. As we wrote back on May 1, Reeves, who stepped in to direct when star Ben Affleck decided he had too much on his plate to produce, star and helm the film, is a longtime Batman fan. “I just was obsessed with Batman when I was a kid. What I find so interesting about him as a character is that, as far a superhero goes, he’s not superhuman, he is a person. And he is a tortured soul who is grappling with his past and trying to find a way to be in a world that has a lot that’s wrong with it and trying to find a way to reconcile all of that. That is a really powerful character, in the same way that Caesar is such a powerful character,” Reeves told the Daily News.
With Reeves on a press tour for War for the Planet of the Apes, it was inevitable he'd get some questions about The Batman, and when he did, he didn't disappoint. Speaking to New Trailer Buzz, Reeves talked about what approach he was taking the film, once again comparing Caesar (Andy Serkis), the heart and soul of the new Apes franchise, to Bruce Wayne:
“One of the reasons I was drawn to [The Batman] is that I had a similar obsession to Batman when I was younger that I had with the Apes series, which I was obsessed with. I see a parallel emotionally between Caesar and Batman, in that they’re both tortured and trying to sort of grapple within themselves to try and do the right thing in a very imperfect and, to some degree, corrupt world. It’s really that emotionality that I’m interested.”
Reeves also discussed how he's planning on putting the viewer right there with Batman as he tries to solve a serious crime in Gotham, taking a noir detective story approach to the film, one very much in line with the ethos of modern Batman storytelling, ever since Frank Miller and artist David Mazzuchhelli's seminal graphic novel, "Batman: Year One" was published:
“In all of my films, what I try to do, in an almost Hitchcockian sense, is use the camera and use the storytelling so that you become that character, and you emphasize with that point of view. There’s a chance to do an almost noir-driven, detective version of Batman that is point-of-view driven in a very, very powerful way, that hopefully is going to connect you to what’s going on inside of his head and inside of his heart.”
We'll have a while to wait before we see what Reeves will do with The Batman, but considering the skill he's shown in the last two Ape films, we have every reason to expect he'll be able to do justice to one of the most beloved superheroes of all time, and create something riveting.
The Batman is due out in theaters oin 2019.
Featured image: EZRA MILLER as The Flash, BEN AFFLECK as Batman and GAL GADOT as Wonder Woman in Warner Bros. Pictures' action adventure "JUSTICE LEAGUE," a Warner Bros. Pictures release.
