Matt Reeves is here to give us all hope again that The Batman (he still calls it that) is not off the table yet. In fact, he sounds pretty positive that it’s going to happen.
Reeves sat down with The Hollywood Reporter for a lengthy interview recently, and, of course, the topic of his long-gestating Batman project came up. THR did ask him if the film had a title yet, and he laughed, saying, “Right now it’s called The Batman. What it will be called ultimately, I don’t know.” Good enough for now.
The feel of the film, especially when it comes to Batman, is important, and he has a lot of thoughts on the project. “It’s very much a point of view-driven, noir Batman tale. It’s told very squarely on his shoulders, and I hope it’s going to be a story that will be thrilling but also emotional.” He went on to add, “It’s more Batman in his detective mode than we’ve seen in the films. The comics have a history of that. He’s supposed to be the world’s greatest detective, and that’s not necessarily been a part of what the movies have been. I’d love this to be one where when we go on that journey of tracking down the criminals and trying to solve a crime, it’s going to allow his character to have an arc so that he can go through a transformation.”
As to whether or not Josh Gad is playing the Penguin as he keeps teasing the world, Reeves said the casting process is starting soon. “There will be a Rogues Gallery,” said Reeves. The casting process will begin shortly. We’re starting to put together our battle plan. I’m doing another pass on the script and we’ll begin some long-lead stuff to start developing conceptual things.”
When the Warner Bros. chief recently said that a cinematic universe wasn’t their primary concern now, it seems that has trickled down to the creatives as well. THR asked if he was putting any work in on Harley Quinn or Batgirl, and he says that for now, his concern is The Batman. “Right now, I’m involved in The Batman,” said Reeves. “What it will be called ultimately, I don’t know. Aquaman is going to be very different from the Todd Phillips Joker movie, and that’s going to be different from Shazam and Harley Quinn. Warners believes they don’t have to try to develop a giant slate that has to have all the plans for how it’s going to connect. What they need to try and do is make good movies with these characters.”
The Batman Seems Really Real
There have been many times where it has been easy to say that The Batman wasn’t going to happen. However, with Reeves willingness to say this much, it seems like it will. His answers were specific, and there seems to be a lot of thought to what he has planned.
If we were betting folks, we would be willing to say Warner Bros. pumped the brakes a bit while waiting to see what happened with Aquaman. With that hurdle cleared, perhaps we can get back on track with the film schedule a bit. With Shazam! getting close to release, Joker (despite never being in the DCEU) having wrapped production, and Birds of Prey filming, it feels as though we might just be getting back on track finally.
Reeves wouldn’t nail down a specific release date, but he says that he thinks it will be late spring or summer 2021.
