Writer and director Matt Reeves revealed that throughout his process and research for his highly anticipated film, The Batman, he discovered that his old teacher had written his own comic books that told the narrative of the beloved hero. Little did he know, these comic books he would later uncover would quickly become the main source of inspiration behind the franchise reboot.
This isn’t the first time that Reeves has shouted out and paid respect to the artists whose work ended up inspiring and having a profound impact on him while making The Batman. In the past, Reeves cited 1970s cinema, 1980s comic books, and Nirvana as some of his main influences behind The Batman.
Now, Reeves has recently opened up about the impact his old film school teacher, Jeph Loeb, had on him as an artist. This is even before he found out about Loeb's ingenious comics, including Batman: The Long Halloween. “It’s so weird because I didn’t know till I did this deep dive that it was literally my screenwriting teacher from USC - the person who told me that I should become a writer - Jeph Loeb, who wrote those stories," Reeves stated during an interview with Entertainment Weekly. "He was very responsible for me pursuing that because when I went to film school, I was very set on being a director. I’d always written what I was doing as a kid and when I was making short films when I was young because I thought these are the means to get to make a movie."
Reeves continued by noting how Loeb urged him to pursue writing and how he reacted upon discovering that it was his older teacher who had penned the comics he was now turning to for The Batman. "I never really separated the two," Reeves explained. "When I was in Loeb’s screenwriting class, he said, ‘You have to continue pursuing this because this is something I feel you can do.’ When I started going through all the comics and I saw that he’d written [them], I was like, 'This is crazy. And I then I loved it."
The Batman synopsis reads, “Batman ventures into Gotham City’s underworld when a sadistic killer leaves behind a trail of cryptic clues. As the evidence begins to lead closer to home and the scale of the perpetrator's plans become clear, he must forge new relationships, unmask the culprit and bring justice to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued the metropolis.” One of the most notable allies Batman forges is cat burglar Selina Kyle, a.k.a Catwoman.
Donning the prolific cape and batmobile himself is none other than actor Robert Pattinson. Stepping into the role of Batman, Pattinson and Reeves’ take on the iconic hero is supposed to be much darker in tone, unveiling perhaps hidden or unknown depths to a character that audiences presume to know so well.
The Batman finally hits theaters on March 4th, 2022.
Source: Entertainment Weekly