While there’s been speculation that Ben Affleck might walk from his role as Batman in the DCEU, director Matt Reeves, who is slated to helm the solo outing “The Batman,” has put those fears to rest. In an interview with Getty, he said development on the movie is moving forward with Affleck very much as the lead, but perhaps even more exciting is what the filmmaker plans to do with the property.
Batman on the big screen has been through a variety of incarnations, from Tim Burton‘s stylish, distinct, and slightly cartoony films, to Joel Schumacher‘s abominations, to Christopher Nolan‘s gritty, real-world approach. However, we’ve never really seen the World’s Greatest Detective using his sleuthing skills, but that might change.
Chatting with New Trailer Buzz, Reeves revealed what might be his approach to the brewing standalone movie. “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 empathize with that point of view,” he said. “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.”
Sounds like a cool idea, but not one that necessarily gels with DC Films‘ Geoff Johns desire that the DCEU have more “heart, humor, hope, heroics, and optimism.” But then again, Batman has always occupied his own, darker corner of that world. And certainly, any change from Zack Snyder‘s angry, growly depiction of the character in “Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice” would be welcome.
Again, this is all early days, and lots can change, but for Reeves, he sees parallels between Bruce Wayne and Caesar in his ‘Planet Of The Apes‘ movies.
“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,” he said. “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.”
Fascinating stuff, but before we get ahead of ourselves, go see “War For The Planet Of The Apes” when it opens on July 14th. [via Collider]