February 10, 2004
Official "Batman" Movie Update
Variety ran an article today with heaps of new details on the upcoming
"Batman" movie set to begin shooting at the end of the month in Iceland.
First off expect this Bats to be grounded more in reality which is why
there's no costumed villains, little focus on gadgets, and a bigger role for
Bruce Wayne - Director Chris Nolan says "I felt like doing the origins story
of the character, which is a story that's never been told before. The world
of Batman is that of grounded reality, ours will be a recognizable,
contemporary reality against which an extraordinary heroic figure arises".
Helping that reality is Gotham City which won't be the stylised version
we've seen in the Burton/Schumacher films, rather most of it will be
on-location work in New York & London which will be assembled together to
reinvent Gotham as a modern day metropolis - "Gotham will seem like this
great city in a contemporary world and will be created through various
cities, we are trying to avoid a villagey feel for Gotham, as it starts to
get claustrophobic".
Expect the marketing angle to call this a re-imagining of the Batman
franchise - WB Production Pres Jeff Robinov says "It's almost impossible to
reinvent Batman, Chris is reintroducing Batman, and it feels smart and cool
and fresh. That's no disrespect to the other movies, but it's really Chris' vision of Batman, and that's what we're supporting".
Nolan's vision as such sounds interesting - "Few superheroes have the sense
of purpose and destiny that Batman has. He is driven by an incredible sense
of rage, sadness and grief because of the tragedy of his parents' murder at an early age. To me, Batman is the most interesting superhero because he doesn't have any superpowers. He is very human".
Backed with a $150 million budget, and a new musical theme, expect this
psychologically deep and conflicted movie not to be too dark thankfully.