The Batman co-writer/director Matt Reeves ruled out the prospect that he’ll oversee an R-rated director’s cut of the upcoming DC film.
In an interview with Den of Geek, Reeves shut down rumors of an edgier alternate version of The Batman for its home media release. “There isn’t some special cut of this movie where it’s like, ‘Oh yeah, here’s the R rating that you’ve been desperately wanting,'” he said.
Reeves also said he always intended for The Batman to be a PG-13 movie and never considered shooting for an R rating. “I didn’t have to suddenly start drastically cutting the movie [to achieve a PG-13 rating] or anything like that,” he said. “In my mind, the movie was always going to be a gritty, edgy, noir, thrilling spectacle that was PG-13. That was always what it was, but I always knew that we’d be pushing the limits of what that could be, and so we didn’t really have to cut anything.” Reeves went on to endorse The Batman‘s trailers and clips as “fully reflective” of the film’s tone.
While post-production has wrapped on The Batman, Reeves doesn’t appear to be done with the Dark Knight just yet. Star Robert Pattinson recently revealed he’s had discussions with Reeves about expanding The Batman‘s standalone story into a trilogy of films. “I’ve made a kind of map for where Bruce’s psychology would grow over two more movies,” elaborated Pattinson. “I would love to do it.” Reeves is also developing two spinoff series set in the same universe as The Batman for HBO Max. One of these shows will reportedly focus on the Gotham City Police Department, while the other will revolve around Colin Farrell’s Penguin.
Despite Pattinson’s apparent enthusiasm to return for future sequels, the actor occasionally struggled with the role. Pattinson recently discussed the challenges of portraying Batman, particularly the sense of isolation he felt due to the intense secrecy surrounding the production and the discomfort of wearing his character’s iconic outfit for extended periods of time. “The nature of the shoot was so kind of insular, always shooting at night, just really dark all the time, and I felt very much alone,” Pattison said. “Even just being in the suit all the time. You’re not really allowed out of the studio with the suit on, so I barely knew what was going on at all outside.”
Pattinson even admitted he had a hard time adopting Batman’s distinctive husky voice. “It’s really hard to get into an artificially lower register, and to do it a long time,” said Pattinson. The star went on to describe how tricky it was to use his Bat-voice during lengthy dialogue-heavy scenes, especially as it limited his ability to inject nuance into his line readings.
The Batman premieres in cinemas on March 4 and HBO Max on April 19.
Source: Den of Geek
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