Moviegoers have long delighted in watching Batman dish out punishment to criminals — and cringing when taking it in return — but the director of The Batman wants viewers to be able to feel it in the upcoming film, too.
“[Batman] had to be able to fight,” director Matt Reeves said at a Batman press event attended by CBR. “But I wanted you to feel the punches he was taking as much as the punches he was sort of dealing out.”
Robert Pattinson’s incarnation of the Dark Knight wears a wingsuit at one point in the movie that allows him to glide through the air, and Reeves cites the suit when talking about the punishment Pattinson’s Batman endures. “The whole idea of the wingsuit — you see a lot of Batman stories where he does something really regal,” Reeves said. “In this one, I had looked at this footage where there was this guy on a motorcycle taking a turn super-fast, and he came off in his suit, and he was just sliding on the ground.”
“You’re going like, ‘Wow, that’s incredible,'” Reeves continued. “And then his hand catches, and he starts tumbling. He goes into this crazy violent tumble, and then he lands on his hands and knees, and he just stays there like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m alive.'”
“I said to [stunt coordinator] Rob Alonzo, ‘That. That.’ That whole idea of always seeing, even in the action, their vulnerability, you see them go through — you feel their pain. I love when Rob gets up and he’s like, ‘Ugh, but anyway.'”
Historically, Batman hasn’t typically glided through the skies without the aid of the Batplane. In 2008’s The Dark Knight, though, the cape of Christian Bale’s Batman had the capability to become rigid and allow the character to effectively float through Gotham’s nighttime skies. A similar mechanic was implemented in the popular Batman: Arkham video games.
Unlike recent DCEU films featuring Ben Affleck’s Batman, The Batman features a younger incarnation of the character, set early in his crimefighting career, as he uncovers corruption within Gotham. In the film, Gotham is threatened by Paul Dano’s Riddler, a serial killer targeting the city’s wealthy and influential citizens. The movie also stars Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman and Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin.
Viewers can roll with the Dark Knight’s punches when The Batman hits theaters March 4.
Source: Warner Bros. Pictures
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