The Batman Director Was Terrified By The Movie’s Detective Story

The Batman director Matt Reeves shares surprising insights from his initial screenings of the movie. The cinematic reboot of Gotham’s knight is days away. Robert Pattinson signed on as this incarnation of Batman along with a long list of foes and frenemies, including Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin, and Paul Dano as the Riddler. The first reviews of the Reeves’ Batman reboot are showing plenty of promise.

With mixed reviews and production issues on the last several big screen Batman movies, Warner Bros. greenlit a standalone reboot and gave Reeves the mantle of the franchise along with all the pressure that comes with it. Studios want something family friendly but fans have come to expect a gritty, intense portrayal of Gotham along with razor sharp dialogue and storytelling. That pressure was shared among Pattinson, who wasn’t initially a fan-favorite for the role, but both Reeves and Pattinson have clearly made bold moves with this new work.

Related: How The Batman’s Catwoman Compares To Previous Versions

In an interview with Collider, Reeves talks about what surprised and delighted him in the responses from the first screenings of his reboot. He was still in the editing process when the screenings took place, meaning that he hadn’t yet trimmed down the movie as much as planned. The over-complexity of the plot was still in debate and Reeves wasn’t sure if audiences would be receptive without a cleaner, more clarifying cut of the film. The results weren’t what he expected. Even more than the flashier aspects of the screening like car chases, Reeves’ complex detective story excited viewers. You can read Reeves’ full quote below.

“The first version of this movie that I screened; the movie has a very ambitious, complex narrative. So, by the time we got to a place where we had to start testing, I was not all the way through the cut of the movie. There was so much of the movie yet to be touched and it was really long. I mean, not to say that the movie doesn’t have length now, but it was longer than what I intended. I was terrified because I thought, oh my gosh, we’re showing this, before I’m ready, to an audience and in terms of a Batman movie, it’s a very complex detective story narrative. Are they going to be able to follow anything? What I found actually, which was amazing, was how much they loved that aspect. That was the biggest relief. I was thinking, okay, why did I do this? Why did I decide to make this kind of story? And what the first test screening told me was the audience wanted this, that we had the Batmobile chases, we had all the things. You can’t make a Batman movie without giving the baseline things that people want from a Batman movie. But I knew we were challenging the audience in this side of world’s greatest detective side, because it was going to be a very complex narrative and it turned out they love that part of it. It was one of the things that tested best. So that part was a great thing to learn, which was that, actually, the audience would be excited about this version of the movie and that only continued to get better as we continued to test.”

Batman is getting attention again as the World’s Greatest Detective. Casting Dano as the Riddler was an excellent way to ensure that the movie’s biggest fight is a battle of wits. From the beginning of his work on the project, Reeves suggested that he wanted to return to that more cerebral, problem-solving side of the hero.

Trailers show Pattinson’s Batman working more closely with detective Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) as a trusted ally in the solving of cases as opposed to The Dark Knight‘s Batman, who loved to suddenly leave Gordon staring at blank air without warning. This one change further enforces the hope that Reeves and Pattinson will truly deliver a compelling, smart narrative of mystery with The Batman. That also leaves plenty of room for The Penguin and Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) to come at Batman in their own brutal ways, and for Catwoman to return on fresh new terms.

More: The Batman’s Spin-Off Can Make Penguin More Like Burton’s Villain

Source: Collider

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