In less than a week, The Batman will begin a new cinematic era for the Dark Knight. In fact, this is the first solo Batman film since The Dark Knight Rises in 2012. And while some fans were hoping that this movie would get an R-rating, director Matt Reeves has indicated that it was never going to go that route. During an interview with Collider, Reeves said that Warner Bros. specifically asked him to keep the film PG-13. Regardless, that doesn’t mean The Batman doesn’t push the boundaries of the rating.
“One thing [Warner Bros.] did do, which was my intention from the beginning, was they said, ‘Look, it’s important to us that the movie be PG-13,'” recalled Reeves. “‘We want to make sure that we can get this … It’s a Batman movie, and we’re investing so much in it.’ And I was like, ‘Well, in the [Planet of the Apes] movies, I tried to sort of find that balance as well.’ They were obviously spectacle and grand entertainment, but there was a level of intensity. I felt like in that same way, I knew that we could push the boundaries of what you could do in a PG-13 movie and still deliver everything I wanted to do.”
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Additionally, Reeves noted that the studio supported his vision from pitch to the screen.
“What’s so interesting is that they… have been so incredibly supportive and they loved, from the inception, the pitch,” said Reeves. “Once I wanted to put it into this world and that I wanted to do a detective story noir and that whole thing, they were very responsive. They were very excited about that. I said from the beginning, to do a standalone Batman film… it has to be a great Batman film. You have to set out to do something that feels distinctive and different and definitive.”
“They embraced it the whole time,” continued Reeves. “There was never a moment where they said to me, ‘are you sure? Let’s not.’ They really leaned into everything, and I’ve had the support to do exact … I mean, I have to say, this movie is exactly the movie I wanted it to be, and they have supported me all the way through it.”
The Batman will hit theaters next Friday, March 4.
Are you eager to see the film next week? Let us know in the comment section below!
Recommended Reading: Batman by Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo Omnibus Vol. 1
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