Matt Reeves hasn’t even gotten his hands dirty with work on the new Batman movie starring Ben Affleck, but he’s offered plenty of teases for his vision and what fans can expect. Speaking with Yahoo, he opened up on the metaphors of the superhero genre and how those things can be used to create something else.
“What studios are willing to make at the moment is a very, very narrow band of films. What I discovered is that this genre has the potential to be about something more. You can use the metaphors of the genre to talk about (a lot)…I think that the metaphors of both of the franchises (Batman and Apes) enable you to tell stories that have deep emotional resonance. That’s actually what excites me about it. It’s interesting because I was obsessed with both as a child, and yet there is something potentially very adult about what you can explore under the cover of that fantasy. That is what draws me to it, and that’s what I’m excited about.”
Reeves previously teased the influence of Alfred Hitchcock in how he makes films, but the director also spoke about a modern filmmaker with the outlet, and one with some experience with Batman – Christopher Nolan. He said:
“What I admire in what (Nolan) does is that, despite being a filmmaker in an enormous system, his perspective comes through. That to me was very exciting, it’s always exciting when you see a film of his because of that. That’s what I feel like I’ve been trying to do, it’s trying to allow a perspective to come through despite the fact that we’re in this very large studio movie world.”
In The Batman, Ben Affleck is expected to face off as the title hero against Joe Manganiello, who will play Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke, in the film. Additional appearances by Jeremy Irons as Alfred and J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon are expected to happen as well.
Reeves (Cloverfield, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) will direct the film. An official release date for The Batman, originally written by Affleck and Geoff Johns, hasn’t been set. Affleck will next appear as Batman in Justice League, opening in theaters on November 17. You can view photos from that film in the gallery below.
