‘The Batman’ Director Matt Reeves: ‘It’s a Standalone, It’s Not Part of the Extended Universe’
Reeves says Warner Bros. approached him with a unique opportunity Umberto Gonzalez | August 23, 2017 @ 10:49 AM
Matt Reeves, director of the upcoming “The Batman,” says the film won’t be a part of the DC Extended Universe that includes the Justice League and Wonder Woman, but rather a standalone Bat-story.
In an interview with Los Angeles’ KCRW, the filmmaker said: “Well, I have a vision for a way to do something with that character that feels like it resonates with me personally, and a perspective that can grow out into other things. When they approached me, what they said was ‘look, it’s a standalone, it’s not part of the extended universe.'”
The filmmaker has previously said he set aside an original script written by Ben Affleck and DC entertainment president Geoff Johns, and is “starting again” on a completely new take. “No. It’s a new story. It’s just starting again. I’m excited about it. I think it’s going to be really cool,” Reeves told MTV’s Happy Sad Confused podcast last month.
Affleck and Johns wrote their script while the “Argo” Oscar-winner was still set to direct as well as star in “The Batman.”
The concept envisioned by Affleck and Johns featured Deathstroke the Terminator as the main villain, and Joe Manganiello was hired to play the supervillain. Whether that’s still the case remains to be seen, and Manganiello himself recently said he isn’t sure if he’s still in “The Batman.
It's obvious that WB is trying to hedge in advance of Justice League dropping. If The Batman takes off and Justice League does not, the DCEU will probably fold. ---------------------------------------
6. "yup...seems like they are starting over, but don't want" In response to Reply # 3
>It's obvious that WB is trying to hedge in advance of Justice >League dropping. If The Batman takes off and Justice League >does not, the DCEU will probably fold. >--------------------------------------- > > >---------------------------------------
to say that before JL drops.
My guess is the rumors about Affleck not being Batman are true now, which is really unfortunate if you ask me.
2. "Also, two new Joker movies on the way" In response to Reply # 0
One with Leto and Margot Robie as Joker and Harley Quinn, directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa from This Is Us.
The other is a Joker "origin" movie, directed by Todd Phillips and produced by Scorcese of all people.
Have no interest at all in the first. I'd say the second sound interesting, but the premise is bizarre. I guess I could go for "The Joker: the Early Years" as long as the didn't try to explain his origin. Just followed him early in his life of crime.
It seems blatantly anti the character too...Nolan's joker kept on switching his origin story during that movie because he got the point; what makes the joker scary is the fact he seems like an almost supernatural representation of mankind's id.
Its why his origin in the comics change depending on who's writing... NOT to flesh the character out but to help whatever plot point/story they are working on...giving him an origin story just because defeats the purpose of the character and makes him less scary
8. "Fuck Jared Leto Joker -- wack as shit" In response to Reply # 5
however,
the best part about the Killing Joke to me was the joker origin story. i'm not a comic book head so i enjoyed this new take on it.
it would demystify him somewhat, but in the Killing Joke it wasn't like he had the worst upbringing ever. There was tragedy, but not like some Dexter "from infancy" shit.
>>WB is making stand alone DC films each with its own >>continuity: >>http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=6&topic_id=724386&mesg_id=724386&page= >> >>I like the team involved, but The Joker doesn't need an >origin >>story. > >It seems blatantly anti the character too...Nolan's joker kept >on switching his origin story during that movie because he got >the point; what makes the joker scary is the fact he seems >like an almost supernatural representation of mankind's id. > >Its why his origin in the comics change depending on who's >writing... NOT to flesh the character out but to help whatever >plot point/story they are working on...giving him an origin >story just because defeats the purpose of the character and >makes him less scary
7. "He clarified his statement." In response to Reply # 0
It's the same universe. He just meant that it's a standalone story. No setup of other movies. No Flash cameo. No Wonder Woman watching Aquaman videos in her email. Just Batman doing Batman shit.
The Wordsmith Member since Aug 13th 2002 17070 posts
Tue Aug-29-17 07:56 PM
11. "The DC based movies don't interest me....." In response to Reply # 0
...just because of the disjointed, convoluted crap they keep pulling. If they're gonna compete with Marvel, why not keep things cohesive? This is dumb.
13. "RE: they are damned if they do damned if they don't, though" In response to Reply # 12
>I'll never understand why they didn't just keep building on >what Nolan started. > >It was acclaimed, it was popular, etc. > > >Different directors could have taken over, and you can always >just recast Batman and even slowly recast other characters. > > >Use THAT universe to introduce new heroes, etc.
when nolan worked on man of steel, i thought it *was* a continuation. warners should have backed the money truck up for christian bale to appear in justice league, a la RDJ not doing more iron man movies but appearing in all of the other MCU movies, and tried to keep nolan involved at least in an advisory capacity. yes, the dark knight trilogy was dour, but that was the direction DCEU went anyway, only to try to "fix it" with reshoots, to mixed results.
>Also, Nolan kind of f*cked them with that ending.
i appreciated the finality of the trilogy and wouldn't want them to treat it like it never happened, but that doesn't mean they had to start over, which they ended up doing for whatever reason. i think they would have been better served maintaining continuity with and building on TDK trilogy. i also think they should have kept going with green lantern and that another superman movie between man of steel and dawn of justice would have helped. what they have now doesn't quite gel.
16. "RE: they are damned if they do damned if they don't, though" In response to Reply # 14
>> >>If they did things more like Marvel, a lot of folks would >just >>accuse them of being unoriginal, etc. > >If the movies were actually good nobody would have said shit >about originality. >
Fair, but you could argue the same now, of course. If people liked the movies more, the format wouldn't matter.
I should put a disclaimer here that I'm not a comic book head, and I think the Marvel movies are pretty over-rated. And, as someone who doesn't have a dog in this race, it just seems folks are itching to sh!t on DC.
I also don't doubt Disney's marketing and investment in influencing public opinion. Some of these "critic" scores are inflated like sh!t. Star Wars included.
Anyway, at the end of the day like I said they should have just built on what Nolan started.
Now, however, Warners wants to branch off with stand-alone movies that are unconnected to that version of the DC world. The new movies will have non-traditional takes on the heroes and villains of DC, and hopefully, attract actors and filmmakers who don’t typically toil in the comic-book movie world. War for the Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves is developing a Batman stand-alone that, according to sources, will not star Ben Affleck, who plays the caped crusader in the DC Universe movies (Warners and Affleck have denied he is being replaced). The plan is to launch a separate label for these projects to distinguish them from the rest of the DC films. (Warners executives are acutely aware of the risks of audience confusion.)
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They'll announce Affleck is out after Justice League, I guess.
18. "i think it'd be interesting for DC to go the other way" In response to Reply # 0
they should actively pursue a NON-cohesive cinematic universe and just say they're embracing the comic book roots of the property.
everyone is used to comics switching writers and artists; i would love to see different directors and actors take on the same roles, just tackling different storylines (they obviously have a shit ton to choose from).
and if one movie happens to be a huge hit, maybe let that team try again.
but clearly, Warner Bros needs to give up on the extended universe shit. they've already fucked it up and they're only a few movies in.
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