When Matt Reeves first entered talks to direct The Batman, Ben Affleck was still attached to play the title role, and was one of the major creative driving forces behind the current version of the script.
However, a chain reaction that began with the actor temporarily retiring from the title role ultimately saw the Planet of the Apes filmmaker rework the project from the ground up, taking the Dark Knight back to basics by tasking Robert Pattinson with playing the costumed crimefighter during his second year on the job.
Fans have been constantly campaigning for Affleck’s take on The Batman to become a reality, but it doesn’t sound as though the two-time Academy Award winner is all that interested in making it happen, with The Flash widely expected to mark his DCEU swansong.
In an interview with Esquire Middle East, Reeves explained that he told Warner Bros. he’d need to wipe the slate clean and start from scratch if the studio wanted him to deliver his own stamp on the iconic comic book favorite.
“I read a script that they had that was a totally valid take on the movie. It was very action-driven. It was very deeply connected to the DCEU, with other major characters from other movies and other comics popping up. I just knew that when I read it this particular script was not the way I’d want to do it. I said, ‘Look, I think maybe I’m not the person for this’. And I explained to them why I love this character. I told them that there have been so many great movies, but if I were to do this, I’d have to make it personal, so that I understood what I was going to do with it, so that I know where to put the camera, so that I know what to tell the actors, so that I know what the story should be.”
Based on everything we’ve seen and heard so far, The Batman is shaping up to be something special, and with Affleck returning to our screens later this year in The Flash, DC fans are poised to get the best of both worlds.