The Rebooting of Batman was a Sh*t Show

ever would (plus, it

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s the physical toll fighting crime would take on the human body). When they were done, the script was more inspired by Year One than a direct adaptation, and almost reinvented the character from scratch. Bruce rejects Wayne's fortune after the murder of his parents and instead becomes a mechanic, under the tutelage of "Big Al." He witnesses the lowest levels of depravity of the underworld by observing a nearby brothel.  And it's a moving televised speech by Lieutenant Gordon that prompts him to become a vigilante. For Batman, Aronofsky wanted an actor with underlying darkness, like Joaquin Phoenix (are you sure?).

Warner responded with Freddie Prinze Jr... Aronofsky quickly realized that he and the studio would never see eye to eye. When Warner Bros. finally read their almost nihilistic script, they were shocked. Proto-Batman wearing a Jason-like hockey mask while beating thugs to a pulp, Mrs. Selina being abused by a corrupt cop, Gordon

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n up in the bathroom, gun in his mouth, debating suicide. .. "Darkness!"  "It's about me being an orphan." "Without parents!" Although this was what Aronofsky said he would write, he was still too far away for Warner Bros. Every time he tried to get him to take it back, he dug deeper.  In early 2002, Warner Bros. and Aronofsky parted ways.

One of the first considerations for Batman was Christian Bale.   He wasn't a fan of the character until, ironically, they gave him the first year.   He found out about Aronofsky's project, but when he approached to audition, he no longer existed. Unlike Marvel, which (before Disney) sold the rights to its characters and its adaptations depended on the whims of those studios, Warner Bros. owns DC Comics outright. So any blame fell squarely on his shoulders, and they let not only Batman crash and burn after four movies, but Superman as well (Superman IV being a particular shame). And they were the only company in town that made superhero movies.

When Alan Horn became president and COO of Warner Bros., he made sure that both properties were top priorities. He met with Wolfgang Petersen (director of Air Force One and The Perfect Storm) about handling a new Superman movie, where he suggested the hero take on Batman.  Warner Bros loved the idea and sent him off to his own corner to develop it with Seven writer Andrew Kevin Walker. Walker was instructed to write the film as if it would be nominated for an Academy Award, and Petersen looked for serious actors, not action stars. And Colin Farrell was the favorite for Batman (are you sure?). "Oh!

Take it easy, honey! For Superman, Petersen went with Josh Hartnett and Christian Bale (!), while Warner was ready to sign Jude Law. In the summer of 2002, Batman vs. Superman was officially a chance. The “versus” comes from the two heroes' ideological dispute over killing the Joker, and culminates in Superman allowing Batman to do it, but if he does, he can't hide behind his mask. Walker's draft was incredibly dark and existential at times. so Warner Bros (strangely) hired Akiva Goldsman to tone it down... the same man who wrote Batman Forever and Batman & Robin "I'm Batman!" Falling back into old habits, Goldsman added a lot of exaggerated dialogue.

The toy-friendly images have never been released, but Goldsman's one has been floating around the Internet for years, so it's unknown who added what, but the plot twist of Lex Luthor brainwashing a woman into be Bruce's perfect wife and then clone the Joker. Killing her on her honeymoon was… terrible, it was a terrible idea. "I would like that last statement to be struck from the record, please."  "Record? Is someone supposed to write this?" The fate of Batman vs. Superman was ultimately tied to Superman's revival.   Getting another Superman solo movie off the ground was his own saga and a story for another time.

But long story short, Petersen's film was competing against Superman: Flyby, which will be directed by McG and written by J.J.  Abrams. Alan Horn was divided over which film should move forward. In an unusual move, he gave both scripts to twelve of his executives to vote on. Not even a year after 9/11, executives felt that perhaps what the world needed now was a Superman. Only one of the twelve voted for Batman vs. Superman. Just a few months after the film was greenlit, it was dead. As a consolation prize, Petersen received the Iliad epic, Troy. And Warner Bros., in a panic, rushed Catwoman; a project originally intended as a spin-off for Michelle Pfeiffer that languished in development hell until Halle Berry's version was produced.

The reckless box office bomb has nothing in common with the comic book character aside from the name, and the creepy cat gets worse reviews than Batman and Robin. In late 2002, director Christopher Nolan didn't know what his next project would be.   His planned biopic of Howard Hughes stalled when he took off Martin Scorsese's version. "His agent called me and said, 'Warners is looking to do another Batman movie.' And I mentioned it in passing, and 'I-I didn't think that was anything for you... right?' And he said, 'No! That's really exciting, because I always thought there was a Batman story that hadn't been told in a movie.' Having made the well-received noir Insomnia for them, Warner Bros. was interested in what Nolan had to say.

His speech was short, concise and seemed to say everything they wanted to hear: 'Do for Batman what Richard Donner did for Superman in 1978', make an old Hollywood epic, with a detailed origin story, film in real cities, complete cast with Oscar-caliber talent and (finally, the real kicker for Warner Bros.) make something a 10-year-old Nolan would have wanted to see. He had no problem making a PG-13 movie, the darkness would come from the conflict, not the violence. He laid out his case in less than 15 minutes. He left the room and all the executives agreed that this was the idea (and type) they were waiting for.   Once again, since he had his own corner to work with, Warner Bros. had a request: "please include a Batmobile" (either as a toy or just for tradition).

Fascinated by the psychology of Bruce Wayne, but not an extreme comic nerd, Nolan recruited David Goyer to help him develop a possible story.   Although he was busy with Blade: Trinity, it was a Batman fan's dream project, so Goyer found time to co-write the first draft. While the genesis of why Bruce Wayne becomes Batman is like a biblical story at this point, the how has been more of a mystery. "The origin story has never been addressed in a movie or even in the comics. I mean, there's not really a single definitive account of Bruce Wayne's journey to Batman.

So there are fascinating gaps in the mythology there to play with." Building on The Long Halloween, The Man Who Falls, and (of course) Year One, Batman Begins was about Bruce Wayne; how he learned his abilities, why he cares about Gotham City, why he chooses to be a vigilante, "As a man, I am flesh and blood. I can be ignored. I can be destroyed. But as a symbol? As a symbol, I can be incorruptible. I can be eternal." where he gets all of his wonderful toys, why he wears a cape and, for the first time in all previous projects (done and undone), why he dresses like a bat. "Why beat Master Wayne?" "Bats scared me.

It's time my enemies shared my fear." Nolan, Goyer and production designer Nathan Crowley spent the summer of 2003 in Nolan's garage discussing every detail of the film. While Goyer and Nolan wrote, Crowley commissioned concept art and built models of Gotham City and the new Batmobile, the Tumbler. Once finished, they had Warner executives go to Nolan's garage to read the script and forced them to immerse themselves in his vision. It worked.   The project became the first Batman movie to be put into production since 1997. Nolan sat down with all of Hollywood's heartthrobs for Batman, and they all said they weren't interested in following Clooney's fate (including Heath Ledger, you're sure?). "And I thought my jokes were bad..." Nolan had to convince them that this time, Bruce Wayne would be a studio character (since Batman wouldn't appear until an hour later).

They screen tested Cillian Murphy, Jake Gyllenhaal, Joshua Jackson and (surprise!) Nolan's first choice, Christian Bale. American Psycho was a big selling point for Bale (playing a very disturbed individual with "dual identities"... who also murders the Joker!), "Hi Paul!" However, his most recent (very emaciated) role was The Machinist. For Warner Bros. to seriously consider him, Nolan needed Bale to gain 60 pounds in six weeks before his audition. Which was successful and he was elected shortly after. But once production approached, it increased its volume too much. "I took Chris's exact words: 'get as big as you can.' But he didn't really think I was going to get that big.

Some of the team looked at me and said, 'Damn, Chris! What are we doing here, Fatman or Batman?' ..."   "That's not what I meant. So I had to try to lose a lot of weight." Filming was scheduled to begin in March 2004 in Iceland, however, the frozen lake they had explored months earlier was in danger of thawing completely. They started production weeks early, spent a day filming as much of a sword fight as possible, and returned the next day to find the ice was gone. Despite the (possibly) bad omen, production from then on was uneventful. In what would become Nolan's most famous driving principle, virtually everything is shot in camera, with very little CG.

They did spend a day with real bats, though, before quickly switching to digital ones. The film's toughest hurdle was explaining the reboot concept to audiences. A word that had not yet entered the lexicon (although comics have been doing so for years). How do you convey that Begins is neither the origin of Keaton's Batman nor the continuation of Clooney's? Warner Bros. strategy was to market the film like no other. Two-tone posters, a trailer that looked like a horror movie: "And there's something out there in the dark... something scary, something that won't stop until it takes revenge... Me." Next, we focused a lot on the tank-like Tumbler (confirming that he was no longer the sleek, sporty version of Batman, but a hard-hitting action version). "So what do you think?" "Does it come in black?" Batman Begins invaded theaters on June 15, 2005.

Eight years after Batman and Robin, audiences were still a little undecided. Until the criticism came; The fast-cutting action isn't great, and non-Batman fans weren't amused by its exhausting explanations of the team, but everyone else called it bold, absorbing, fantastic, and easily the best Batman movie made yet.   Bale gave fans the layered, down-to-earth Batman they were waiting for, and the excellent cast around him was the icing on the cake. It got off to a healthy box office start (not surprising), but word of mouth boosted it to a lofty $371 million worldwide. It may not have set the world on fire, but Hollywood was never the same.

From writing smart, faithful adaptations to the simple idea of ​​

rebooting

a franchise, it inspired James Bond to get a new license to kill, Caesar to lead an ape revolution, and Iron Man to become part of a larger cinematic universe.   Then the 2008 sequel, The Dark Knight, set the world on fire, grossing over a billion dollars and elevating comic book movies to serious awards contenders. Christopher Nolan and his team set out to redefine the superhero movie genre and ended up changing things... "Forever." He also did The Dark Knight Rises. "What are you going to do for the next few months?

Do you want to go to the same cafe, in Italy, with me every day and wait for my butler?"