Director Matt Reeves on ‘The Batman’ compares Caesar to Bruce Wayne
Director Matt Reeves returned to the Planet of the Apes franchise for the trilogy finale: War for the Planet of the Apes. Now Reeves has been hired to take on the new standalone Batman film, titled The Batman.
Reeves spoke with the Los Angeles Daily News about what resonates with him about the Caped Crusader.
“It’s a strange thing to be involved in the two franchises which were the two that I was connected to most as a child,” Reeves said.
“I just was obsessed with Batman when I was a kid. What I find so interesting about him as a character is that, as far a superhero goes, he’s not superhuman, he is a person. And he is a tortured soul who is grappling with his past and trying to find a way to be in a world that has a lot that’s wrong with it and trying to find a way to reconcile all of that.”
Ben Affleck, who was set to direct the film during the early days of development, will reprise his role as Batman/Bruce Wayne.
Reeves is committed to Fox until June 30 to help promote War for the Planet of the Apes, so the director hasn’t had much time to delve into the details of the abandoned script which will also include Joe Manganiello as Slade Wilson/Deathstroke.
The original draft was written by Affleck and Geoff Johns, and it’s been rumored that Reeves will deconstruct that story and align it more with his unique vision.
War for the Planet of the Apes will center around the battle lines which have been drawn as apes, led by grizzled veteran Caesar (Andy Serkis), and humans, headed by Woody Harrelson’s Colonel, clash in one final confrontation to decide the future of the planet formerly known as Earth.
Reeves returns and told the outlet that Harrelson’s the arrival of the near-psychotic Colonel “It finally cracks Caesar. It sets him on a revenge mission. The movie goes from being this grand war movie to an almost Josey Wales-like Western.”
The third new film in the Apes prequel series also stars Judy Greer (Cornelia), Steve Zahn (Bad Ape), Terry Notary (Rocket), Max Lloyd-Jones (Blue Eyes), Amiah Miller (Nova) and Karin Konoval (Maurice).
War for the Planet of the Apes arrives in theaters on July 14.
Joining The Batman, Jeremy Irons is expected to be reprising his role as Alfred and J.K. Simmons joining the DCU as Gordon.
Justice League 2 was slated to release on June 14, 2019 but Ben Affleck’s The Batman is now rumored to be taking the said release date instead.
