"The Batman" director and co-writer Matt Reeves is sharing his inspiration behind Robert Pattison's portrayal of Bruce Wayne, saying that it was Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain who inspired his depiction of the DC Comics character.
Audiences caught a glimpse of Reeves' take on the "The Batman" two months ago when the trailer for the upcoming film first dropped, and what they saw was an edgier Wayne who bore little resemblance to the playboy that he has been portrayed as in previous films.
A closer look at both the character and the trailer reveals just how much Reeves drew inspiration from Cobain.
"When I write, I listen to music, and as I was writing the first act, I put on Nirvana’s 'Something In The Way,'" Reeves told Empire magazine. Nirvana fans will recognize a reimagined version of "Something in the Way" playing in the trailer. It was this song that formed the basis of Reeves' creation.
"That’s when it came to me that, rather than make Bruce Wayne the playboy version we’ve seen before, there’s another version who had gone through a great tragedy and become a recluse," he said. "So I started making this connection to Gus Van Sant’s 'Last Days,' and the idea of this fictionalized version of Kurt Cobain being in this kind of decaying manor."
The haunting 2005 film "Last Days" was loosely based on Cobain and focused on his last few days before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. What audiences witnessed was a character in turmoil who sunk into the depths of a heightened sense of paranoia and addiction. With Cobain in mind, it only galvanized Reeves' decision to cast Pattinson, whose performance in the Safdie Brothers’ "Good Time" won him over.
"In that movie you could really feel his vulnerability and desperation, but you could also feel his power," Reeves explained. "I thought that was a great mix. He’s also got that Kurt Cobain thing, where he looks like a rock star, but you also feel like he could be a recluse."
Last year Reeves warned fans not to expect an origin story but instead a film that focuses on the early days of Batman.
"I wanted to do not an origin tale, but a tale that would still acknowledge his origins, in that it formed who he is," Reeves told the Nerdist. "Like this guy, he’s majorly struggling, and this is how he’s trying to rise above that struggle. But that doesn’t mean that he even fully understands, you know. It’s that whole idea of the shadow self and what’s driving you, and how much of that you can incorporate, and how much of it you’re doing that you’re unaware of."