Welcome to the second edition of In The Mix! We detailed King Kong last week and we have another big production story today; Batman Begins! If you lost your love for Batman after Joel Schumacher slapped nipples on everything, fear not! We have a new movie, a new vision, and, God help us, a coherent plot with a realistic backstory.

Before I begin, I know I promised a story on War of the Worlds, but I’ve postponed it for two reasons: 1) It hasn’t officially began production so news would be sparse and 2) I want to read the War of the Worlds novel so I can completely bash the movie! One of these days I will get hate mail that rivals Joshua Tyler’s!

You’ve had enough of my excuses. It’s time to get In the Mix.


In the Mix-Volume 2
Batman Begins-Release Date June 17th 2005

Batman: The History

From my early childhood, I had a connection to only one superhero. It was not Superman; too invincible. It wasn’t Spider-man, although I now love the character. It was Batman. Bruce Wayne, a regular guy who burned with anger and the need for revenge, became Batman. He was a normal guy who expressed the basic human emotions in spectacular ways. He wasn’t from Krypton nor did he receive supernatural powers after a spider bite. He lost his parents and the emotional combination of anger and guilt drove him to rid Gotham of Crime.

Tim Burton’s Batman is a favorite of mine but I consider it a missed opportunity. We have a pretty entertaining flick that left the intriguing backstory of Bruce Wayne pretty much up for grabs. We know why he’s angry, but what drove him to be in the costume? Why does he have it lying around? Does Alfred get dental coverage?

After three sequels, the magic of Batman was sucked out of me and I was left under whelmed. The movies weren’t all bad (except Batman and Robin which IS horrible) but they lacked a soul. With Batman apparently dead, I moved on.

After the huge success of X-Men and Spider-man, Warner Brothers began rethinking its Batman franchise. After thankfully passing on the horrible sounding Batman vs. Superman, Warner Brothers made the surprising move and handed control of Batman to a gifted director, Christopher Nolan (Memento, Insomnia). My interest peaked significantly with the hiring of Nolan. and screenwriter, David Goyer. Could the same studio that hired McG, at the time, to make Superman inexplicably, make the right move and hire Nolan and Goyer? This was too good to be true.

The Story, The Cast and The Characters
With a working title of Batman:Intimidation Game, Nolan began assembling his cast of characters. Who could he gets to play Batman. Who will be the villain? When Nolan was finished, I thought he was assembling a hall of fame! (all pictures below are from Batman Begins except Falcone and Rachel Dodsen.)

Bruce Wayne/Batman

Christian Bale plays the Dark Knight, driven by his thirst to revenge the death of his mother and Father. Bale is perfect to play a man who isn’t pure. Bale and Wayne have a dark side.

Alfred Pennyworth

Michael Caine as Alfred is pure genius. While Alfred isn’t always this old in the comics, Caine is still perfectly suited for this role. Alfred is a surrogate father for Bruce Wayne and is his closest friend.

Ra’s Al Ghul

After stealing The Last Samurai from Tom Cruise, Watanabe is a hot actor. Nolan snatched up Watanabe to be his main villain (or is he?). Ra’s Al Ghul is the head of an international terrorist organization. He desires to destroy Gotham and he is on his way. He is also instrumental in the training of Bruce Wayne.

Henri Ducard

One of the greatest actors of our generation who never gets his due praise is Liam Neeson. Neeson portrays Ducard, a top official in Ra’s Al Ghul’s organization. Ducard first recruits Bruce Wayne to join their organization. Ducard is more than meets the eye.

Lucius Fox

Morgan Freeman is one of those actors who while brilliant, sometimes chooses the wrong movie. He doesn’t have this problem this time around. Lucius Fox works at Wayne Industries and was a good friend of Thomas Wayne, Bruce’s father. Fox fights to save Wayne Industries from a seedy executive who is hell bent on taking over the company during Bruce Wayne’s abscense.

Sgt. Jim Gordon

In a city wrought with crime, few cops remain clean. Jim Gordon is one. Gary Oldman plays the future commissioner as he first meets Batman. A friendship is born that will eventually save Gotham. Is it just me, or is Oldman perfect for this role?

Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow

Cillian Murphy, fresh off his brilliant 28 Days Later performance, is Dr. Crane, a warped doctor/drug dealer who eventually becomes Batman’s foe, The Scarecrow. What connection does he have to a shadowy figure from Bruce Wayne’s past?

Carmine Falcone

Tom Wilkinson’s hiring for this role surprised me. Don’t get me wrong, he’s an outstanding actor. He just seems a little too proper for a seedy crime lord. However, I won’t shortchange his abilities to pull this off.

Rachel Dodson

A childhood friend, Rachel Dodson, played by yummy Katie Holmes, sees the transformation of Bruce from an innocent child to a broody adult. She becomes a lawyer and tries to soothe the anger of Wayne.

The Movie
With his cast in place, Nolan’s premise for the newly titled Batman Begins can better be explained. From IGN FilmForce, “When fate prevents him from avenging the deaths of his parents, young Bruce Wayne (Bale) flees to Asia where he seeks counsel from a dangerous ninja cult leader known as Ra’s al Ghul (Watanabe). When he returns, Bruce finds Gotham City has become overrun with crime and corruption, and that there are forces at work trying to remove him from his inherited place as the owner of Wayne Industries. Discovering a cave under Wayne Manor, Bruce assumes a new identity as a secret detective and guardian of the people of Gotham City against the criminals that plague them”.

Now that’s all well and good, but how will Nolan pull this off? First, he explains everything. He provides logical explanations for the Batmobile (in its first version, aka The Tumbler), you see the birth of the suit, the grappling hook, the beginning construction of the Batcave, everything. We don’t have to rationalize why Wayne has these things, we are shown why.

Do you want another good sign? Nolan dislikes CGI. So, you will not find one CGI Batman in the entire movie. Every shot is either Bale or a stuntman. A director who is insistent on telling us a story will also show us a real movie with actors giving performances that aren’t hindered with blue screen. Batman actually doesn’t appear in the movie until page 58 of the script which is approximately an hour into the movie. Don’t fret, you didn’t see Spider-man until about that point either. Character development worked for Spidey and it’ll work for Batman.

After assembling his cast and his story, production began on March 3, 2004 in Iceland. Production shifted to London after a couple of weeks. Finally, filming took place in New York City and Chicago and apparently wrapped in the last few days. With a budget of $120 million (and none of this going to CGI), expect spectacular locations and sets. With a talented director and an outstanding cast, expect the biggest blockbuster of 2005.

That's all for this week! If you have any suggestion, let me know! Do you like In the Mix? Talk about it in The CB Forum.
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