As of yesterday, Matt Reeves’ eagerly anticipated DC film The Batman has officially begun filming. Although we know a lot about the movie in terms of who is starring in it and what iconic characters they will be playing, we don’t actually know what the story will be. Those details are likely a ways off but star Colin Farrell, who will play The Penguin in the film, described The Batman script in three words and they are tantalizing. Colin Farrell said:
I’m still in the process of talking to Matt Reeves who’s the director who wrote the script. He wrote a really beautiful, dark, moving script.
As Colin Farrell noted on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Matt Reeves isn’t only directing The Batman, he also wrote the script. Matt Reeves co-wrote the script for The Batman with Mattson Tomlin, and Colin Farrell’s description of it is both exciting and intriguing. According to Farrell, The Batman script is beautiful, dark and moving.
For fans of the Caped Crusader, I think darkness is expected from the character and his films, especially after the Christopher Nolan movies and Ben Affleck’s brief stint as the character. I don’t think most fans want to see Batman go back to the campy Adam West days, at least not in the theatrical, live-action realm, so to hear that The Batman script is dark is exciting, even if it was to be expected.
I’m super curious to know in what ways is The Batman dark because the way that The Dark Knight is dark isn’t the same way that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is dark. Is it bleak or gritty? Does it lean into horror? Are the characters' actions and what happens to them dark? And just how dark does it get?
The other adjectives Colin Farrell used to describe Matt Reeves’ script are also quite interesting. The acclaimed actor called it beautiful and moving. Colin Farrell obviously liked what was on the page if he signed on to star in The Batman as Oswald Cobblepot and it makes sense that he would say positive things about it, but it seems as though he was really especially taken with the story that Matt Reeves put together.
The way Colin Farrell describes the script for The Batman sounds more like he is describing some revered piece of literature or poetry or a painting from a master artist, not a big-budget superhero movie. He may currently be promoting The Gentlemen but he’s already doing his part to get people excited for this movie a year and half before its release.
Earlier reports indicated that Warner Bros. was high on Matt Reeves’ script and Colin Farrell’s opinion just reinforces that. We all want to see Batman beating up the bad guys and doing cool things, but that is just the icing on the cake. A great Batman movie has a great story that makes us care about the characters and based on Colin Farrell’s thoughts on it, it seems that there is some real emotion and perhaps some thematic weight to The Batman.
So folks, raise your hypemeter for The Batman accordingly and steel yourself for the long wait till this film hits theaters.
The Batman is scheduled for release on June 25, 2021. Check out our 2020 Release Schedule to see what’s coming out this year and for all the latest in superhero movie news, stay tuned to CinemaBlend.
