Matt Reeves Finally Shares Key Details About The Batman's Riddler
Matt Reeves has been a Batman fan for a very long time. "The Batman" director remembers coming home from school when he was five years old to watch reruns of the Adam West series, and told Esquire Middle East, "The costume, the Batmobile, it was all very captivating. I didn't see anything funny about it. I just thought 'wow, Batman is really cool.'" So it may surprise some people to know that when he was approached by Warner Bros. about the new film, he initially told them that he didn't think he was the right person for the job.
Reeves' perspective on Batman is much more emotional than the versions from the past. "He's not really a superhero," he told the magazine. "He's someone who's driven by the pain of his past. He's trying to find some way to make sense of his life. It's a very psychological story." The fact that this isn't another Batman origin story was very freeing for Reeves. It didn't trap him in one specific storyline, and instead turned more of his focus to defining the rest of Gotham City. He told Total Film, "I started thinking, 'Well, it could be an origin tale for the Riddler, and it could be an origin tale for some of these other characters."
After reading up on serial killers, something resonated with an infamous figure, and Reeves began to think "...that could be a brand-new version of the Riddler" (via Esquire Middle East).
The Riddler is partly based on the Zodiac Killer
When Matt Reeves told Paul Dano that the Riddler was going to be similar to a serial killer — specifically the Zodiac Killer — he began the arduous and slightly depressing task of research. "I found it so challenging that I had to go to the coffee shop and read. I just needed more friendly surroundings to read that stuff," Dano told Esquire Middle East. Reeves' version of the Riddler is much different than the last screen version, which had Jim Carrey in green spandex and spangles in "Batman Forever." "The Batman" has a more homemade-looking costume in dark colors, giving the Riddler a more sinister look.
Reeves describes the Riddler as "...not just a serial killer. He definitely has a political agenda. There's a terrorist aspect to him... and one of the things he's doing with each of these crimes is, he's attacking the so-called legitimate pillars of the city" (via Total Film). While Dano has been very secretive about his character, he says he wants to preserve for the audience the "shockingly powerful" thrill he had when he read the script for the first time.
Given how many rumors there have been about a surprise ending, with many saying the trailer gives a peek at damaging info the Riddler may have about the Waynes, fans can't wait to see "The Batman,” out in theaters March 4.