The Batman will take inspiration from Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.
In an interview with Empire, writer/director Matt Reeves described his process of putting together the script. "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 explained. "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. So I started making this connection to Gus Van Sant’s Last Days, and the idea of this fictionalised version of Kurt Cobain being in this kind of decaying manor."
Kurt Cobain was well-known as the lead singer, guitarist and primary songwriter for the Seattle-based grunge band Nirvana. The group's second album, 1991's Nevermind, is largely credited with launching grunge rock into the mainstream and is considered a major turning point for the 90s' popular music. Despite Nirvana's success, Cobain struggled with drug addiction and depression, taking his own life in 1994. Today, Cobain is seen as one of the icons of alternative rock and most celebrated musicians of all time.
To play his grunge version of Bruce Wayne, Reeves looked to Robert Pattinson, who had impressed Reeves with his performance in the 2017 crime thriller Good Time. "In that movie you could really feel his vulnerability and desperation, but you could also feel his power," the director 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."
Pattinson himself discussed how The Batman's Bruce Wayne differs from previous incarnations, in particular his isolation and commitment to crafting his own crime-fighting arsenal. "Bruce has been hiding away," he told Empire. "He’s not really a socialite at all. He’s building all these little contraptions and things, just with Alfred. And even Alfred thinks he’s gone insane!" Pattinson continues to detail that Bruce's mental state is reflected in the lingering damage to his Batman costume, saying "He’s been out every single night for two years, getting beaten up and shot and stabbed and burnt, and it shows. There’s a bullet graze on the cowl, right at the beginning. I don’t think that’s been done before."
The Batman is scheduled to hit theaters March 4, 2022.
Source: Empire