The Batman director Matt Reeves shared the list of Hollywood movies that served as inspiration for his take on the Dark Knight. Reeves looked to many classic noir films from the 70s while bringing his version of Gotham City to life.
During a discussion regarding The Batman at DC FanDome, the filmmaker described his film as a detective story, a thriller set in the world of cops, with a non-superpowered main character who has superheroic focus and superheroic drive. Reeves said he treated the story as something that could have taken place in the real world, similar to Chinatown, a 1974 noir mystery film. "A lot of movies -- like Chinatown was a key one, because Chinatown, Jake Gittes, in investigating that series of crimes that were part of that story, he discovers the depth of corruption in Los Angeles," said Reeves.
"So in that way, it's like a classic noir, and this series of murders that Batman is investigating are very much in that mode," Reeves continued. "So Chinatown was a really big one." French Connection (1971) and Taxi Driver (1976) were other street-grounded movies from the 70s with a gritty, flawed take on humanity that were cited by the filmmaker as major inspirations behind The Batman, particularly in terms of "the description of a place and very much getting inside of somebody's head."
Ever since coming on board The Batman as director, Reeves has maintained that he intends to make a film that showcases the cerebral, detective side of the Caped Crusader instead of simply depicting him as a street brawler. The trailer for the movie that was released at DC FanDome bears out that sentiment, introducing a Batman who is shown grappling with a deadly set of riddles that hint at ugly secrets relating to the highest levels of corruption plaguing Gotham City. With such a storyline, the influence of 70s noir films on The Batman's evolution becomes all the more apparent.
The Batman is directed by Matt Reeves and co-written by Reeves and Mattson Tomlin. The film stars Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin, Paul Dano as Edward Nashton/The Riddler, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone and Peter Sarsgaard as District Attorney Gil Colson. The Batman is set to be released in theaters on Oct. 1, 2021.