The Batman director and co-writer Matt Reeves confirmed which real-life serial killer inspired Paul Dano's take on the Riddler for the upcoming movie.
Reeves revealed while speaking to MovieMaker that the infamous '60s Bay Area-based killer the Zodiac was the basis for Dano's Prince of Puzzlers. "The premise of the movie is that the Riddler is kind of molded in an almost Zodiac Killer sort of mode, and is killing very prominent figures in Gotham, and they are the pillars of society," said Reeves. "These are supposedly legitimate figures. It begins with the mayor, and then it escalates from there. And in the wake of the murders, he reveals the ways in which these people were not everything they said they were, and you start to realize there's some kind of association. And so just like Woodward and Bernstein, you've got Gordon and Batman trying to follow the clues to try and make sense of this thing in a classic kind-of-detective story way."
Tying into the mystery aspect of the film, Reeves had previously talked about how The Batman would put more emphasis on the Dark Knight's prowess as a detective, remarking, "There's a chance to do an almost noir-driven, detective version of Batman that is point-of-view driven in a very, very powerful way, that hopefully is going to connect you to what's going on inside of his head and inside of his heart."
In the same interview with MovieMaker, lead actor Robert Pattinson recently backed up Reeves' claims of the project being more detective-oriented than previous Batman movies after reading its script, saying, "It's a detective movie. It happens all the time in the graphic novels, but it's always kind of on the backburner in the movies."
It was also revealed that Reeves wanted to keep The Batman away from the DC Extended Universe, which it was originally meant to be a part of. Reeves had said that he "emphasized to [original star and director Ben Affleck] and Warner Bros. that he would 'need to be able to create an iteration with a personal aspect to [The Batman],' which wasn't obliged to 'connect with all these other things' in the DCEU."
"Warner Bros. has a multiverse where they're exploring different ways to use the character ... We don't get involved in that," commented producer Dylan Clark. "Matt is interested in pushing this character to his emotional depths and shaking him to his core."
Although The Batman has not yet arrived in theaters, a rumored sequel to it was supposedly greenlit last year. The movie will also spawn two HBO Max spinoff shows, one being for the Gotham City Police Department and the other being for Colin Farrell's Penguin, which will supposedly explore the backstory of the Caped Crusader's avian adversary.
Directed and co-written by Matt Reeves, The Batman arrives in theaters on March 4.
Source: MovieMaker, via Looper