The Batman director Matt Reeves said all Warner Bros. asked for throughout the film's production was a PG-13 rating.
"They embraced it the whole time," Reeves told Collider about the studio's reaction to some of the more adult aspects of The Batman. "There was never a moment where they said to me, are you sure? Let's not. They really leaned into everything, and I've had the support to do exact ... I mean, I have to say, this movie is exactly the movie I wanted it to be, and they have supported me all the way through it. So no, there was never really that moment."
According to Reeves, Warner Bros. was supportive overall. The request to shoot for a PG-13 rating for The Batman was similar to the work Reeves had done as a director for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes. "One thing they did do, which was my intention from the beginning, was they said, 'Look, it's important to us that the movie be PG-13. We want to make sure that we can get this ... It's a Batman movie, and we're investing so much in it,'" Reeves said.
"And I was like, 'Well, in the Apes movies, I tried to sort of find that balance as well,'" he continued. "I felt like in that same way, I knew that we could push the boundaries of what you could do in a PG-13 movie and still deliver everything I wanted to do.”
The Batman was officially rated PG-13 by the MPA for "violence, disturbing content and strong language," which led to a debate between fans about whether or not a PG-13 rating would cause a film like The Batman to have certain limitations. Reeves has also said that despite the "edgy" nature of the film, he never intended it to be rated R and ruled out the possibility of a more violent director's cut in the future.
"There isn't some special cut of this movie where it's like, 'Oh yeah, here's the R rating that you’ve been desperately wanting,'" he said, though he noted that The Batman will push the limits of the MPA's rating. "I didn't have to suddenly start drastically cutting the movie [to achieve a PG-13 rating] or anything like that. In my mind, the movie was always going to be a gritty, edgy, noir, thrilling spectacle that was PG-13."
The Batman releases in theaters on March 4.
Source: Collider