The Batman Isn’t Competing With Other DC Movies Over “Darkness” DP Says

You might have thought from the initial camera test of The Batman that was released earlier this year that the film would be the darkest looking movie featuring the character yet. Even if that ends up being true, it wasn’t by design, as the cinematographer for the highly anticipated movie attests. Speaking in a new interview, Academy Award nominated cinematographer Greig Fraser (Rogue One, The Mandalorian, Dune) said that he and director Matt Reeves are not deliberately trying to make their film the darkest looking Batman movie in an unofficial competition with Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy. In fact they’re just hoping to adapt the comics as faithfully as possible.

“It’s a good question and it’s a question we ask ourselves,” Fraser told Collider in a new interview. “I can’t talk specifically of course. There’s darkness in the character for sure and we need to create a mood, which is obvious, it’s a Batman film. I don’t think it’s going to be oppressively dark in terms of visually, because that’s not what we’re trying to (do). We’re not trying to have a competition about who can go the darkest of the darkest of the darkest. We’re trying to create intrigue. I love the way some of the comics look. You can see relatively quite clearly in those graphic novels….I’m having a ball lighting it. It’s hard work but so rewarding.”

Fraser opened up about collaborating with Reeves on the film, their second time working together on 2010’s Let Me In, the American remake of the Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In. He adds, “Matt’s an incredible director. We’ve all seen the Apes films and if there’s somebody to make you feel how you feel watching an animal, an ape…there’s a lot of skill there that’s required in doing that. Naturally casting is a big part of it, but it’s the work of a very, very good director to have you find emotion in things that are innately unemotional. I’m talking about animals, apes. He did a brilliant job with that. So I’m excited to be working with him currently on Batman.”

Production on the film was shut down back in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, and is expected to resume full production in the near future. Originally scheduled to be released in July of next year, The Batman is now set to be released in theaters on October 1, 2021.