The Batman: Jeffrey Wright Explains How Film Is Different

DC fans got their first real glimpse of The Batman last weekend during DC FanDome and people are now extra hyped to see Matt Reeves' take on the iconic comic book hero. The movie is set to feature a star-studded cast including Westworld's Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon. Recently, Wright interviewed with SiriusXM's The Jess Cagle Show and talked about not recognizing Colin Farrell on set and the trailer's lack of CGI. Wright also spoke about how this movie will be different from other comic book films.

"We have an opportunity," Wright explained. "Comic book films have sucked a lot of oxygen from the cinematic room. But with Batman, we have an opportunity to use all of the trappings of that genre to explore some things in an American city through a lens of crime, corruption that are really grounded and relevant and interesting. So the detective work there is an exploration of Gotham but it also becomes an exploration of a city very much like New York City."

This isn't the first time Wright has talked about the upcoming movie's version of Gotham. In a previous appearance on the show, he explained how they're making a gritty, real Gotham.

"The way that I kind of explained what we're doing is that, like with any film, we're working together to create a mood, to create an idea, a setting, a tone. That's all being led of course by Matt Reeves. He's created this vision for this thing that, of course, is the next evolution, you know, since 1939 when these stories began. This is the next evolution of Gotham. I'm working off of the stage that Matt has provided and also working off of what Robert [Pattinson] is doing. We're trying to create something together that is, you know, that's our own but is also Batman."

During DC FanDome, Reeves spoke about what makes his film different from previous Batman movies.

"It's not an origin tale, and you're meeting him in the early days," Reeves explained. "What's really important about this iteration is that you know a lot of the other stories are about how he had to master his fear and master himself in order to become Batman and that in that Batman state, he's sort of in his best self, and I think for me, what was exciting was not doing that, not doing the origin, not doing what we've seen done so beautifully in other movies, but instead to meet him in the middle of this criminological experiment to see him in the becoming of Batman and to see him make mistakes as Batman, see him grow and fail and be heroic do all of the things that we associate with Batman but in a way that felt very human and very flawed."

For now, The Batman is scheduled to be released on October 1, 2021.