The Batman director Matt Reeves revealed that fake scenes were filmed to throw off leakers from a key reveal.
Spoilers ahead for The Batman.
Matt Reeves’ The Batman has finally been unleashed upon the world! The highly-anticipated DC reboot has received acclaim from all across the board and is set to wrangle a serious chunk of change for Warner Bros. this weekend. With the film finally out, director Matt Reeves has slowly started to open up about the film’s key moments, including a reveal that points towards the future.
Early reports from the set of The Batman suggested that Barry Keoghan would be appearing as GCPD officer Stanley Merkel. Photos of Keoghan in a police suit were eventually leaked, which pretty much confirmed his character was another boy in blue. However, audiences hoping to see the Eternals star join Batman and Gordon on their path to stop The Riddler were elated to see that Keoghan was on the other side of crime-fighting.
Yes, the recent rumors were true: Barry Keoghan is playing the Joker, or rather a version of the character, as the villain’s name hasn’t been explicitly confirmed. So what of the leaked photos of the star in the police uniform? Speaking with IGN, Matt Reeves confirmed that the photos were faked to keep the character’s true identity a secret.
“When you’re making a movie like this, you want it to be different, you want people to feel like they’re having a special experience. And then for me, when you’re going to the cinema you want some level of surprise. I think one of the things I was worried about was speculation while we were making the movie, that we would be exploring the character that we ended up exploring. So we started thinking what we could do to throw people off that scent. This idea of making him Stanley Merkel was exactly that, because the police force is actually a big part of the story so it seemed credible that we could be doing that.”
Here is the synopsis for The Batman:
Two years of stalking the streets as the Batman (Robert Pattinson), striking fear into the hearts of criminals, has led Bruce Wayne deep into the shadows of Gotham City. With only a few trusted allies — Alfred Pennyworth (Andy Serkis), Lt. James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) — amongst the city’s corrupt network of officials and high-profile figures, the lone vigilante has established himself as the sole embodiment of vengeance amongst his fellow citizens.
When a killer targets Gotham’s elite with a series of sadistic machinations, a trail of cryptic clues sends the World’s Greatest Detective on an investigation into the underworld, where he encounters such characters as Selina Kyle/aka Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz), Oswald Cobblepot/aka the Penguin (Colin Farrell), Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), and Edward Nashton/aka the Riddler (Paul Dano). As the evidence begins to lead closer to home and the scale of the perpetrator’s plans becomes clear, Batman must forge new relationships, unmask the culprit, and bring justice to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued Gotham City.
Directed by Matt Reeves, The Batman stars Robert Pattinson as the titular hero, Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as the Riddler, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, Peter Sarsgaard as Gil Colson, Jayme Lawson as Bella Reál, with Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, and Colin Farrell as the Penguin.
The Batmanis out now in cinemas. Stay tuned for all the latest news surrounding the film and be sure to subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content.
Source: IGN
