🚨 Massive spoilers for The Batman ahead. 🚨
1. The Riddler and Batman were written with Paul Dano and Robert Pattinson in mind respectively. Director Matt Reeves was "dead-set" on having Robert Pattinson as Batman after watching him in Good Time — without knowing that Robert was also beginning to show interest in playing the role.
3. The scene where the Riddler talks to Batman over a video call at City Hall took over 200 takes — many at Paul's request. Paul was in a soundproof room with a phone, delivering a ton of variations on the Riddler's lines.
4. And the City Hall interior was actually a custom-built set in Northern London. The Iceberg Lounge is an actual nightclub in London — Printworks, which used to be a newspaper factory. Indeed, when it came to real-life spots used to create Gotham, they were largely across the UK and Chicago.
5. Production shut down two months in, when about a quarter of the movie was done, due to the pandemic. None of the movie was significantly altered because of the pandemic, apart from some scenes where the crowds are CGI.
6. A huge influence on Bruce Wayne's character was Kurt Cobain. Director Matt explained, “Early on, when I was writing, I started listening to Nirvana, and there was something about [Nevermind song] ‘Something in the Way,’ which is in the first trailer, which is part of the voice of that character...He’s like a Batman Kurt Cobain.”
7. Unsurprisingly, the real-life Zodiac killer was one of the inspirations for the Riddler. Director Matt said of the comparison, “[Zodiac] made a costume that, frankly, isn’t so different from Batman. You have a guy who basically went around in a black hood, dressed in black, with an insignia on his chest."
8. Robert auditioned with Val Kilmer's Batman Forever costume — which means, in the words of director Matt, "Rob auditioned with nipples.”
9. And Rob's version of the batsuit allowed him to move his neck — which might not sound terribly impressive, until you realize that Val Kilmer's suit couldn't. "[The costume designers] really looked at stuff from the Vietnam War, military tactical stuff that one guy could put together and allow him to fight better," producer Dylan Clark said of inspiration for the suit.
10. The Batmobile is electric, and its entrance in the movie was inspired by the Stephen King novel Christine — which is about a possessed car.
11. Zoë Kravitz said that shooting with real-life cats proved to be a challenge. "[The cats] were the hardest thing to control during the shooting. We were doing crazy stunts, and like, all that was fine, but getting a cat to stay in one place — impossible!" she said, recalling how she was scheduled for "cat time" with her on-screen cats so that she could "know" them better.
12. There are a ton of familiar names behind the camera. Michael Giacchino is behind the score, and you might recognize him from his work on Up, The Incredibles, and Doctor Strange. The cinematographer is Greig Fraser, who is currently Oscar-nominated for his work on Dune.
13. Barry Keoghan's Joker was originally going to have a Mindhunter-style scene earlier in the movie, where Batman asks him for help figuring out the Riddler's next move, but it ended up being cut. The scene between Riddler and Joker that we see in the final version was also almost cut.
14. In fact, Barry was announced in the role of Gotham City police officer Stanley Merkel and even filmed fake scenes to make sure his actual role was kept as secret as possible.
15. Despite being a crime boss, one thing Penguin wasn't allowed to do in the movie was smoke. "I fought valiantly for a cigar. At one stage I said, 'I can have it unlit! Just let me have it unlit.' They were like, 'No,'" Colin Farrell explained, discussing studio restrictions.
16. Of course, Colin is unrecognizable in his Penguin makeup — he even went to Starbucks without being recognized. As he recalled, "I got a couple of stares, but only because it’s such an imposing look."
17. The youth in the opening of the scene who is depicted as a newcomer to the gang is played by Jay Lycurgo, who plays Tim Drake in Titans — aka Batman's third robin.
18. It was Zoë's idea for Selena to have super long nails, after she was unable to get manicures during lockdown. "I called Matt and was like, 'I have this idea — we should do crazy, bitchy, wonderful scary nails. No nail polish on them, so they looked more like claws," she told BuzzFeed.
19. Finally, Catwoman also scratches Falcone's face in the graphic novel Batman: Year One — one of director Matt's favorite Batman comics. Other key comics that the movie references are The Long Halloween and Ego.
