Zack Snyder And Kevin Smith React To The Batman Trailer
The first trailer for Matt Reeves' The Batman is finally out in the world thanks to DC FanDome. It wasn't so long ago that it was still mean to be Ben Affleck working both in front of and behind the camera to bring this solo Batman project to life, and fans of the Dark Knight have been waiting a very long time to see something substantial from this movie.
A lot has changed since those early days: Matt Reeves is the director, and Robert Pattinson is Batman. We know Paul Dano is the Riddler, Zoë Kravitz is Catwoman, and Colin Farrell is thoroughly Penguinized thanks to a little fancy prosthesis work.
Now that the trailer is out in the world, it's safe to say people have opinions. Some people are figuring out the Riddler's riddles, some people are pointing out that Colin Farrell looks like Richard Kind, and, of course, there are debates galore on the topic of Batman's eyeliner.
As much as we love fan reactions, however there are certain creatives about whose opinion of the trailer you can't help but wonder. In the cases of long-time DCEU director Zack Snyder and even longer-time Batman fanatic, Kevin Smith, we have our answer.
Let's talk about what Snyder and Smith think about The Batman so far.
Zack Snyder gives The Batman two thumbs up
For a lot of people, Zack Snyder is the voice, the auteur, of the DCEU. Snyder's aesthetic is so much are part of these characters that he's literally getting his own, special extended cut of Justice League to please his enormous fanbase. So, what Snyder thinks of the next Batman is going to carry a lot of weight for a lot of people.
Fortunately for Matt Reeves, Snyder seems very pleased. In an interview with Reel in Motion, Snyder revealed, "I actually just texted Matt [Reeves] after and I was like, What the #$%@! This is cool!'" Snyder continued, saying, "I loved it. I thought it was so cool. I thought it was like the right direction and everything about it. As far as just a fan of a movie, it's the kind of movie I want to see."
Basically, if you were worried that Reeves or producers behind the DCEU were moving towards a place that ignores or undermines Snyder's work, it seems like you can rest easy.
Kevin Smith calls The Batman 'Greg Rucka Batman'
Now, if you're a Batman superfan, you know Kevin Smith because, in addition to being the director of Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, and a million other flicks, he also has a podcast called Fatman Beyond, in which he and his co-host Marc Bernardin talk comic book stuff (Batman especially).
Smith tends to be very positive about comic book movies, but he also brings that specific comic book knowledge to explain why he's so jazzed. "This is like the Batman movie we dreamed about as kids. Like, could you imagine if somebody treated it super #$%ing seriously?"
Smith name-dropped one of his collaborators on Supergirl and Masters of the Universe, Eric Carrasco, saying, "Eric Carrasco pointed it out, like, 'This looks like Greg Rucka Batman.' Like, the one that feels rooted hardcore in reality but still had room for the fantasy elements of crime in Gotham."
For clarity, Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker wrote a series of books called Gotham Central that fixated on the Gotham City Police Department side of of the Batman universe. The idea behind those stories was, "What does an average detective on the beat do when they bang down a door and Mr Freeze is on the other side?" With a big focus on Jim Gordon in the trailer for The Batman, the comparison makes a lot of sense.
That's what two Batman superfans who have worked in the worlds of DC comics make of The Batman trailer. How excited for the movie are you now?