Christopher Nolan Claims Superman Inspired His $2.4B Batman Trilogy With Christian Bale in Bizarre Confession
Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy is one of the most successful movies on the Caped Crusader. No emotion is more powerful than when inspiration strikes. And art is inherently unoriginal. Similar was the case, when Nolan started working on his iteration of the Gotham City Superhero.
However, the director revealed that the inspiration for his take on Batman was slightly unusual. It wasn’t from the comics or any of the previous Batman movies. Instead, it was a movie that didn’t have Batman in it.
The director revealed that his take on Batman was inspired by Superman and not any of the previous incarnations of the Dark Knight. In an interview with Esquire, he revealed his fascination with the idea of a Superhero who isn’t perfect and struggles with his demons.
Batman’s Evolution till Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins
Batman has been a dark superhero in the comic books since the early days. Different from the superheroes who seldom do wrong, he’s a complex character who is flawed and makes mistakes.
In the 1960s TV shows, Batman was portrayed as a silly character. In the late 80s, Frank Millers’ comics, titled The Dark Knight Returns, in particular, saw him in grey light. This more nuanced version shaped Tim Burton‘s vision for the Batman movie he created in the 90s.
But all this history of inspiration and adaptation didn’t compel Nolan. The challenge for him was to make the character decade-old-popular-culture character, fresh and new.
The 2006 Superman II: Richaed Donner’s Cut starring Christopher Reeve moved the Oppenheimer director. To him, the movie carried a much more realistic and grounded take on the ever-so-cheery superhero. He loved it enough to take the risk to depict Batman’s character in a similar manner.
Christopher Nolan on Taking Inspiration from A Superman Movie
Talking about the making of Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan told Esquire:
“[Burton’s “Batman”] left this interesting gap in pop culture, which is, you know, you had Superman in 1978, but they never did the sort of 1978 Batman, where you see the origin story, where the world is pretty much the world we live in but there’s this extraordinary figure there… What I loved about Superman was the way New York felt like New York, or rather Metropolis felt like New York. Metropolis felt like a city you could recognize — and then there was this guy flying through the streets.”
And like Donner’s take on the Last Son of Krypton, Batman Begins, brings a realistic approach to the story of Gotham City. While showing Batman as a person who can exist in the real world, it showed his journey to the Batsuit.
Batman Begins is certainly darker than its inspiration, but Nolan’s vision brings a distinct touch of relatability and realism to it. The interesting journey of Christian Bale starrer The Dark Knight trilogy, caused it to be one of the most popular and highly acclaimed superhero franchises. Receiving over eight Academy Awards nominations and grossing over $2.4 billion worldwide, Nolan’s Batman movies rule hearts globally.
Batman Begins and its sequels are available on Netflix.
Source: SlashFilm
