Billion Dollar Batman

by Bruce Scivally

  62 Fleming, Michael, “Another Life at WB for Catwoman and Burton?” Daily Variety, July 22, 1993, p. 1

  63 Fleming, Michael, “WB: Judd Purr-fect as ‘Cat,’” Daily Variety, Apr. 2, 2001, p. 1

  64 Harris, Dana, “WB: Fewer Pix, More Punch,” Weekly Variety, July 1-14, 2002, p. 9

  65 Dunkley, Cathy, “Making a Feline Bee-Line,” Daily Variety, Sept. 18, 2003, p. 1

  66 Gold, Noe, “Female Star of the Year: Halle Berry,” Daily Variety, March 25, 2004, p. A4

  67 —, “Catwoman (2004) Trivia,” The Internet Movie Database, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327554/trivia, accessed Aug. 6, 2011

  68 Collier, Aldore D., “Halle Berry is ‘Purrrfect’, as She Cracks the Whip in Movie Catwoman,” Jet, July 26, 2004, p. 56

  69 —, “A Suitable Fit,” Catwoman Production Notes, © 2004 Warner Bros. Inc.

  70 Christmas, Joe, “Catwoman: Super Hero # 4 of 5,” HuntingForIslaFisher.com, http://huntingforislafisher.blogspot.com/2009/11/catwoman-super-hero-4-of-5.html, accessed Aug. 6, 2011

  71 —, “Catwoman (2004) Trivia,” The Internet Movie Database, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327554/trivia, accessed Aug. 6, 2011

  72 Christmas, Joe, “Catwoman: Super Hero # 4 of 5,” HuntingForIslaFisher.com, http://huntingforislafisher.blogspot.com/2009/11/catwoman-super-hero-4-of-5.html, accessed Aug. 6, 2011

  73 Gold, Noe, “Female Star of the Year: Halle Berry,” Daily Variety, March 25, 2004, p. A4 v 74 Collier, Aldore D., “Halle Berry is ‘Purrrfect’, as She Cracks the Whip in Movie Catwoman,” Jet, July 26, 2004, p. 56

  75 Gold, Noe, “Female Star of the Year: Halle Berry,” Daily Variety, March 25, 2004, p. A4

  76 Ibid.

  77 Ibid.

  78 Townson, Don, “Canuck Arts Center Fights to Stay Open,” Daily Variety, Jan. 20, 2004, p. 18 v 79 McNary, Dave, “Tollin-Robbins Tackles Tale of Texas Drug Bust,” Daily Variety, Jan. 29, 2004, p. 20

  80 —, “Catwoman (2004) Trivia,” The Internet Movie Database, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327554/trivia, accessed Aug. 6, 2011

  81 —, “The Cat’s Pajamas,” Catwoman Production Notes, © 2004 Warner Bros. Inc.

  82 Graser, Marc, “For Pros Behind ‘Matrix,’ ‘LOTR,’ What’s Next,” Daily Variety, Jan. 8, 2004, p. A11

  83 —, “Catwalks and Cat Scans,” Catwoman Production Notes, © 2004 Warner Bros. Inc.

  84 Bart, Peter, “Studios Try to Cope With the New ‘Geek Chic,’” Daily Variety, Aug. 2, 2004, p. 2

  85 —, “Taking a Break During Filming,” TalkTalk.co.uk, http://www.talktalk.co.uk/entertainment/film/interviews/halle_berry2/2, accessed Aug. 6, 2011

  86 DiOrio, Carl, “Halle of Fame for Berry,” Daily Variety, March 5, 2004, p. 5

  87 Goldsmith, Jill, “Batman Has His Eye On You: Warner Bros., Mattel Life VEIL on New Level of Interactivity,” Daily Variety, June 14, 2004, p. 6

  88 —, “Catwoman (2004) Trivia,” The Internet Movie Database, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327554/trivia, accessed Aug. 6, 2011

  89 Collier, Aldore D., “Halle Berry is ‘Purrrfect’, as She Cracks the Whip in Movie Catwoman,” Jet, July 26, 2004, p. 56

  90 —, “Catwoman (2004) Trivia,” The Internet Movie Database, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327554/trivia, accessed Aug. 6, 2011

  91 Higgins, Bill, “Purr-fectly Festive Fete,” Daily Variety, July 22, 2004, p. 20

  92 Interview with Richard Schenkman, conducted Aug. 6, 2011.

  93 Rooney, David, “Film Review: Catwoman,” Daily Variety, July 23, 2004, p. 10

  94 Travers, Peter, “Catwoman,” Rolling Stone, July 22, 2004

  95 Bart, Peter, “Sleepers and Weepers: A Summer’s Tale,” Daily Variety, July 26, 2004, p. 2

  96 Groves, Don, “Night’s Fright Ignites: Globe in Gear With ‘Robot,’” Daily Variety, Aug. 2, 2004, p. 10

  97 —, “Catwoman,” Box Office Mojo, http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=catwoman.htm, accessed Aug. 6, 2011

  98 Interview with Richard Schenkman, conducted Aug. 6, 2011.

  99 —, “Catwoman (2004) Trivia,” The Internet Movie Database, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327554/trivia, accessed Aug. 6, 2011

  100 Carroll, Larry, “Halle Berry Slams ‘Catwoman’ at Razzie Awards,” MTV.com, http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1497569/halle-berry-slams-catwoman-at-razzie-awards.jhtml, Feb. 28, 2005, accessed Aug. 6, 2011

  101 Byrne, Craig, “Bruce Wayne—The Series That Never Was: What Happened?,” KryptonSite.com, http://www.kryptonsite.com/brucewayne/timeline.htm, 2005, accessed Aug. 6, 2011

  102 Byrne, Craig, “Bruce Wayne—The Series That Never Was: The Script,” KryptonSite.com, http://www.kryptonsite.com/brucewayne/timeline.htm, 2005, accessed Aug. 6, 2011

  103 Byrne, Craig, “Bruce Wayne—The Series That Never Was: Series Outline,” KryptonSite.com, http://www.kryptonsite.com/brucewayne/timeline.htm, 2005, accessed Aug. 6, 2011

  104 Byrne, Craig, “Bruce Wayne—The Series That Never Was: What Happened?,” KryptonSite.com, http://www.kryptonsite.com/brucewayne/timeline.htm, 2005, accessed Aug. 6, 2011

  105 Gregg, Melissa & Adalian, Josef, “NBC Votes for Brolin; Snow Lands in ‘Pie,’” Daily Variety, Feb. 14, 2002, p. 34

  106 Ibid.

  107 Ibid.

  108 Kissell, Rick, “’Birds’ Fly High on WB,” Daily Variety, Oct. 11, 2002, p. 4

  109 Fries, Laura, “Television Review: Birds of Prey,” Daily Variety, Oct. 8, 2002, p. 7

  110 James, Caryn, “Superheroines vs. Crime in the Big City,” The New York Times, Oct. 9, 2002, p. E.5

  111 Kissell, Rick, “NBC, CBS Back Atop Nielsens,” Daily Variety, Nov. 6, 2002, p. 26

  112 Adalian, Josef and Michael Schneider, “’Birds’ Down at WB, Fox’s ‘Firefly’ Flies,” Daily Variety, Nov. 19, 2002, p. 5

  113 Simone, Gail, “Five Wonder Questions With Laeta Kalogridis,” Comic Book Resources Forum, http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=285311, accessed Aug. 6, 2011

  114 Schneider, Michael, “CW’s ‘Graysons’ Takes Flier on Robin,” Variety, Sept. 30, 2008, http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117993158?refCatId=14, accessed Aug. 10, 2011

  115 Ibid.

  116 Byrne, Craig, “The CW Scraps Plans for ‘The Graysons,’” GothamSite.com, http://www.gothamsite.com/,Nov. 6, 2008, accessed Aug. 10, 2011

  117 Schneider, Michael, “’Graysons’ Blackout: CW Tosses Plans for Boy Wonder Skein,” Daily Variety, Nov. 7, 2008, p. 5

  Chapter Eleven: BATMAN BEGINS

  “We tried to tell an enormous story, and we tried to tell it on the grandest possible scale because that’s what Batman demands and what Batman deserves.”

  -Christopher Nolan1

  BONDING BATMAN

  On September 11, 2001, Americans were awakened to a scene so outlandish it could only have come from a comic book or a big-budget Hollywood movie—jets smashing into New York’s World Trade Center, bringing the twin towers crashing down. But this wasn’t a fantasy, and as the events of the day played out, there were no costumed heroes coming to the rescue, only flesh-and-blood heroes—firemen, policemen, EMTs. It was a day that changed America and the world, and one that had, at least temporarily, an effect on Hollywood, with films that featured lots of action and destruction of property being put on the back burner. When the superheroes returned, they returned darker, angrier, more cynical, more defensive, reflections of a world whose innocence was lost in the rubble of Ground Zero.

  After Lorenzo di Bonaventura exited Warner Bros., Jeff Robinov was promoted to president of production. Unlike di Bonaventura, who often clashed with Warner Bros. president Alan Horn, Robinov shared Horn’s sensibilities. Both men were anxious to revive the Batman franchise, and both sensed they needed to do something dramatic, totally different from the style of Batman & Robin. They just weren’t sure what that would be, until they began to think about the idea of taking Batman back to his roots and doing an origin story. It was an approach that had proved successful for the TV series Smallville, which
redefined Superman for a new audience of teenagers and young adults. And perhaps they were influenced in their decision by Tollin/Robbins Productions’ idea of doing a Bruce Wayne TV series that would focus on the young Wayne’s early years, before he became Batman.

  As it happened, someone else had been thinking along those lines. Christopher Nolan, a young director who had scored critical successes with his low budget films Following (1998) and Memento (2002), had just directed a thriller for Warner Bros. called Insomnia (2002). Aware of the studio’s troubles re-launching Batman, he began to think about how he might do it.

  “First and foremost I know Batman from the TV show, from when I was four or five years old,” said Nolan. “At that age, you don’t realize how tongue-in-cheek and camp it all is. You take it seriously—and I loved the character. It says quite a lot about the elemental nature of the character that it can reach you through different interpretations, like the TV show—even though it was so kitsch and silly in a way. There’s still something about that character, something about who he is and what he does, that comes through. It’s part of everybody’s upbringing—I was watching it ten years after it had gone off air.”2

  The second-born son of Brendan and Christine Nolan came into the world in London on July 30, 1970. Though his father, who worked in advertising, was British, Christopher and his brothers spent a great deal of their childhood in Chicago, home of their mother. Christopher grew up with a brother, Matthew, who was two years older, and another brother, Jonathan—known as Jonah—who was five years younger. The boys were privately educated and held dual American and British citizenships. Christopher was stiff and formal, unlike his older brother Matt, who was outgoing and charismatic and, like their father, a gifted storyteller, able to spin grand tales out of thin air, a talent that appeared not to have rubbed off not on Christopher. However, when the boys were very young, Brendan gave them an 8mm film camera, and 8-year-old Christopher found a means to express himself. He, his brothers and their friends began making little films together.3 When he couldn’t find actors, Christopher would use his Star Wars action figures.4 As they grew older, Matt and Chris drifted apart; when Chris began to make a reputation for himself in Hollywood, it was his younger brother Jonah who became his collaborator rather than his older brother Matthew.5

  During the 1980s, when Nolan entered his teens, he read a couple of graphic novels that left an indelible impression: Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One. “[It was] like the way you felt about the character when you were five years old,” said Nolan. “Frank Miller was doing it for grown-ups, really. That was quite exciting, it put you back into that childlike appreciation of the magic of the character.”6

  Nolan was also a fan of the hugely popular James Bond films, and he felt there was a 007 influence in the Batman comics of his early youth. Those comics, edited by Denny O’Neil and illustrated by Neal Adams, said Nolan, “were influenced by the Roger Moore James Bond films of the time. It was really that period which excited me, because there was a tone of heightened reality.”7 And after Nolan saw Richard Donner’s 1978 film Superman, he wondered why the other high-profile character of DC Comics didn’t immediately follow the Man of Steel into the multiplexes. “I felt like there was a version of Batman that never got made in 1979—ten years before [Burton’s film]. When Dick Donner made Superman in 1978, it seems odd that they didn’t do Batman in that same way—with that same epic sensibility.”8

  Now, more than two decades later, Nolan had established himself as a young filmmaker with a spare, tension-charged style and a mastery of storytelling. He made his first film, 1998’s Following, by scrounging up pieces of 16mm film stock and filming during a year’s worth of weekends. The film was picked up for distribution and won the director enough attention that he was given a proper budget of $5 million for his next film, Memento. When that film became a critical success, he received his first studio assignment, with Warner Bros. entrusting him with $50 million to make Insomnia (2002), starring Al Pacino, Hilary Swank and Robin Williams.9

  After finishing Insomnia, he began work on a script about reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes. But he really wanted to do the Batman film he felt should have been done in 1979, a film that would remake Batman in the 007 mold, with globe-hopping adventures, megalomaniacal villains, and gadgets dispensed by a wise Merlin figure.10

  A meeting was arranged at Warner Bros., where president of production Jeff Robinov was looking for a Batman project to replace the now aborted Batman: Year One, Batman Beyond and Batman vs. Superman films. “I’ve always been a fan of Batman,” said Robinov. “I love the character, and Batman was always a piece of a puzzle that Alan Horn wanted solved. He always saw Batman as a very valuable property to the studio both in terms of liking the character and wanting the character out there.”11 Nolan pitched the studio his take on the Caped Crusader. The director had no intention of making a film as outrageous as those of Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher, saying, “The world of Batman is that of grounded reality. Ours will be a recognizable, contemporary reality against which an extraordinary heroic figure arises.”12

  The studio liked Nolan’s take on the character, and encouraged him to get started on a script. “I’d gone to the studio and said what I wanted to do with the film and the basic idea of the story, which was drawn from what I knew of the origin stories from the comics—and I was certainly no expert,” said Nolan. “So I had the basic idea of dealing with the origin story and the seven years where Bruce goes around the world. I was looking for a writer to do a first draft, one who was very knowledgeable about comics, more than I was. I felt that the first draft needed to set us on the right track, in terms of the myth of Batman, the mythic quality and the iconography, and with all of the things we needed in there.”13

  The studio suggested that Nolan meet David Goyer, a former DC Comics staff writer who also scripted the successful Blade films, based on a Marvel Comics vampire character, for New Line Cinema. “I remember the very first discussion I had with Chris,” said Goyer. “Very quickly over the course of 10-15 minutes we decided we had to tell an origin story. And I felt very strongly that we should use characters that hadn’t been depicted in the films before.” Goyer recommended using Ra’s Al Ghul and the Scarecrow as the villains. “I just happen to think Ra’s Al Ghul is unique as a Batman villain because his goals, you know, although they are certainly perverted somewhat, he’s more realistic as a character. And the Scarecrow is unique because it allowed the opportunity, I think, to depict a villain that was truly scary and frightening. And because Chris and I wanted to tell a story about fear and overcoming your fear, it just seemed like a no-brainer.”14

  The Scarecrow, a/k/a Professor Jonathan Crane, was first introduced in World’s Finest Comics # 3 in the Fall of 1941. From the outset, he was a character obsessed with uncovering the fears of his enemies and using those fears to destroy them. After one other comic book appearance in 1943, the character was resurrected in The Brave and the Bold # 197 in April 1983. In that story, he developed a hallucinogenic gas to instill fear in his victims. Ra’s al Ghul was introduced in Batman #232 in June 1971. A terrorist who seeks to keep the earth in an ecological balance that, to his mind, means eradicating most of humanity, he has lived for several centuries thanks to his ability to rejuvenate himself in the Lazarus pits, reservoirs that can restore life to the dying.

  “David Goyer had some great initial thoughts on who the villain would be, how the villain could relate to the origin story—so I got very excited about working with him,” said Nolan.15 “Ra’s al Ghul was not a villain I was familiar with. As soon as he mentioned him, I went back and researched him and read a lot of the 1970s comics he appears in...Ra’s al Ghul has a lot of similarities/affinities with the Bond villains of the 1970s, such as Hugo Drax from Moonraker.”16

  Nolan was keenly aware that in previous Batman films, the villains were the real stars. He didn’t want to repeat that with his film. “You’re looking for a Bond villa
in in a sense because you’re looking for a villain who is colorful and interesting, and has a degree of threat to him that relates to the real world,” said Nolan. “So you’re looking for a villain who can be threatening but doesn’t overshadow the hero. And I think the best of the Bond movies have done that really well. They’ve given you these memorable villains, but Bond is always the center of the movie. That’s never been in dispute.”17

  Goyer agreed with Nolan’s take on Batman, and was glad to be charting a new course for the hero. “As the Batman films progressed, they became increasingly more cartoonish and more like the campy TV show,” said Goyer. “We think the audience is tired of that, and it’s at odds with the way Batman is depicted in the comic books over the last decade. Batman is a classic figure whose story is wrapped in tragedy.”18

  Goyer had as much respect for Nolan as the director did for him. “It’s all filtered through Chris’s vision and he is a very naturalistic director and that was what was very exciting to me,” said Goyer. “Frankly, I don’t know that I—as much as I love Batman—I don’t know that I would have been interested in writing it for anyone else. I think Chris is such a great filmmaker, and that was the main appeal to me, that he was going to be telling the story in a way that it seems like that’s the way the story always should have been told, but for some reason no one had ever approached Batman that way. It seemed like a no-brainer to me. But the fact that Chris was going to do it and that Warner Bros. was actually going to let him do it, it was an amazing experience.”19

  Unfortunately, it was an experience that would be short-lived for Goyer, who had just been given the opportunity to move up from screenwriter to director. “He was about to direct Blade: Trinity, so he had a very small window of time,” said Nolan.20 In the early days of the collaboration, Nolan and Goyer met with representatives of DC Comics, including DC president and publisher Paul Levitz. “Before they sat down with us, they had already done a tremendous amount of homework,” said Levitz, who described working with Goyer and Nolan “a delight,” adding, “We haven’t been dealing with questions like, ‘Is it Bruce Wayne or could it be Bob Wayne instead?’ We started on the same emotional and intellectual level. We all want to make a movie that appeals to the most intense Batman fan as well as the person who’s never seen a Batman movie or TV show before.”21