Director Matt Reeves on Kurt Cobain and “The Batman”: “[Bruce Wayne] is a kind of drug addict”

The Batman director Matt Reeves has further explained how the film’s version of the Caped Crusader is influenced by late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.

In an interview with Esquire UK, Reeves details how the Nevermind song “Something in the Way,” which plays in the trailer for The Batman, is “part of the voice of that character.”

“When I considered, ‘How do you do Bruce Wayne in a way that hasn’t been seen before?’ I started thinking, ‘What if some tragedy happened…and this guy becomes so reclusive, we don’t know what he’s doing? Is this guy some kind of wayward, reckless, drug addict?'” Reeves shares.

“And the truth is that [Wayne] is a kind of drug addict,” the filmmaker adds. “His drug is his addiction to this drive for revenge. He’s like a Batman Kurt Cobain.”

Reeves previously told Empire magazine that he was reminded of the 2005 Gus Van Sant film Last Days, a fictional film that’s loosely based on Cobain’s death, while working on The Batman.

“I started making this connection to Gus Van Sant’s Last Days, and the idea of this fictionalized version of Kurt Cobain being in this kind of decaying manor,” Reeves said.

The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson in the title role, premieres in theaters March 4. The cast also features Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano and Jeffrey Wright.