First we had a Metallica and Tool-loving Aquaman, and now we have a Kurt Cobain-influenced Batman.
In an interview with Empire magazine, director and writer Matt Reeves explains how the late Nirvana frontman helped inspire his characterization of the Dark Knight in the upcoming film, The Batman.
“When I write, I listen to music, and as I was writing the first act, I put on Nirvana’s “Something in the Way,'” Reeves shares. “That’s when it came to me that, rather than make Bruce Wayne the playboy version we’ve seen before, there’s another version who had gone through a great tragedy and become a recluse.”
Reeves adds he was reminded of the 2005 Gus Van Sant film Last Days, a fictional film that’s loosely based on Cobain’s death.
“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 says.
The Cobain connection to The Batman is already clear in the film’s trailer, which is soundtracked by “Something in the Way.” The movie, which stars Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader, hits theaters March 4, 2022.
By the way, The Batman isn’t the first superhero film to use Nirvana’s music. “Come as You Are” is featured in Captain Marvel, while Black Widow opens with a choir version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
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