Greig Fraser, the cinematographer for The Batman, says the film isn’t competing with past entries in the franchise to see who can be the darkest.
Batman is one of the most thematically dark characters in the superhero genre and past films in the franchise have played into this incredibly well with the likes of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy and Tim Burton’s two entries.
However, Greig Fraser, the director of photography for Matt Reeves’ The Batman starring Robert Pattinson, says that their film isn’t trying to outdo the others in terms of its tone or even how literally dark it is.
Speaking to Collider, Fraser said: “It’s a good question and it’s a question we ask ourselves. I can’t talk specifically of course. There’s darkness in the character for sure and we need to create a mood, which is obvious, it’s a Batman film. I don’t think it’s going to be oppressively dark in terms of visually, because that’s not what we’re trying to (do). We’re not trying to have a competition about who can go the darkest of the darkest of the darkest. We’re trying to create intrigue. I love the way some of the comics look. You can see relatively quite clearly in those graphic novels… I’m having a ball lighting it. It’s hard work but so rewarding.”
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The film doesn’t need to be insanely dark to succeed but it will be interesting to see the approach they take and how similar in tone it is to the films that have come before.
The Batman sees Robert Pattinson (The Lighthouse) donning the cape and cowl as Bruce Wayne/Batman alongside Zoe Kravitz (Big Little Lies) as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Colin Farrell (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) as Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin, Paul Dano (Escape at Dannemora) as Edward Nashton/The Riddler, Jeffrey Wright (Westworld) as Jim Gordon, Andy Serkis (War for the Planet of the Apes) as Alfred Pennyworth, John Turturro (The Big Lebowski) as Carmine Falcone, Alex Ferns (Chernobyl) as Commissioner Pete Savage, Con O’Neill (Ordinary Lies) as Chief Mackenzie Bock, Peter Sarsgaard (The Killing) as Gotham D.A. Gil Colson and Jayme Lawson (Farewell Amor) as Bella Real.
