The Batman is back in front of the cameras. Matt Reeves’ movie has taken a long and winding road to get to the big screen, beginning life as a Ben Affleck DCEU project and gradually morphing into an entirely new take on the Dark Knight with Robert Pattinson in the cape and cowl. Then came COVID-19, which tragically killed the film’s dialogue coach and put the movie on hiatus for months. And after that, once production had restarted, Pattinson tested positive for Coronavirus, causing yet more delays.
Things might finally be back on track now, though, as we’ve seen some new pictures from the set courtesy of Twitter account @TotalRemakers. These appear to be from a funeral scene and show Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne sharing an uneasy moment with Colin Farrell’s Penguin. This isn’t the first look we’ve had at Farrell in the movie, though he seemed so unrecognizable in the initial trailer that many viewers didn’t even realize it was him.
In keeping with the general aesthetic, Reeves has gone with a very realistic take on the character that’s worlds away from the mutated creature of Tim Burton’s Batman Returns. Still, the actor is submerged in some truly excellent makeup and prosthetics here, looking mean and muscular as he holds an umbrella (which sadly doesn’t seem to have a machine gun hidden inside).
Reeves discussed the villain at the DC FanDome event back in the summer, saying:
“Oz is not yet the kingpin that he’s going to become. The Penguin, in fact, doesn’t like being called the Penguin.”
Farrell has also spoken about the role, stating that this take on the character is like nothing he’s ever seen before and that it’ll be both familiar and exciting.
Sadly, we’ve got a long wait ahead of us until we see him, as The Batman has been delayed from October 1st, 2021 to March 4th, 2022. If there are no further wide-ranging COVID-19 lockdowns, that’ll mean filming should wrap by the end of 2020. Fingers crossed we get another trailer soon to see how it’s going.