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Matt Reeves on how Michael Giacchino’s score shaped ‘The Batman’

Michael Giacchiano's score for 'The Batman' helped bring Matt Reeves' Batverse to life and set it apart from adaptations that came before.

Robert Pattinson in character as the Reeves Batman
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

Director Matt Reeves spoke lyrically in a recent interview about how Michael Giacchino’s stunning soundtrack helped bring his concept of the Batverse to life.

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Reeves has previously worked with the Academy Award-winning composer on multiple film projects, including ‘Planet of the Apes,’ and was confident that Giacchino shared his vision.

He told Variety that Giacchino had been a Batman fan since childhood, and described how Giacchino’s ability to convey a range of complex emotions through music made him the clear choice for the project:

Michael brought soul, he brought dread, he brought all of the emotional and atmospheric undercurrents that a movie like this requires. You almost can’t articulate what he brings — you can just feel it, how he expresses himself through music, how it relates to story.

Reeves reminisced about the long conversations he had with Giacchino, breaking down the narrative during the creative process. The composer then created pieces of music to illustrate the characters or the mood of a scene, which Reeves then played for the actors and crew.

The director explained that Giacchino’s music personifies the tension of being Bruce Wayne, and perfectly captures the “melancholy” duality of the Caped Crusader.

Giacchino used elements of film noir and a light sprinkling of jazz in his theme for Catwoman. To set the tone for The Riddler, he was tasked with filtering the boy’s choir innocence of Schubert’s ‘Ave Maria’ through what Reeves describes as a “funhouse mirror.” 

The director explains:

In an emotional sense, the Riddler’s still ten years old. It would feel creepy…that kind of desperate boy’s voice throughout the whole movie.

Fortunately, music buffs eager to hear Giacchino’s ear-pleasing musical writings right now can do exactly that. We hear there’s a pretty good film attached to the audible feast, too.

The Batman is in theaters now.