Filmmaker Matt Reeves used Kurt Cobain as inspiration for his version of Batman.

Speaking to Empire magazine, the 55-year-old filmmaker opened up about his process for developing a darker version of the superhero.

“When I write, I listen to music, and as I was writing the first act, I put on Nirvana’s Something In The Way,” he said. “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 used the song inspiration as well as Gus Van Sant’s 2005 film Last Days, which stars a fictionalised version of Cobain, to imagine the late Nirvana frontman dwelling in a “decaying manor”. Reeves knew Pattinson was the right man for the role when he saw his performance in 2017’s Good Time.

“In that movie, you could really feel his vulnerability and desperation, but you could also feel his power,” he added. “I thought that was a great mix. He’s also got that Kurt Cobain thing, where he looks like a rock star, but you also feel like he could be a recluse.”

The Batman, also starring Zoe Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright and Colin Farrell, is scheduled to hit cinemas in March 2022.

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