LOTR’s Andy Serkis, who was in the midst of filming his role as Alfred Pennyworth in Matt Reeves’ The Batman when production shut down indefinitely due to the coronavirus, has confirmed the film’s overall darker tone.
While speaking to LAD Bible, Serkis was asked if fans should expect a “darker, broodier” Batman, to which Serkis chuckled and replied “I would say that’s not far from the truth.”
Devling into the story a little bit more, Serkis stated that “[The Batman] is very much about the emotional connection between Alfred and Bruce. That’s really at the center of it. And it is a really exquisite script that Matt has written.”
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Serkis is the latest actor to portray Alfred in the movies, following fellow Brits Michael Gough, Michael Caine, and Jeremy Irons (and even TV’s Alan Napier, who appeared in the 1966 movie). “[Michael Caine] was fantastic,” Serkis said, when asked how he intended to follow those who came before him. “His Alfred was legendary, I couldn’t even begin to go there, really. You find it for yourself. It’s like playing these iconic roles in Shakespeare, you go back, you revisit them and you have to make it your own, and see what it is about the character that connects with you and your personal venn diagram.”
The Batman, now moved to an October 2021 release, is reportedly more of a noir-style, detective-driven story and an “odd throwback” to ’70s films Klute and Chinatown.
Andy Serkis also directed the Venom sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which wrapped principal photography back in February, before the COVID-19 crisis shut most everything down, allowing Serkis to star in The Batman. We’ve got a running theory about Let There Be Carnage, that the film is strongly hinting at a villain far worse than Woody Harrelson’s Cletus Kasady.
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Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.
Source: IGN.com The Batman Will Be Darker Than Previous Bat Films Says Andy Serkis