Would it be possible to make a trashy, nobudget Batman film and be taken seriously?
Nick Zedd is a great director so yeah.
I remember a short where Marc Price played the Joker, certainly was not any worse than the first Nolan flick or the last couple in the previous series.
I saw some kind of sex parody of Batman on cinemax after dark with Batgirl and the Jerker, that was hard to take seriously
Was it hard or hard to take seriously, Den?
—DiB
Of course it would be possible. It would be getting the character rights to make such a film legitimately that would be impossible.
(Guess we’re officially back in the Batman season again, huh?)
Why should Batman be taken seriously? The whole idea is silly!
Christopher Nolan is disappointed in you, Riss.
double post
I guess it could only work if an incredibly wealthy director with trash-cinema leanings could get the character rights. And right now I can’t think of anyone. Scorsese maybe.
That picture of Nolan in the shadows perfectly depicts everything wrong with his films.
It is an epicly ‘Cool story, bro…’ picture…
—PolarisDiB
Why would you take a trashy anything seriously?
Oh I take John Waters seriously.
—PolarisDiB
This isn’t quite what the OP is talking about, but Darren Aronofsky (another beloved director here on MUBI) was once planning on making his own Batman film, which would’ve been much “trashier” – http://www.slashfilm.com/tales-development-hell-darren-aronofskys-batman-year-one-starring-clint-eastwood/
!!
What would have been proper would have been for Nolan to have actually made Frank Miller’s Dark Knight starring Robert De Niro as Batman, Richard Gere as Superman and Emma Stone as Robin.
Okay, levity aside, given that Batman as a “useless aristocrat moolighting as caped vigilante” is a nearly direct descendant of The Shadow, and all that is necessary for a good Batman story are nightlit streets, stupid thugs and a good detective story, yeah it could be done.
Especially “Batman: First Year” in which Frank Miller kept the story tight and more realistic than usual.
Abel Ferrara? I’m a fan of Ferrara so the notion of “trashy” comes mainly from what most of the posters on MUBI say about him. As far as “trashy” in my view goes, why not a Batman segment done by none other than say…Richard Kern? (I’ve nothing against Richard Kern, I’ve only seen one of his films, but since we’re on the subject of “trashy”…).
Other contenders of really fine “trashy”, Gregg Araki and John Waters.
Contenders for just plain trash, Miranda July, Joe Carnahan and Zack Snyder (just because you spend millions on state-of-the-art CGI doesn’t mean it’s money well spent).
As far as being taken seriously goes, I think you’ll have no difference in the way there’s ridiculous degrees of polarity regarding Nolan’s Batman films or Burton’s or Schumacher’s. It makes me think of what Stellan Skarsgard was saying about Paul Schrader’s version of The Exorcist prequel, “We want to do ‘Rambo 9’, is Bergman still alive?” And basically it came down to this, you get a particular director – especially one who carries a particular theme through their work and quite strongly – to do something that’s regarded as conventional or generic and that audiences would love to see done in the same fashion over and over again or at least as it was in the past, you’re going to be terribly disappointed when you see Christopher Nolan making a Christopher Nolan film out of Batman material, almost like Morgan Creek was disappointed with Paul Schrader making a Paul Schrader film out of Exorcist material, the difference being Warner Brothers being satisfied with Nolan’s success and Morgan Creek shafting Schrader in favor of the redundant and idiotic Renny Harlin variation.
Well since everyone has an opinion on what should be done with Batman (not saying that’s a bad thing, it just goes to show how much imagination he inspires in many people), I figured Dark Knight Rises (previously rumored to be Trial of the Joker until homeboy died) should feature Batman’s isolation as mentioned in the Variety review, while Catwoman takes up the mantle of the suited vigilante and Harley Quinn takes up the mantle of the Joker’s anarchism, and both start wrecking havoc and lives until Batman has to step in, “I’m not the one wearing the hockey mask” style and set it straight, as regards what The Dark Knight does with issues of symbolism and who do we trust with responsibility and all that, and also how both sides can inspire but neither of them necessarily inspire what is intended (Batman inspires Catwoman but she’s evil; in the end Harlequin’s motivations are evil but she ends up doing good — Harlequin has sometimes bounced back between Batman and Joker and really her biggest issue is that she needs to be herself). I figure they would have made good foils.
The problem is that like, if I wrote my script out, it would come to maybe eighty or ninety minutes, if we made a sort of false one-to-one with Anne Hathaway and Marion Cotillard, would not feature Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Morgan Freeman and Tom Hardy and Liam Neeson or half the more no-name supporting characters, would keep the timeline rather simple, and thus probably wouldn’t interest Nolan much at all. Fair enough — his style is simply not one I would do well replicating! :) And good for it, because thus I find him to be something different to watch.
—PolarisDiB
WOULD IT BE POSSIBLE TO MAKE A TRASHY, NOBUDGET BATMAN FILM AND BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY?
I’m not sure what this means. Arent the genre and property inherently trashy? Or ar you refering to a more campy approach? I suppose someone could make a microbudget uber campy Batman film that used its tone and aesthetic to illustrate how ridiculous the grimness and self-serious tone Nolan so desperately strives for can be.
Okay, levity aside, given that Batman as a “useless aristocrat moolighting as caped vigilante” is a nearly direct descendant of The Shadow, and all that is necessary for a good Batman story are nightlit streets, stupid thugs and a good detective story, yeah it could be done.
He certainly owes something to The Shadow but if he is a direct descendant of anyone it is Zorro.
Especially “Batman: First Year” in which Frank Miller kept the story tight and more realistic than usual.
Eh. I’ve always found Frank Miller to be the single most overrated comic book author. Year One was a decent Batman tale (done about as well as it could be when DC released an animated version last year) that is unfortunately tinged with Miller’s trademark misoginy. About the only stand-out element in it its portrayal of Lt. Gordon which I wish Nolan had gone with for his trilogy.
“That picture of Nolan in the shadows perfectly depicts everything wrong with his films.”
Precisely what I was shooting for.
It’s possible, but it’d have to re-imagine Batman as a lower tech hero and focus on the stealthy/psychological aspects of Batman.
Why should Batman be taken seriously? The whole idea is silly!
Because grownups wanted to keep reading superhero comics, but didn’t like the childish stories of superhero comics anymore, so they invented the grownup superhero.
“He certainly owes something to The Shadow but if he is a direct descendant of anyone it is Zorro.”
Bob Kane cites both as influences, as well as Leonardo DaVinci’s design for an airplane that he thought looked like a bat.
—PolarisDiB
Main point of Schrader’s “failure” in the eyes of the studio: he took the evil in the film SERIOUSLY.
And yes, ‘cause he’s his own joke, Rush Limbaugh thinks Nolan is a big huge liberal conspirator.
Considered whether or not I should bother sharing this on here, noticed that it too was hitting the feeds like fire, figured I might as well beat somebody to the punch.
—PolarisDiB
Would it be possible to be Rush Limbaugh and be taken seriously???
Funny because, last time, he thought the Joker was Obama:
“[The Joker] had a big damn chip on his shoulder about his childhood and about a bunch of other things. His goal was to undermine the whole system. . . . And to effect the change that the people of Gotham City didn’t want, the Joker created chaos upon chaos. The whole city was focused on him and what he was going to do next. He viewed crisis as an opportunity. So the Joker orchestrated crisis after crisis after crisis. And the Joker wore a mask . . . there are some similarities here to what the Joker did in that movie and what Obama is doing to this country . . . [Obama wrote in “Dreams from My Father” (paraphrasing)] “It was usually an effective tactic, another one of those tricks I had learned. People were satisfied so long as you were courteous and smiled and made no sudden moves. They were more than satisfied; they were relieved, such a pleasant surprise to find a well mannered young black man who didn’t seem angry all the time.” This is his tactic for fooling white people. This is the mask."
@Den
This sounds like your idea of casting Henry Gibson as Batman.
I cannot remember saying that but it sounds like a damn good idea.
I believe you mentioned this in the Casting thread. (I remember that Greg X said he’d pay good money to see that film, too.)
Someone mentioned Abel Ferrara. Can you imagine a Batman film directed by Ferrara, written by St.John, about a guilt ridden Batman desperately seeking redemption in a godless world? Like a cross between The Addiction and Bad Lieutenant? hahaha. Now THAT would be a Batman film worth seeing.
I thought the general criticism aimed at Obama was just Athe opposite. Everybody wants change, and he fools them into thinking he’s a progressive when he really wants to keep things exactly the same,
Then again, if there’s anyone who knows about tactics for fooling white people, it’s Rush Limbaugh. He can even convince millions of them that their religion says the exact opposite of what it really does.
Squiffle
I’m not talking about a fanboy recreation or homage, I’m talking about if The Dark Knight Rises were directed by Giusseppe Andrews or Nick Zedd. Thoughts?